Sermon

A Skeptic’s Delight

by The Rev. Canon Susan Sommer

It was a glorious northern Michigan afternoon, sun glinting off of the lake, the white sand warm under my toes, a lovely breeze keeping the sand flies at bay. Cady was in the water and I was relaxing on the beach with a paperback – one of those steamy confections that are suitable only for airports and beaches. Okay, maybe not really a beach novel, though it certainly has the kind of provocative title that would suggest one: Sex and the Single Savior. It’s written by Dale Martin, who is on the faculty at Yale Theological Seminary. Dr. Martin draws a distinction between fundamentalism and what he calls foundationalism. Fundamentalism responded to the emerging work of Charles Darwin, among others, and identified certain fundamentals of faith that conservative Christians could hang their hats upon even as their world turned upside down. As a concept, it’s been around for only a little over a 100 years. By contrast, foundationalism, Dr. Martin avers, has been practiced by Christians of all stripes for quite a bit longer. Foundationalism assumes that the text of the Bible somehow is self-evident. For example, “everyone knows” such-and-such because the Bible says so. Except, of course, the Bible often doesn’t say so. Foundationalism is dangerous because it fails to recognize the cultural lenses we wear when we approach Scripture. So, for example, the so-called Biblical basis for marriage being between one man and one woman is a great example of Foundationalism. You can’t get very far in Genesis (just to pick one book), without realizing that much of the Bible presumes polygamy and concubinage as the norm for marriage.

Suffice to say, Dr. Martin – like most post-modern Scriptural scholars – is an avowed skeptic when it comes to some of the historical teachings of the Church with respect to Scripture. It is that very skepticism that makes contemporary Scriptural studies so fascinating and so challenging – challenging in particular when the foundations upon which all of us stand seem to crumble underfoot.

I was thinking about skepticism – scholarly and otherwise – in light of our gospel reading for today – especially the part where the Judeans start to complain about Jesus. We're in the midst of Chapter 6 of John in which Jesus spins an elaborate metaphor about himself as the Bread of Life who came down from heaven for the sole reason that all who see him and believe in him may have eternal life. And the crowd is frankly skeptical. They say, in essence, "Wait a minute. This guy is from the Northland. From Nazareth, for crynoutloud. We know Nazareth. We know his Mom and Dad. What's this nonsense about having come down from heaven?"

Frankly, as tired as I already am and will be of the 6th chapter of John by the time we leave the month of August behind, I have to tell you that I love that skepticism. It looks so very familiar, doesn't it? We live in an age of skepticism that demands historical accuracy and objective, empirical proofs for any claims made. We have even less patience for the mystical and metaphorical than even the crowd in today's gospel did. But what’s interesting is that the more we live in a world devoted to fact-finding, empiricism, and computer-generated predictability, the more we find that in fact, our world is filled with ambiguity and shades of grey. A world in which we increasingly feel confused, alienated, disconnected, and just plain lonely. And so we struggle to make meaning. We long for the presence of God in the world, and hunger for a connection which transcends ourselves.

And often we find our own skepticism getting in the way instead.

"This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life."

The good news is here for us skeptical folk, and it hangs on the word, "believe." That word in the original Greek is closer in meaning to our word "heart." So when Jesus says, "This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life," he was saying, "...that all who see the Son and set their hearts on him may have eternal life. Set their hearts on him. Not "set their heads." Not "hold these opinions passively because you learned them in Sunday School." And most especially not, "hold these opinions with gritted teeth even though empirical evidence seems to contradict them." Set their hearts.

See, the problem with the crowd in today's gospel was not their skepticism, any more than the problem today is our skepticism. The problem with the crowd was that they could not or would not open their hearts. They could not risk the vulnerability that comes in taking a leap of faith.  Today's gospel does not pit intellect against faith so much as it demonstrates the continuing alienation we experience when we shut down our hearts rather than open them to the presence of the God.

The opposite of faith – the opposite of belief – is not doubt or skepticism. The opposite of faith is hardness of heart. The challenge for us today is to hang on to our skepticism. Skepticism can lead us to ask the tough questions of our faith, our church, and our God. And what we find when we do engage our skepticism is that we find that God in fact is in our hearts.

Right when God has been all along. 

© Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral