This time of the year, we splatter words like Hope, Joy, and Peace on everything. Take Hope for instance. How many times do we tell someone, "Hope you have a great day" ... "Hope you get to feeling better" ... "Hope things work out for you."
What do we really mean by Hope? Are we speaking out of faith? Out of conviction? On what basis can wish someone hope? For some Hope is as shallow and sentimental as it sounds. It's white noise, Hallmark mush, Christian speak. It's little more than a hallow wish. When most people offer Hope they're not implying there is any real or substantive basis to Hope. What they're really saying is, "I hope the dice roll in your favor! I hope you'll strike the lottery! I hope something great falls from sky.
I hope something good ‘just happens'!"
Another thing, when we wish someone Hope, we seldom imply any sort of obligation or involvement on our part. Hope? That's between you and God. That's between you, Mother Nature, and fate itself. That's between you and Government bureaucrats, you and someone else. It's like when we see a person in distress and whisper to ourselves, "Poor soul, I hope someone stops to help them..." Or we see a problem and say, "Gee, I hope someone will do something about that..."
When we offer Hope, it's usually void of God or any personal obligation. May it not be. May something else be. Happy Holidays! Happy New Year! Happy Happy.
Let me ask. As a Christian person. This Christmas season... Do we have anything more to offer than a warm, and sentimental, and uninvolved "Hope"? Does our Hope make any worldly difference?
What if we were to consider our Christmas Hope in its original context, in Bethlehem, over 2000 years ago, at time of Jesus' birth? What did Hope mean before modern medicine, running water, cars-trains-automobiles-and jet engines, the Internet, and iPhones? What do you hope for this Christmas? And what did people Hope for 2000 years ago, at the time Jesus was born? What did people Hope for the 6000 years of recorded human history before Jesus was born?
Take the very first Christmas. Imagine you were a Jewish person, living in Bethlehem, in Judea, in Israel, during the reign of the Roman Empire. In his book, "Killing Jesus" Fox News theologian Bill O'Reilly {joke} describes the social-political realities of 1st Century Bethlehem. (His book is actually quite informative).
The reigning monarch, at the time of Jesus' birth, was a dying half-Jewish, half-Arab tyrant named Herod. The notorious, aging, bloated, obese, gout-afflicted Herod was known for his cruelty, and penchant for killing anyone posing a threat to his throne.
What kind of cruelty? Hanging. Stoning. Strangulation. Fire. Sword. Live animals. Snakes. Beatings. Making victims leap off buildings to their death. Herod's cruelty evoked fear throughout the land. No one was safe in all Judea. Herod was known even to execute his own wives, and offspring. Caesar Augustus, the Roman Emperor, said of Herod, "It's better to be Herod's pig than to be his son."
Of course, Herod's cruelty was only surpassed by that of the Romans, under Caesar. The Romans had mastered the art of torture and persecution. They had mastered the art of putting down troublemakers and revolutionaries in the most harsh and horrific fashion. Not even Herod dared to use the Roman's chosen manner of execution: death by crucifixion. In crucifixion the victim was flogged, stripped naked, and nailed upon a wooden cross in plain sight outside the city walls. The goal was to maximize the humiliation of the victim and their family. And the goal was to evoke fear, as crucifixion was the single most cruel, and excruciatingly slow manners of death known in that day.
Once the Romans put down an uprising of 7000 slaves, led by a rebel named Spartacus. To send a message, Caesar ordered that the thousands of men captured be crucified along a 240 mile line of crosses stretching from Naples to Rome.
During his childhood, Jesus would have witnessed the massacre of 3000 Jewish Pilgrims in the temple, ordered by the Romans. He would have also witnessed the mass crucifixions of nearly 2000 Jewish rebels outside Jerusalem's city walls... crucifixions intended to quell further rebellion.
Some other things worth pointing out... For Jesus, his diet would have been wheat, olives, onions, lentils. Fish would have been as rare as red meat, lamb, and eggs. The average hardworking person, including someone like Jesus, would have suffered in poverty, w/maybe one shirt on their back. They would have suffered unbearable taxation, and exorbitant interest rates. There was a 100% interest rate on oil; 25% interest on grain. Poor families often lost their homes and inheritances, to become beggars. Some families were forced to sell their children to creditors as debt slaves.
So Hope isn't, "Look how good we have it today!" or "Wow, things could be so much worse!"
No, for Hope to be substantive is has to speak to the harshest, most cruel, most painful realities of humanity. It also has to speak to mankind universally.
Is Hope only for some, but not for others? Is it just for the Roman and not the Jew? Is it just for men, or for women too? Is it just for the free, not slaves? Is it just for the rich and affluent, not the poor? Is it just for the healthy, or also the sick? What about the diseased, crippled, blind, mute, mentally ill, demon-possessed? What the marginalized? What about those branded as murderers, adulterers, thieves... stigmatized as beggars, sinners, traitors, religious, irreligious, tax-collectors? Is Hope only for good people? Is there any Hope for evil people? What about for Roman soldiers, Roman Tyrants, Roman executioners?
So Hope isn't merely academic inquiry. What real, substantive Hope is there for us to actually embrace in such a dark world?
