|
July 20th, 2008 – 10th Sunday after Pentecost – “There is Always Hope”
Readings: Genesis 28:10-19a; Psalms 139:1-11, 22-23; Romans 8:12-25;
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
A man approached a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy responded, "Eighteen to nothing--we're behind."
"Boy," said the spectator, "I'll bet you're discouraged."
"Why should I be discouraged?" replied the little boy. "We haven't even gotten up to bat yet!"
I can relate to the boy in this story – on the one hand I too find myself playing on a baseball team that has a habit of giving up a lot of runs early in the game – but on the other hand I find it much more productive to look at the opportunities in front of me – the game is far from over, we too will have our chance at bat.
“There is always hope” were the wise words spoken by Gandalf the wizard to his young friend Frodo Baggins – words that would stay with and help direct the young hobbit on his perilous journey in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Words of hope timely spoken can propel us to do all kinds of remarkable deeds. Optimism has tremendous effects on the body and mind as well as soul. (Studies have shown that optimistic people recover faster from surgery, have fewer medical conditions during and after surgery, and exhibit stronger measures of immune functioning than pessimists. ~ Dr. Greg Jacobs)
And it is hope that impels, or drives the Scripture story forward. Hope in a personal yet all-powerful, promise-keeping God drove Abraham into the wilderness, away from the familiar into the unknown. The promise that one day God would bless Abraham and his barren wife with a child hardened Abraham’s resolve to keep hoping in the face of every challenge. Even when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his promised offspring Isaac, Abraham believed God would provide.
Our Old Testament reading picks up the story of Abraham’s grandson Jacob – a man who was hardly an example of moral fortitude – yet a man who God promises would be a blessing to the world. Jacob was the ‘usurper’ – from the day of his birth he was always grasping for that which properly belonged to others, especially his brother. He conned Esau’s inheritance from him in exchange for a bowl of soup – he tricked his aging father into giving him the blessing owed to his brother. And for these shady dealings Jacob is now fleeing for his life from his incensed brother.
In our story we find Jacob very much alone – he was not travelling with family, friend, or even a servant (apparently others had seen him at work and didn’t want to be his next victim!) He was like a fugitive who’d burned bridges behind him and was now left to journey through life alone - fearing for his survival. But in this desperate loneliness God shows up. He gives Jacob a vision depicting the connection between earthly creation and the heavenly realm – and He renews the promise He made to Jacob’s grandfather Abraham that his family would multiply, inherit the land, and be a blessing to the world. Jacob, the man who deceived his family and prior to this experience had no recorded relationship or knowledge of God, is suddenly thrust into a crucial role of God’s story with humanity.
This story tells me that God calls even the worst of us to do great things. And if God can use someone like Jacob, why can’t God use me for his glory?
The second point I’d like us to reflect on is how God reaches into Jacob’s desperate situation and gives him an experience of hope. For Jacob, and for us, an encounter with the Almighty changes us by giving us hope. G.K. Chesterton once 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.”
There are many forces that would drag us down and rob us of our hope: We doubt ourselves due to past failures and the ways in which we’ve pushed people away; and often times we get so overwhelmed at the great evils and struggles around us – natural disasters, senseless crimes, deteriorating relationships, rising oil costs and the resulting economic crises. St. Paul says it’s as if all of creation is in labour – great pain is all around us – yet God promises us that new life is on the way. In this little section from Romans Paul wants his readers to know that though all of creation is groaning, struggling, and in pain, these are nothing but labour pains – God promises that He will bring restoration and new life in the End. That is the Christian’s hope: a hope that Paul says is not seen, “For who hopes for what is seen?” But it is hope in the promise of salvation, a hope that is to be patiently waited for.
Paul, like Jacob, was given a vision of his Saviour – they had encounters with God that filled them with hope to believe in God’s promise no matter what circumstances they would find themselves in later in life. Have you had this kind of experience? Are there moments in your life you can go back to where you know God blessed you with his promise and presence? Do these experiences still give you hope?
Jacob’s story does not end in our reading today. Here’s how one commentator puts it:
“This turning point in Jacob’s life thus becomes a moment of renewal in the history of God’s dealings with all humankind. For his part, Jacob never renounces his crafty ways, cleverly repaying Laban’s trickery in the matter of the older man’s daughters (29:21–30) with some skullduggery of his own (30:37–43). But his life is never again lived apart from God’s claims, and he will later demand of his family the same devotion to the God of Bethel that he learned at that sacred spot (35:1–4). All of which is a cogent reminder of the power of the Spirit of God to reshape and reorient human life. Jacob was not an entirely new person, but neither was he the same old Jacob. The change of his name to Israel (32:28; 35:10) signifies a deeper, more profound recasting of his values, a reordering rooted in the Bethel experience.”
We will always need hope, because even if we have a dramatic encounter with God, even if we feel thoroughly blessed now, the threat of suffering and despair is always around the corner. Life is hard. Living out the change God works in our lives is tough – and we will fail many times. “But there is always hope.” Hope that God will not abandon me, his special ‘project’ or ‘workmanship’, hope that no matter what I do I will never be separated from God’s love (Rom. 8:38).
I’d like to conclude with a story I heard this week coming from North Korea, a story of hope in the midst of despair and of how God uses these moments to change lives. This story was told by the “Voice of the Martyrs” organization shortly after a Christian teen died in a prison camp after being deprived of food but remained unwilling to recant his belief in Christ.
A Christian couple found themselves sentenced to the same camp, with the same prospects for extended lives as the faithful Christian teen who died before his 20th birthday. However, they were there only a few days when the camp's top officer, 'Rhee,' ordered their release.
A few days later, they heard the knocking at their door.
It was Rhee. He wanted to talk to them further. 'I have tortured and killed many people,' he told them, 'but since the death of this young man I have been troubled.’ Rhee also told them the story of the teen's courage and cheerful attitude, even as his body was failing.
The couple told the prison warden why the teen, code-named "Pencil" before he was dispatched into North Korea to spread the Gospel of Jesus, was different. They introduced him to Jesus. When they finished sharing and praying together, Rhee invited them to come home with him. Inside Rhee's large home eight family members were gathered as well as several other soldiers who worked at the camp and their families.
The report said the families listened as the couple presented the story of Jesus, his death on the cross and his resurrection.
Rhee was shocked when his own mother stepped forward and said for 50 years she had been a secret Christian. 'I am no longer ashamed of my faith,' she said, then turned to the rest of the people gathered in the room. 'Who wants to have Jesus in their heart?' All hands were raised and a baptismal service followed immediately, VOM reported.
To those suffering hardship, grief, stress, and loss. To those who feel like Jacob wandering alone in the world. To those who feel as if there is no way out of their pain and sorrow: There is always hope.
|
