A Jesuit Catholic University
in Omaha, Nebraska, since 1878

[264] Acts 3:11-26 Ps 8:2ab+5, 6-7, 8-9 Luke 24:35-48

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer The Daily Reflections

Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled?
And why do questions arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you can see I have.”

After Jesus had risen from the dead, he appeared to his disciples.  They were horrified because they thought that they were seeing a ghost.  Jesus responds by asking them why they are troubled.  Yet I think that the disciples had every right to be freaked out.  In fact, it is only natural that we doubt and question.  Elsewhere in the Bible it says that we are to love God with all of our hearts, souls, and minds.  I imagine that part of loving God with one’s entire mind involves doubt.  I’m not convinced that blind faith is really faith at all. 

I like the way that Rob Bell describes faith in his book The Velvet Elvis.  He begins by asking the question “What if Jesus’ bones were discovered by archeologists and it was proven that that they were really Jesus’ bones? Would you still have faith?”  He writes that there are two kinds of faith.  The first is like a brick wall, and if one brick crumbles, the wall will fall.  The other kind of faith is like a trampoline.  If Jesus’ bones were found, one of the springs would break on the trampoline, but people can still bounce on it. 

I think that genuine faith leads to questions and doubts.  Genuine faith, a constant searching for answers, will bring more questions and more doubts.  I think what is important is that our faith does not rely on just one principle, but rather many things that we believe to be true about God.  That way, when ‘questions arise in our hearts’ and we are troubled, our faith will not crumble.  At most, we may have a few broken springs.