Don Friesen
School boards in large cities often have programs to help children keep up with their school work during stays in the hospital. In one children's hospital someone was assigned to teach a young boy, and the child's regular teacher explained to the boy's tutor, "We're studying nouns and adverbs in class, and I'd be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn't fall too far behind."
The tutor went to see the boy that afternoon but was shaken to see that the boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. "I've been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs," she stammered. Later, when she left, she didn't feel as if she had accomplished much. The next day a nurse asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" Fearing she must have done something wrong, the tutor began to apologize.
"No, no," said the nurse. "We've been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday his whole attitude has changed. He's fighting back, responding to treatment. It's as though he's decided to live." Weeks later the boy explained that he had given up hope until the teacher arrived, whereupon he realized that they wouldn't send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a boy who was dying! (Bits and Pieces, July, 1991)
That story may or not be true, but it illustrates the difference made by hope. English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744), who wrote the memorable lines, "Hope springs eternal in the human breast" (An Essay on Man), was himself ill as a boy of twelve, suffering a severe illness that left him with a spinal deformity and frequent headaches. Although Pope is said to have been exceptionally irritable all his life, he waxed eloquent about hope.
The Bible's H-List: H is not for Hatred, Hypocrisy, or Hell
Today's sermon is brought to you by the letter, "H," for hope, another entry in my choice of biblical vocabulary important for the times in which we live. There are many entries in the Bible's H-list, including negative words like "hatred," "haughtiness," "havoc," "heathen," "heinous," "homelessness," "hostility," "hothead," "hypocrisy," and "hell," but one thing that's interesting about this list is that the word, "hell," occurs only fifteen times in the Bible, and words like "heresy" and "heretics" don't occur at all!
Like the E-list, the H-list contains a lot of names, and among other interesting or unusual words are the words, "ha" — H-A; "hack," though not the political kind; "hiss," "homicide," and "humour". There are, of course, some positive and important H-words — words like "heaven," "holiness," "healing," and "humility" — and although some of these occur more often, the word, "hope,"is fundamental to the biblical story and to faith itself!
Biblical References to Hope
Our reading from the New Testament book of Hebrews tells us that faith is a function of hope, saying, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for...." (Hebrews 11:1) It is "by faith" — a phrase repeated nineteen times in Hebrews 11 — it is "by faith" — "the assurance of things hoped for" — that a whole host of biblical heroes and heroines did this and that, and such and such. The whole sweep of biblical history is cast in the light of biblical hope! This is what motivated the "ancestors," says Hebrews (11:2). This is what undergirds our belief in God. (11:3) This is what was behind Abel's sacrifice to God. (11:4) Hope is what motivated Noah to take action in a culture headed for destruction. (11:7) It is "by faith" — "the assurance of things hoped for" — that "Abraham ...set out for a place ...not knowing where he was going ...(but looking) forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God." (11:8-10)
The writer of Hebrews goes on and on, saying that it is "faith" — "the assurance of things hoped for" — that is behind the actions of Abraham (Hebrews 11:8-12, 17-19), and Sarah (11:11), and Isaac (11:20), and Jacob (11:21), and Joseph (11:22), and Rahab (11:31), and Moses (11:23-28), and "the people (who) passed through the Red Sea" (11:29), and so on, and so on, and so forth. "And what more should I say?" asks the writer of Hebrews. "For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets" (11:32) — countless numbers of saints — men and women — who "conquered (and) ...administered" (11:33) and did all manner of ordinary and heroic things (11:33-34) and who were subjected to all manner of torture and suffering. (11:35-38) Many of these, says Hebrews, died without having their hopes realized (11:13, 39), but such is the nature of hope; it "springs eternal in the human breast". (Pope)
Biblical Hope often Strains one's Credulity
All that being said, it's hard not to notice a ridiculous dimension to biblical hope. Take the case of Sarah, one of the notables of faith mentioned in Hebrews. (Hebrews 11:11) Expecting a baby at Sarah's advanced age strains one's credulity. Our reading from Isaiah prompts a similar response. Isaiah tells us that the "wilderness and the dry land (will) ...blossom; ...shall blossom abundantly," that "waters (will) break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; burning sand shall become a pool, and ...thirsty ground springs of water...." (Isaiah 35:1-2, 6-7) I've lived in arid places, and visited arid places, and there's nothing short of irrigation systems that will make some of those places blossom! Until I was nine years of age we lived on plot of dry land that was so blossom-resistant that vast quantities of water would not have helped!
"Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees," says Isaiah. (Isaiah 35:3) Well, Bill and Roma have done well with the replacement of some body parts, but as we grow older we're just going to have to get used to increased aches and pain! It's part of aging! Not all body parts can be replaced!
"The "eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped," says Isaiah. (Isaiah 35:5) Well, that would be nice — I would dearly like that — but I've gotten used to missing much of the conversations I hear — or rather don't hear — and television shows are almost as interesting without sound as they are with it, though one's viewing companions get a little tired of repeating every bit of dialogue to me.
