Hope
He is risen! This is a day of hope and of celebration. This morning I attended a sunrise service. We worshiped around a fire and heard the story of the resurrection. As we engaged with the program, we watched the sun rise behind a cross. I can’t help but see a beautiful picture of hope in both of these symbols. Sunrises bring new days and new life. Yesterday may have been full of despair, but every day that the sun comes up I know that I have been given a fresh start. When I go to bed after having a rough day, I typically feel hopeful that the next day will be better. The cross, too, is a symbol of hope. Because Christ died on the cross so that my sins could be forgiven, I am reconciled to my heavenly Father. I have hope for the future because of the cross.
It seems that we are attracted to hope. We see it in our entertainment. The very first Star Wars movie is titled “A New Hope”, and it follows the journey of the Rebel Alliance as they struggle to overcome their oppressor, the Galactic Empire. Luke Skywalker carries out a key mission that leads to the weakening of the Empire. Luke’s success gives hope to the rebels who are on the verge of defeat. In the Marvel franchise, regularly the heroes reach a point of despair. All seems lost, but without fail someone shows up at the last possible minute to join the fight, giving the beaten-down protagonist hope which is always accompanied by a second wave of energy that is just enough to defeat the enemy. JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy tells a similar story of a struggle between good and evil. The heroes work together to defeat a much stronger enemy. Regularly, when all hope seems to be lost, someone rises up and leads a charge that gives others hope that they are not fighting in vain and it keeps them moving forward.
I don’t want to make light of Christ rising from the dead, but I do see strong parallels to these stories of hope. Jesus, God’s only son, came to earth and lived among humans. To his followers, Jesus was supposed to save them from their oppressors. The people who knew him thought this meant that he would overthrow the Roman empire and reestablish the kingdom of Israel. I imagine they were quite discouraged when he was executed. They believed that he would ignite a revolution and would be their earthly king. I am sure that when he was killed things felt very hopeless. His supporters would have feared for their lives. The person they aligned themselves with was no more. They no longer had someone to rally behind. Jesus’s followers had put their hope in him, and in their eyes he had been defeated. But that wasn’t the end of the story. For three days things would have seemed bleak, but on the morning of the third day his tomb was empty. Christ’s resurrection gave his followers new hope. The one they had put their faith in had done the impossible, he had defeated death. I can’t think of anything that gives me more hope than that.
For years of my life, I lived crippled by my self-doubt. I put my hope in my own ability to succeed in life. My value was found in my successes and failures. It took a long time for me to come to understand the hope that I now have in Christ. Because Christ died, I am reconciled with my God and I can live with the confidence as a beloved son of the King of the universe. Christ defeated death so that we can be made whole. There is nothing more hopeful than that.
