When seeing doesn't lead to believing

We've all probably heard the phrase "seeing is believing." It's not uncommon for us to hear a report of outrageous events and say, "There is no way that that happened."  

But once we see the evidence or results of that report, we naturally say, "Oh... I guess that that did happen." In those situations, seeing erases our doubt. 

The resurrection was definitely one of those moments for the disciples. 

They saw Jesus get arrested. 
They observed His death. 
They witnessed His body on the cross. 

When the report came from Mary that Jesus had come back from the dead, they couldn't believe it! What dead person comes back to life? In order for them to believe it, they had to see it for themselves. 

And sure enough, they did. 

In all the gospel accounts, the resurrected Christ repeatedly appeared to the disciples. The book of Acts tells us that Jesus spent forty days with the disciples before He ascended back to the Father. 

But even after repeated appearances, it was still hard for some of the disciples to believe. 

Matthew's account of the ascension reads, 

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. (28:16-17)

This was presumably Jesus' final interaction with the disciples in Matthew’s gospel. Notice that the group of disciples mentioned at this moment was the eleven. It wasn’t the broader group of seventy-two or one hundred and twenty. It was His closest followers. Those who had been with Him from the beginning. This was His inner circle. And what we read is that "some doubted." 

They knew that Jesus was crucified. They saw Him die, but they also repeatedly saw Him after He was raised from the dead. They spent time and shared meals with Him. They were able to touch the nail marks in His hands. There was no doubt that this was the same person. Yet, they couldn't get their minds around what had happened. 

Some doubted.  

But the context in which their doubt is identified is worship. "When they saw him (Jesus), they worshiped him." Maybe there's room in the text to infer that those who worshiped were different than those who doubted, that there were two different activities happening with two different groups of people. But maybe there's also room to infer that one of the ways we work through our doubt is worship. Meaning even when we're unsure about who Jesus is and how salvation works, we keep pursuing Him and trust that in the process, God will continue to reveal Himself and His kingdom more fully.

If you find yourself in a season of doubt, take comfort Remember that those who saw the resurrected Christ also wrestled with the reality of the resurrection. But stay the course. Don't throw in the towel or give up. Keep pursuing Jesus, trusting He will meet you in your doubt and reveal Himself to you.