Doubt the Wizard. Trust the Savior. A sermon based on John 20: 19-31, preached on April 12, 2026

It takes courage to ask questions. It’s not easy to confess that you don’t know or can’t believe. It requires humility to admit that you’re lost. That’s why I admire the disciple Thomas, and that’s why I love the map feature on my iPhone. You know, iPhones, Androids, and all the other smart phones are prevalent enough now that there may be younger members of our congregation who can’t even imagine a world without easy-to-follow and up-to-the-minute driving directions, so let me try to describe it to you. When I was in my very first church as a seminary intern, an older member of the congregation invited me to lunch at a barbeque restaurant near the state capital. Wood’s Chapel BBQ, it’s called. I hadn’t been there before, so she gave me directions over the phone, which I wrote down on a piece of paper. She told me to, “drive towards the state capital and to take a left at the building… 40 years ago it was the records building,” she said. “I don’t know what it is now, but at the building that used to be the records building, you should take a left.” Can you imagine? Or do you remember? Today, all we have to do is type in Wood’s Chapel BBQ and off we go, turn by turn instructions with traffic updates right on our phone, but back then, if you got lost out in the middle of nowhere, you’d find a gas station, walk in, say to the person at the register, “Can you tell me how to get back to the interstate?” If you were far enough off the beaten trail, you’d often hear them say, “Well, you aren’t from around here, are you?” It was humiliating, and so proud men just wouldn’t do it. Now we don’t have to, and yet I see a problem developing in our culture because of such convenient access to directions. Now that we don’t have to ask for directions, it’s possible to get out of the spiritual practice of humbly admitting that we don’t know where we are. When you’re feeling lost or confused, are there people in your life to whom you feel comfortable asking questions? Is there someone in your life to who, you know that you could ask just about anything? Having a person to ask these kinds of questions to is important because your phone can’t tell you everything, so being in the habit of admitting what you don’t know is a skill worth having. That’s why I don’t like calling him Doubting Thomas. We call him Doubting Thomas as though doubting were a bad thing, when I assure you the worse thing is being lost while too proud to ask for help. For example, years ago, I was a student at Marietta High School. I was in 9th grade and enrolled in Spanish 1. After we got past counting to 10 in Spanish, I was completely lost. I had no idea how to conjugate verbs. I can barely do that in English, and so I was struggling. However, I never told my teacher I was struggling. I never asked her or anyone else for help. I was too proud to raise my hand to ask questions. I never admitted that I didn’t know, and so at the end of the semester, I failed Spanish. Now as bad as that was, it’s not nearly as bad as failing Christianity, and as angry as my parents were that I had failed Spanish, how much angrier would Christ have been if Thomas didn’t believe but never confessed his doubt? When Jesus heard that Thomas said, “If I don’t touch the wounds I will not believe,” was Jesus angry? Was Jesus disappointed? Was Jesus ashamed that this disciple had questions? No, and neither was my teacher, Señora Smitherman, the second time I enrolled in Spanish 1. When I was in her class, unlike the first time I took Spanish, anytime I had a question, I raised my hand. At any moment when I felt lost, I let her know. At the end of the semester, Señora Smitherman pointed me out and said, “I want you all to be like Joe Evans, who is never afraid of asking a question because that’s the only way you’ll ever learn.” That’s the truth, for learning requires us to admit what we don’t know. The journey of life and the journey of faith requires us to ask for directions, but be wise about whom you ask. We all must be careful about asking for spiritual direction from our iPhones because, while AI might have a brain, it doesn’t have a heart, and while social media is good for all kinds of things, it’s not very good at telling the truth. Last week, we were on vacation, and one of the days we were on vacation, our daughter Cece had a fever. Because she was sick, we spent one whole afternoon in our Airbnb watching episodes of American Idol. When I think back on it, that might have been my favorite day of the trip, but that’s not the day that anyone posted about on Instagram. Of course it’s not. When people post on social media, no one has a fever. Everyone is smiling. The family is not arguing but laughing together. The sunset is perfect. Not a hair is out of place. In other words, social media often reminds me of the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz. Do you remember the Wizard? Last week, we were on a plane, and so I watched the new Wicked movie. The plot of Wicked is a play on The Wizard of Oz, but with a lot more singing, and a much greater focus on the Wizard, who you may remember from the original story is just a little man behind a curtain who figured out how to manipulate a whole bunch of people using smoke and mirrors, That’s until Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal that the Wizard is just a man. Until that point, he seems to have all the answers, so Dorothy and her friends seek him out. They do what he says to get what they want. Dorothy wants to go home, the Tin Man wants a heart, the Cowardly Lion wants courage, and the Scarecrow wants a brain. Do you remember all that? The Wizard promises, “I’ll give you all what you’re wishing for if you’ll destroy the Wicked Witch of the West,” but the Tin Man goes with Dorothy on this whole journey because he loves her, which means he already had a heart. The Cowardly Lion leads the way because he already had courage. He just lacked the confidence to see it, and the Scarecrow figures out that water will destroy the witch because he already had a brain. You see, they already had what they needed, but the Wizard didn’t help them to see that because the Wizard couldn’t give them something that he didn’t have himself, so I ask you to be careful about seeking out answers from people who won’t let you see behind the curtain. The Wizard hides behind a curtain while the Savior reveals to us His wounds. My friends, we can trust Jesus with our doubts. We can trust Him with our fears. We can trust Jesus with our questions and our worries. We can trust Jesus with our insecurities and our trepidation, but go on social media to see a bunch of perfect pictures of perfect vacations when you’re a little too bored and a little too insecure, and the Wizard will have you right where he wants you, in a position to work for things that the Lord hands out for free. I don’t know how often it’s happened to me that I’ve found myself lost. I don’t just mean lost on the road. I’m talking about lost in life. Wondering what this is all about. Who am I, and what is my purpose? These are not questions that you can just google. If you are looking for answers to life’s greatest questions, only trust those who will reveal to you their wounds. Who have been through the struggle. Who know what it means to face the darkness of the night. The Savior has been down this road that we travel, and He knows the way to salvation. Doubt the Wizard. Trust the Savior. Friends there are too many people who spend their days wondering, “Could he love me if he knew?” Could he love me despite what I’ve done or who I am? Don’t ask questions like that to the wrong person. Only ask the One who loves you so much that He offered you His body and His blood. Do you know Him? Do you trust Him? Do not doubt but believe. Alleluia. Amen.