Skeptical Easter Faith

I picked up Bobby Knight's new book from the library the other day. It's title caught my eye as I was browsing through the New Books Section: The Power of Negative Thinking. Go figure. The famous... strike that... the infamous former Indiana basketball coach would title his book The Power of Negative Thinking.  Look up bully or grouch or mean in the dictionary, and there you will find Bobby Knight.

Instead of being a book about the value of loud intense screaming and intimidation to get results, the book actually is a testament to Knight's deep seated belief in skepticism. A skeptic is someone who doubts, questions or disagrees with assertions or generally accepted conclusions.  So add skeptic to the list of adjectives you can use for Coach Robert Montgomery Knight.

Throughout the book Knight throws in some of "Knight's Nuggets." His take on society's generally accepted conclusions:

A picture is worth a thousand words. Said, I'm guessing, by a lousy writer or an illiterate.

The boss won't mind if I'm a little late. What do you suppose this pink slip means?

I don't care what the weatherman said, it doesn't even feel like rain. Umbrellas aren't all that expensive, compared to pneumonia.

You can't always believe that gauge. I know there's plenty of gas to get us home. Remind him of that when he's walking two miles in snow to find a station.

Don't worry, Dad. This test is going to be easy. Better idea, Son: Study.

What a nice little dog. And what mean teeth.

Have faith that you'll be OK. Get a good doctor. 

You can do whatever you really believe you can do. Now, YOU are the coach I want to play against.

You can be whatever you want to be. Sure, jump out of a tree and try being a bird.

Knight doesn't even come from the school of Trust But Verify... It's more like Doubt, Verify... and then... Maybe. 

In Luke's telling of the Easter story there is all kinds of Doubt, Verify... and then... Maybe.  It is the skeptics' version of the Resurrection Story. The women can't believe the news that Jesus has been raised.  They then tell Jesus' disciples and they don't believe either. "But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them (Luke 24:11)." Peter runs to the tomb afterwards to verify if this might be true.

On Good Friday we embraced Paul's wise observation and confirmed it through our own experience that "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18)."  We can put it this way:

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are skeptical, pessimistic and doubt everything under the sun; but to us who walk by faith and live in the freedom of our baptism it is the power of God to live in the spirit and embrace a truth that not only can't be verified but stands against the lies even the skeptics fail to question.  

When the disciples refuse to believe the good news they risk remaining in the darkness of despair and sin.  It is a darkness where no one can be trusted and you get what you can when you can.  This is the primary lie of the world.  It fools us into thinking that "home-spun-Midwestern-skeptical-common-sense" are wise words for life.   

But you know... there's hope... even for the skeptics. God does not give up on those skeptical disciples and will not give up on us. The cross stands at the crossroads between the world's kingdom and a new Kingdom of Heaven that frees us to live in the Spirit now. God does not give up on them and will not give up on us.  Truth waits and dwells within your soul.

The tragedy is how much you are going to miss in the mean time.  Friday night my Michigan Wolverines beat Kansas in an amazing comeback game.  The biggest win for Michigan in twenty years.  After Good Friday services I checked the score and saw that Kansas was beating Michigan 70-59 with four minutes left.  When I got home I didn't turn on the game and had no idea what was happening until I got a text after the game was all over: "Now to you believe?"

Oh boy, what did I miss?

We miss so much when we embrace the common sense skepticism of the world. We miss so much what God is doing right in front of our face.  When we live in the Kingdom of the Skeptics instead of the Kingdom of the Possible, which Jesus institutes with the cross and empty tomb, we miss out on truth. 

God's not going to give up on you.  Faith will become sight and the day is coming soon.  In the mean time don't miss the power of the Christ's cross.  With God all things are possible.