Trinity Sunday, May 31, 10:30am
Sermon: I Doubt It
Accompanying Scripture: Matthew 28 : 16 – 20

I Doubt It
Matthew 28:16-20 5/31/2026
In 1996, Greg Kinnear starred in the movie Dear God. He plays the part of
Tom Turner, a con artist who gets a job at the dead letter office of a post office, and
finds his life changing after reading letters sent to God. As his life begins to spiral out
of control, he walks into a church and meets a Priest.
“Do you ever have doubts?” Tom asks the priest.
“Every day,” he responds.
Matthew writes that the disciples worshiped him, and they doubted. It seems odd,
doesn’t it? I mean, why would you worship him if you doubted?
Considering the past several days of the disciples’ lives, doubting is probably natural
and normal. Jesus was crucified and laid in a tomb. He rose on the third day and
appeared to several people. According to Matthew, he left instructions that the
disciples were to meet him in Galilee.
So, to Galilee they go. Which mountain? “The mountain of revelation, the mountain
of the Sermon on the Mount, the mountain of prayer, the mountain of feeding, the
mountain of transfiguration…” 1
Whether this all occurred on the same mountain or not, the disciples know where to
go. And Jesus can certainly find them!
There they are on the mountain, probably waiting and praying. They’re sorting out
what has happened. They’re remembering what Jesus taught them; trying to connect
his teachings; unable to believe that a resurrection has really occurred.
And then he appears before them. They study his face, his hands, his mannerisms.
It’s him! It’s really him! And they fall down and worship. And a few doubts still
remain.
It’s too much information for them. They need more time. They need Jesus! Despite
it all, though, they fall down and worship him. They love him and believe in him to the
very core of their being. So, with their questions, their doubts, their concerns, they
worship him. It’s all they know to do.
The disciples are in a long line of doubters. Sarah laughed when she heard she would
become pregnant in her old age. After an angel described Gideon as a mighty warrior,
Gideon argued that he was from the weakest of the clans. Jonah ran so far from God
that he ended up in the belly of a fish!

John the Baptizer, one of the staunch defenders of the faith, sat in prison wondering,
“Are you the one?” And let’s not forget Thomas, who said he had to see to believe.
Doubt isn’t just for the individual. We, as a community, offer our doubts. That’s what
the Reformed movement is about. The motto is “ecclesia reformata semper
reformanda secundum verbi dei.” The church reformed, always being reformed by the
word of God.
Within our Presbyterian tradition, we began to doubt that only men could be
ordained. Some of our folks left the denomination, while others stayed to support
the ordination of women in various forms of ministry. We doubted, again, when we
wondered about sexual and gender identity. Again, some of our folks left the
denomination, while others remained to engage in conversation.
We see the church reforming often in the Book of Acts. Transformation began with
the Jews and moved into the Gentile population. Restrictive food rules were lifted.
Jews and Gentiles worshiped side by side. Jesus’ followers left Jerusalem to share
the gospel in Asia Minor, Greece, and beyond.
What about us? We wonder. We question. We doubt. It’s a part of growing our faith.
Yet, we can’t keep from worshiping God. There’s just something about God that draws
us towards the wonderful and awesome. There’s something about Jesus’ teachings
that makes us better for having heard them. And when we are discerning, we feel the
presence of the Holy Spirit. We simply can’t not worship.
Doubt is how we go deeper. Doubt is that urge we get, that yearning to understand.
Doubt asks the questions. In prayer, we begin to discern some answers. We question
what we once believed. We pick it apart. We eventually come up with something
deeper and clearer. Perhaps it no longer fits, and we discard it for something better.
And then we’re ready to hear Jesus’ final words in Matthew:
Go into every corner of the world.
Preach the good news wherever you find yourself.
And remember: I am with you to the end of the age.
All glory and honor be to God.
Amen.