The laziness of unbelief

by Dan Phillips

Something in Luke 7:17-23 struck me afresh. Jesus had been performing miracles, and the word spread as far as John the Immerser. John sent some of his students to Jesus to ask Him, "Are you the Coming One, or shall we look for another?" (v. 20).

So, shortly after the incident of a Gentile's display of faith from a distance (vv. 1-10), we have John's display of doubt (or its cousin), from a distance. John is languishing in prison (cf. Matthew 11:2). He clearly is in something of a crisis of faith, and I doubt many of us are in a position to fault him too condescendingly.

How does Jesus respond?

Does He perform a wonder especially for John, a fresh proof or indication of His identity? Does He exert His power in John's life, from a distance? Does He "zap" him with a direct, sovereign-grace pick-me-up on John's faith? Does He psychologize, or offer extended counsel? He does none of those things.

I find Jesus' reply personally instructive, bracing, challenging: "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me" (vv. 22-23).

Candidly, it has always struck me that our Lord's answer seems a bit brusque. In effect, Jesus' response amounts to this: "You already know enough. You have access to enough facts. You possess enough information. What you need to do is remember and think about what you already know. So do that. Put it together for faith."

There is a laziness to unbelief, a laziness to doubt. It's easy enough to spot in the cocky, big-talking "skeptic," usually equal parts ignorance and arrogance. They hit one verse in the Bible they can't immediately understand, proclaim it an error, and research no further. One incomplete notion they have of God clashes with one superficial impression they have about life, and they pronounce the entire endeavor of faith pointless folly.

But at the moment John's situation has me more concerned with this same sort of laziness in Christians, in us, in me. Unbelief looks at a rough turn, a nasty twist, a horrid lurch, and simply stops thinking. Unbelief forgets everything we've learned about God from His Word. It forgets sacred history, forgets (or does not reflect on) the centuries related in Old and New Testaments. It learns nothing from church history, and the lives of the saints. It forgets our own history, forgets God's many mercies, graces, blessings, and acts of deliverance in our own lives.

Unbelief forgets all the truths we've learned about God -- His omniscience, His omnipotence, His wisdom, His goodness, His covenant with us.

Unbelief forgets all these things, plops down on the floor, folds its arms, and pouts, "That's it. God failed. He let me down. I'm done for. The whole thing is a sham." And there our lazy unbelief would have us sit.

We do then do a "thinking" of a sort, but it scarcely warrants the name. In an emotion-driven muddle, we build our case against God. We amass "evidence" of His shortcomings. We go on, perhaps, with the motions of being a Christian (because at heart we really do believe), but we're in a snit, a pout, a state. He let us down. So much for Him.

We feel that we're being smart and honest, but what we're being is lazy. We feel very strongly, and we surely don't understand the latest twist of Providence -- but we forget everything we knew, we embrace our feeling as if it were truth, and we sulk. We refuse to think it through. We don't insert Part A into Part B; we don't put apply we know from the Word to our experience.

That, I think, is why Jesus seems to handle John so roughly. But this harshness is that of the good physician, who would pluck out the actual cause of our misery, though the operation is painful. He knows that immediate pain is essential, if ultimate healing is to be obtained -- and he would have no less for his patient. As soon as the messengers leave, Jesus speaks His heart about John, praising him to the heavens (vv. 24-28). Jesus loved and prized John. This bracing response came not from real impatience or disdain, but from love. "Don't stay in a slump, John. You know better. Use what you know."

It is as Paul fires off to the Corinthians, who (among other things) were tolerating those who denied resurrection: "Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning" (1 Corinthians 15:34 ESV).

I will tell you from too much bitter personal experience: it goes down a lot easier when we preach this sermon to ourselves, than when we get to where we need to hear it from another. Best not to be the last to know, and deal with, the truth.

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