Worship and Doubt Go Together

Scripture Passage that Caught My Attention Today: Matthew 14:30-33 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Observation: Worship and Doubt go together.

Application: This insight is not my own. It is a point I first heard from Dr. Mark Powell who is a professor at Trinity Lutheran Seminary. He noticed that, at least in Matthew’s gospel, worship and doubt go hand-in-hand.

In Matthew there are two times when people worship Jesus.

The first is indicated in the verses above. Jesus has observed their doubt (verse 31) and by verse 33 they are worshipping him. So worship closely follows doubt.

The only other time that Jesus is worshipped in the gospel of Matthew is at the very end of the gospel in chapter 28. This time also one finds doubt close at hand, though it’s not always seen for what it is in English translations of the Bible. Let’s take a quick look at the last 5 verses in Matthew:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Verses 18-20 are the popular verses but I’d like to draw your attention to verse 17. In the NRSV translation above it says “…they worshipped him; but some doubted.”

This is an unfortunate translation (and most English bibles translate it in similar ways) because it adds a word that is not found in the original Greek. The added word is “some.” Literally it should read: “They worshipped him; but doubted.” In other words, the original text does not imply that some worshipped and some doubted, but that they all worshipped and they all doubted.

Apparently the translators couldn’t comprehend the possibility of worship and doubt being found in the same person, so they added the word ‘some.’

Pulling again from Dr. Powell’s insights, for Matthew, worship and doubt go together. The next million dollar question is: could the same also be true for us?

For me the answer is yes. I worship and doubt much of the time. I say that I believe that Jesus has power over even death itself and yet I sometimes find myself afraid of earthly powers. What’s up with that? I trust that Jesus meant it when he said, “I am with you always, to the end of the age,” and yet I still get caught up in all kinds of worries large and small. Jesus proved himself trustworthy even unto death and yet still I sometimes carry a little knot in my stomach. Whenever one worships, doubt is often close at hand.

That’s okay. It may take a while—perhaps even a lifetime—to fully grasp the depth of our Lord’s power and love for us. But if we are somehow led to offer up a little bit of worship along with our doubt…well…we just might be onto something.

Prayer: Lord, thanks for accepting our doubts and leading us to those moments of worship as well. In Jesus’ name. Amen.


(Readings today included: 2 Samuel 2, 1 Chronicles 11, Psalm 142, and Matthew 14)