“Easter’s Hope”
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Revelation 21:1-6
During the Thirty Years’ War in the 17th
Century, German pastor Paul Gerhardt and his family were forced to flee from
their home. One night as they stayed in
a small village inn, homeless and afraid, his wife broke down and cried openly
in despair. To comfort her, Gerhardt
reminded her of Scripture promises about God’s providence and care. Then, going out to the garden to be alone, he
too broke down and wept, with the feeling that he had come to his darkest hour.
As we all know, life is full of mountains and
valleys, but at times it seems as if the events of life all have a constant
downward slope, if not sometimes a sheer drop off. This week has been one of those times. As a nation, we have just gone through the
deadliest month for our soldiers in
It doesn’t take one long to notice that we live in a
world that struggles against hopelessness. Each one of us, whether nationally,
communally, or individually, has these moments when it seems that life is
nothing but a downward spiral of sorrow and despair.
For some, hopelessness can manifest itself in moments
following a major loss of life: a loved one, a job, a meaningful relationship,
or even a sense of purpose. For some its
moments tied to habits, addictions, or obsessions, which rob life of joy. Still for others its moments tied to a
profound sense of meaninglessness over senseless acts of violence, or even a
growing cynicism toward political, religious, and business leaders over
scandalous activities and shady deals.
Who among us has not wondered if all hope is lost?
The married couple who seem to always wind up at the
same dead-end of unresolved conflict again and again. The person who continues to
sink deeper and deeper into depression and anxiety. The single parent
who works a full-time job by day, serves as both mother and father by night,
and wonders how long he or she can keep it up.
The person who has to care for a dying spouse. The child who has to care
for an aging or dying parent. A
generation of young people who seem to be easy marks for drugs, STD’s, abuse,
or the pain of a broken family. A family living in a crime-ridden neighborhood or war-torn city.
Who among us as not stood in the midst of the valley
of hopelessness and sensed death in the midst of life? Who among us has not faced a situation in
which any possibility of restoration seems scarcely possible, if not ruled out
completely? Who among us has not
wondered if all hope is lost?
In our text from Ezekiel, the prophet stands in the
midst of the valley hopelessness, the valley of dry bones, bones that are
disconnected and weathered and strewn all over the floor of the forgotten
valley. These are the bones of the
Israelites, people experiencing death in the midst of life.
The Assyrians had defeated the
The royal leadership had been wiped out, religious and intellectual leadership taken with the rest of the people
into exile. Everything had been lost: land, livelihood, national identity. They were a people who had lost all hope for
the future. They were a people so dead
in hopelessness that they were not even sure they could believe in God
anymore.
But then something
happens. God acts. God does the impossible. God raises the dead to life again. The prophet speaks the word of the Lord,
speaks the word of hope in the midst of hopelessness, and becomes the agent of
God’s resurrection work, a faithful messenger who remembers the promises of God
amidst the valleys of life.
Through the spoken
message of hope, the bones start to rattle and come together, bone to its
bone. Muscle and flesh and skin begin to
cover them, then the breath of God came into them and they lived, and stood on
their feet, a vast mulitude. God raises
the dead to life again. God restores
hope when all hope seems lost. God has
taken death out of their lives.
In this Easter season,
we too are reminded of the hope we have in Jesus Christ, for Easter’s hope is a
promise that God is not absent from us whether we are on the highest mountain
or deepest valley of life.
Easter’s hope is a
reminder that the hope we have, is found in God alone, for true resurrection
hope belongs only to God. It is God who
raised Jesus from the dead, and it is only God who can bring hope when all hope
seems lost.
Our text from Revelation
is a proclamation that the hope we are talking about is not wishful thinking,
or a superficial optimism that says in the end everything will turn out
okay. Easter’s hope is the radical
worldview that anticipates a time when all that brings hopelessness and despair
will no longer exist, when mourning and crying and pain will be no more.
John in his Revelation has
pinned his hope on God and it is that hope which gives him the courage to
proclaim to other Christians to stand firm in the Lord during their years of
persecution. Easter’s
hope is the radical vision and longing anticipation, the literal straining of
one’s neck to see that which is greater than the world we live in, to see the
God who will wipe every tear from their eyes, who even now is in the process of
making all things new, to see the God who is the Alpha and the Omega, the
beginning and the end, to see the God who gives water to the thirsty from the
spring of the water of life.
It is times like these
that we need God’s hope, because we know that no one is immune from heartaches
and tragedys and sorrows of life. It’s
because life has its ups and downs that we need hope. If life was always experienced upon the
mountain tops, we wouldn’t need hope, but because life also has its valleys, we
need the assurance that God is at work, and the confidence that God’s love will
prevail in the end.
It
is hope that tells us that God does not just sit and watch from heaven, but is
actively involved in our life, that God’s promises have been and will be
fulfilled, that God is even now righting the wrongs, bringing justice where
there is injustice, freedom where there is oppression, and reconciliation where
there is brokenness.
It
is hope that keeps us going in our lives of faith, because it is hope that
reminds us that God will have the final say, that God’s plans will always
prevail.
Hope is what keeps us alive, and connects us to
the future, to the future that is of God’s doing, not our own. Hope makes it possible for us to get started
again when life grinds to a stop. Hope
is what makes it possible for us to go on, giving us the strength to persevere
when life becomes discouraged and frustrated.
Hope is what makes it possible to handle the burdens we face in life,
because it is through hope that we realize God is in control. Hope is what makes it possible to live again,
because hope gives our journey a direction and our life divine meaning and
purpose.
Malcolm Muggeridge was a
very famous and highly respected British journalist and writer, who for many
years was an ardent atheist. His
opinions and thoughts were covered by American publishers and he occasionally
wrote for Time magazine. Toward the end
of his life, he became a Christian.
There is a story about him of when we was a quest speaker at a breakfast
in Washington D.C. where he shared his life story. When he had finished his testimony, he made a
number of comments about world affairs, all of which were very
pessimistic. One person asked him, “Dr.
Muggeridge, you have been very pessimistic.
Don’t you have an reason for optimism?’
Dr. Muggeridge replied, “I could not be more optimistic than I am,
because my hope is in Jesus Christ alone.”
He allowed the remark to settle in for a few seconds, and then he added,
“Just think if the apostolic church had pinned its hopes on the Roman Empire.” (Halverson: The Living Body).
Soon after Paul Gerhardt
broke down and wept, he felt the burden lifted and sensed anew the Lord’s
presence. Taking his pen, he wrote a
hymn that has brought comfort to many with the message of hope:
Give
to the winds thy fears,
Hope and be undismayed.
God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears,
God shall lift up thy head.
Through waves and clouds and
storms,
He gently clears thy way;
Wait thou His time; so shall this night
Soon end in joyous day.
Let us remember the hope that comes from God in
Jesus Christ, and pin our hope on him, for he is the light that breaks into the
darkness of hopelessness and gives us the glory upon which to focus our eyes of
faith. Amen.