Isaiah goes on: "...the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy." (Isaiah 35:6) Yeah, right! And pigs will learn to fly!
The Resilience of Biblical Hope
God, speaking through Isaiah, was not put off by doubt and cynicism. To exiles living in horrible conditions God promised that "the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; ...they shall obtain joy and gladness, ...sorrow and sighing shall flee away." (Isaiah 35:10)
There is an amazing resilience to biblical hope. One could describe the biblical attitude as defiantly hopeful. Isaiah paints a picture of deadly drought and of humanity crushed, oppressed, disabled, filled with despair, and sapped of vitality — yet he holds before us the audacious hope that God will save us! There is something so stubborn and deep-rooted about biblical hope that little can break its spirit.
That, however, is the nature of hope. The wise G. K. Chesterton wrote, "Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all. ... As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength." (Heretics, 1905, cited in Signs of the Times, April, 1993) The writer of Hebrews compares its strength to an anchor, calling it "a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul". (Hebrews 6:19)
There are numerous examples of hopelessness in the story of God's people, but surely one of the darkest times was in the days of the prophet, Habakkuk. His book is a catalogue of evils and injustices, a growing pile of evidence that Habakkuk lays before God, suggesting — to God — that this evidence is contrary to, not only the promises of God, but the very nature of God!
Habakkuk was in extreme distress when he compiled his evidence, and in tones reminiscent of Job, the prophet has the courage — or audacity — born of grief — to challenge God's silence in the face of so much evil. How long, God, will you let this go on happening and not intervene? Time and time again Habakkuk turns to God, yet it appears that it is God's ears that need to be unstopped! And when God finally answers Habakkuk's complaints, it is merely in the form of assurance, informing Habakkuk that the fulfilment of God's promises may "seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed." (Habakkuk 2:3, TEV) God will intervene, but in God's own good time.
The tenacity of biblical hope is striking in this book. All of his complaints and laments notwithstanding, Habakkuk never loses hope! In one of the darkest periods in biblical history, chronicled by this weary prophet, Habakkuk remains hopeful, saying, "Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation." (3:17-18)
A tenacious, audacious, stubborn, resilient hope! An student of this hope writes, "The hope of the faithful is a tonic. ...Even in times of adversity, the faithful know how to take heart. At the tiniest tingle of possibility, the faithful are not afraid to get their hopes up. They believe in divine providence." (Diane Schoemperlen, "Forms of Devotion," Saturday Night, April, 1996) The faithful are not troubled by paradox; they breathe hope like air, drink it like water, eat it like popcorn! Once they start, they can't stop, be it hope for world peace, shelter for the homeless, or food for the hungry! "Faith begets hope. Hope begets faith. Faith and hope beget power." (Schoemperlen)
Someone (Nathan Nettleton) watching the situation in South Africa unfold over the last two decades concluded that one of the hardest things for the opponents of Desmond Tutu (1931-) to deal with was his irrepressible joy and hope. His denunciation of injustice was always shaped by the proclamation of the inevitability of the coming day of freedom! It became more and more difficult for the advocates of in-equality and oppression to hold their ground in the face of Tutu's sustained and joyous celebration of equality and freedom! The opposition of the government could not erode it. Oppression could not erode it. Bombs could not destroy it! "Freedom is coming! O yes I know!"
The Compelling Nature of Biblical Hope
Biblical hope is based on the assumption that imagination is far more compelling than reality. Liberation theologian Rubem Alves (1933-) has said that biblical hope fosters "...the suspicion that reality is far more complex than realism would have us believe, (and) that the frontiers of the possible are not determined by the limits of the present...." Hope is a state of mind that never loses its sense of anticipation. It is so compelling that little can erode it.
Years ago I got to know two brothers whose third brother disappeared during their university days. For twenty years he was absent from his family, and they had no idea whether he had met an untimely death — buried in an unmarked grave — or whether he had simply disappeared, and if the latter, then for what reason? They had to go on with their own lives, but it took scarcely a hint of his whereabouts to awaken their hope for his return. And return he did, twenty years later, embraced by his family despite many unanswered questions.
It reminds me of another set of brothers. Most of us have heard of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82), American poet and a professor of modern languages at Harvard, but you may not be aware that he had a younger brother named Samuel (1819-92), who was sickly throughout his life, to the point that he took early retirement from the ministry and wrote a biography (1886) of his famous brother. His struggle in the wilderness of inadequacy and illness is reflected in the hymns he wrote, but so is his hope in God. In one of his hymns Samuel writes:
("I Look to Thee in Every Need," based on Psalm 105:4)
"I look to Thee in every need,
Hope springs eternal in the human breast. Thanks be to God!
And never look in vain;
I feel Thy strong and tender love,
And all is well again:
The thought of Thee is mightier far
Than sin and pain and sorrow are.
Discouraged in the work of life,
Disheartened by its load,
Shamed by its failures or its fears,
I sink beside the road;
But let me only think of Thee
And then new heart springs up in me."
All quotations of Scripture, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version.