Between the Old Testament and New Testament, the people of God waited in silence for nearly 400 years. No angels appeared. No miracles occurred. There were no burning bushes. No writing on the wall. No judges, kings, or prophets. Not a single redeemer or savior appeared. Just waiting. The people of God, under Roman oppression, simply waited.
What were they waiting for? They were waiting and HOPING for God to speak, to act, to send his Christ, the Messiah, a Savior, a new Lord and King! They were waiting and HOPING for God to re-establish the throne of King David, for God himself to appear in his Temple, for God to establish his reign over his people forever!
Hope is great. But there has to solid basis to hope, else it's just wishful thinking. If I were to say to a Jewish family, "Hope the Christ comes. Hope a Savior appears. Hope God overthrows Herod and Caesar, and establishes his throne in Jerusalem..."... what would be my basis for ever thinking it might actually come to pass?
Hope is not a throw of the dice. It's not a blind hail mary pass into the end zone. For the average Jewish family, hope was something deeply anchored in the Living God, in their history. Hope was knowing those things that have always been, and will always be true about God. Hope was knowing what you count on NO MATTER WHAT because they make up the very fabric of God's character... because God is always committed to certain things... because he never betrays his own integrity.
Three things we should always remember about God...
Remember, God loves mercy
When Jesus was born, Mary breaks out singing to God. In Luke 1:46-50, she sings, "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on, all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me--holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation."
It's that last verse I want you to pay close attention to. First, God's mercy covers those who revere God. Second, this has been true generation after generation. Throughout history, God has continually poured out mercy on his people. And he hasn't
done so begrudgingly. Mercy is God's compassion, kindness, forgiveness. God LOVES showing mercy. His deepest DELIGHT is extending mercy.
When it comes to mercy, how many of us can say we LOVE showing mercy? Often, we show mercy with a tinge of contempt. We might say "I forgive," but we do so with an air of superiority, we're like, "Oh all right, if God says so! But you don't
deserve it." God's not like us. He loves mercy. He is slow to anger, and abounding in love.
Remember, God loves justice
In Luke 1:51-55 Mary sings about justice, "God has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their innermost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. He has filled
the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors."
Justice is fairness. Beware, God loves whatever is holy, righteous, and good. And God's wrath is against whatever is unholy, unrighteous, and unfair. I heard a congresswoman make a profound statement this past week... that without justice, there will
be no peace. Justice, fairness, is the basis for peace. The whole history of Israel demonstrates how God uses the weak and foolish things of the world to shame the strong and wise things of the world. God's eye is upon the weak and poor, the
marginalized and shamed, the bullied and harassed. What would it look like for God's mercy and justice to break in upon 1st century Bethlehem in Judea in Israel?
Remember, God loves faithfulness
In Luke 1:68-75, Zechariah (the father of John Baptist), sings, "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said
through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us--to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of
our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days."
God loves faithfulness. He is unswervingly loyal. He doesn't abandon those who fear him. God remembers his holy covenant. When God swears something on oath, upon the character of his own name, he accomplishes it. 1 Timothy 2:13 says, "If we
are faithless, God remains faithful, because he cannot disown himself!"
Generation after generation has known the mercy, justice, and faithfulness of God. You cry out for mercy, God will show you mercy. You cry out for justice, God will show you justice. You cry out for God to remember his ancient promises--God is
faithful to honor ALL of his promises ALWAYS. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ."
Mercy, Justice, and Faithfulness are the very fabric of God's character. Our basis for hope is counting on God's mercy to show up, his justice and faithfulness to show up! Indeed, God's mercy, justice, and faithfulness showed up that first Christ, in a
manger!
John 3:16-17 says, "For God so loved the world, he gave his One and Only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
Jude 1:2 says, "Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance."
And what about Justice? Through Isaiah the prophet, regarding Jesus, God said, "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope." (Matthew 12:18-21)
In Luke 4:18-19 Jesus announces to his hometown, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recover of sight for the blind, and to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Hope isn't some vague, warm sentiment. It's as tangible and real as God himself. This Christmas there is real mercy available, real justice, real hope. And by the way, Hope isn't something we passively wish upon others--we are to participate with God in making hope real.
In Matthew 23:23 Jesus condemned the religious leaders of his day for neglecting the weightier matters of God's law. So what were those weightier matters? I am glad you asked! They failed to practice "mercy, justice, and faithfulness!"
What's the point of preaching Hope this Christmas if we're not going to get our hands dirty?
St. Teresa of Avila once said, "Christ has no body now on earth but yours; No hands but yours; No feet but yours; Yours are the eyes through which is to look out Christ's compassion to the world; Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good; Yours are the hands with which he is to bless now."
There is real HOPE because of who God is. There is real HOPE because we the Church are becoming like God, in his character, not giving lip service to matters of mercy, justice, and faithfulness... but actually practicing mercy.... practicing justice... being faithful as God is faithful. Following through. Loving, forgiving, pressing for fairness, never growing weary in doing good, but remaining faithful.
We aren't just preachers of Hope at Christ, we each in our own way are pictures...portraits of Hope. Hope is the high calling of every Christian!