Longest River in Egypt

Overcoming our doubts and denials with faith

12/15/2021

Lk 7:18b-23 At that time, John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” When the men came to the Lord, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’” At that time Jesus cured many of their diseases, sufferings, and evil spirits; he also granted sight to many who were blind. And Jesus said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”

Do you have doubts or do you suffer from denial? And by “denial” I am not talking about the longest river in Egypt (the Nile), but rather a flat and firm rejection of something or someone. For instance, a young girl may doubt her boyfriend loves her. So, she picks up a flower and pulls off its petals one by one, saying, “He loves me; he loves me not; he loves me; he loves me not.” And she hopes to overcome her doubt by pulling the last petal on the words, “He loves me!” Here’s another example of doubt. I doubt that I will ever beat Fr. Daniel in a game of tennis. Yesterday, we played a tie-breaker to ten points, and he beat me soundly 10 to 1. Heaven for me will be beating Fr. Daniel in tennis, when I will finally overcome that doubt.

On the other hand, much of modern science is based on a flat denial of the existence of God. Indeed, it seems almost a hallmark of educated people that the halls of higher education be filled with those who deny God exists. God is reduced to a fairy tale for innocent and ignorant little children. When do most young Catholic’s doubts about God become full-blown denials? When they go away to college, where, in a sense, they become too smart for their own good. We can overcome our doubts, but our denials often overcome us.

In the gospel today, we see John the Baptist struggling with doubts about Jesus being the Messiah. We read: “At that time, John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’” And by the way, the reason John sent two disciples is because he wanted the certainty of a legally binding testimony. Two eyewitnesses are the equivalent to a signed document. John had serious doubts.

And Jesus helps John overcome his doubts by pointing to his miracles which fulfilled the ancient prophecies. Jesus said: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” In other words, overcome your doubts by your faith in the miracles you see, and do not let your doubts turn into denial, which will overcome you. Hence, John is able to be beheaded in prison, and die in peace knowing the Lord loves him.

My friends, tragically, we live in a society in which many truths are being held hostage by denial. And social media and talk shows have contributed to changing our doubts into denials, and sometimes with deadly consequences. For example, some people flatly deny the seriousness and sickness of the COVID virus and refuse to be vaccinated or take other precautions. We search for the information we want to hear and then create an “echo chamber” where we reinforce that view until we believe it as gospel truth. Doubt becomes denial.

A similar scenario is unfolding with climate change. Some people’s doubts have become full-blown denials about the reality of how the earth is eroding under our feet. The same is true for abortion. The simple and plain fact of the matter is we are killing upwards of a million babies a year. How can you debate that? And yet there is no shortage of naysayers who doubt that fact and even deny that the baby in the womb is a real human being. Doubts can be remedied, but denials are always deadly.

It is natural and normal to feel doubts. We can doubt whether someone loves us; we doubt we will ever beat Fr. Daniel in tennis. But we need to be very careful rowing our boat down the longest river in Egypt, “Denial.” Doubts can be overcome, but denials often overcome us. We pray that “faith” will be the last petal we pluck off the flower of life and say when we die, like St. John the Baptist: “God loves me!”

Praised be Jesus Christ!