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 Matthew 28:1-10
Deep within the heart of every human being lies something, which transcends reason and logic. Continually it defies the most brilliant minds. It is often mentioned, rarely studied and hardly appreciated.
It is described in one simple four-letter word. It is hope.
Thomas Carlyle, the English historian and essayist, appreciated hope. "The human being is based on hope," he observed. At another time, he said, "The human being's only possession is hope."
The apostle Paul also had a very deep understanding of hope's power. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, the magnificent essay on love known as First Corinthians, Chapter 13, culminates with a summary of the three things that are most important in our life experience...
"There is faith, there is hope, and there is love. And the greatest of these is love."
No one would argue with that statement. It is profoundly correct. Yet after love, what is next in importance? If I took a poll, most of you would probably say, "Faith comes next." I differ with that. I believe that after love, hope occupies second place. Hope never leaves us. Even when we have lost everything else, we still have hope. Yet in periods of discouragement and darkness, we often lose sight of how necessary hope is. I believe we all need personal symbols to remind us of hope. We can look to them, and go to them, to keep our hope alive. I'd like to tell you about three of my personal hope symbols.
The first of my symbols is the United Nations. Nobody has to be told that the world is now in tremendous conflict, filled with violence, hatred, poverty and need. And many people have become frustrated with the UN. But I live two blocks from it, and I take frequent walks past those majestic buildings. Every time I see the flags of all the nations of the world flying in the wind there, something happens inside me. I feel inspired and lifted up. All the nations, even the warring ones, get around the same table there and talk to each other. So much hope, for me, is in that place.
Just yesterday afternoon, I took a long walk through the UN gardens. There were hundreds of people milling around from so many different parts of the world. They were together and they seemed happy. I continued my walk through a little colonnade that is there by the East River, where I often feel encouragement when seeing young lovers in tight embraces. Then as I left the UN grounds, I crossed First Avenue to a little park where a little obelisk stands and on the wall behind it are some words from Isaiah. I feel encouraged every time I read them...
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, and nation shall not rise up with sword against nation and shall not learn war any more.
Yes, one day, one day, it's going to happen. That's hope.
After the United Nations, my second personal symbol of hope is a block on Madison Avenue, between 36th and 37th Streets. There are a number of trees on that block, and for two weeks every spring they explode into a glorious, full bloom of white flowers. I go there and walk up and down that block each spring, sometimes over and over again. It inspires me. For me, it's hope. It's new life. It tells me I've got another chance.
And then there's my third, ultimate symbol of hope, the bottom-line symbol. It's the Resurrection. I have to confess that there were years in my life when I didn't trust in the Resurrection or believe something so incredible really could have happened. But today, I believe. I believe that Jesus came out of that tomb, in some form. I believe He manifested Himself to His disciples and to other people. And I believe that those discouraged, depressed people came back to life. Every single one of them, except Judas, gave their lives so that others might have life in all its fullness.
The Resurrection tells the story and gives us the gift of - what? Of hope. It says that we must keep going, no matter what happens to us. No matter what losses or misfortunes we experience, we cannot let hope die. We must keep it alive.
Even if you are at the lowest point, where hope is reduced to the faintest breath - as thin as the thinnest piece of thread - keep it intact and keep it going. Because even then, hope possesses enormous power that transcends logic and reason. If you can keep it alive, one day God will take that little bit of hope and bring it into your own resurrection.
Many of us at Marble Church participated in the life of a man who, for three or four years, had practically lost hope. His name was Emory Ward. Emory was a member of this church for at least sixty years. For many of those years, he was one of our Elders. He was married to a lady named Peggy, and they had a relationship that was wonderfully gracious, loving, soft and tender.
Many years ago, when I was young and surer of myself than I am now, I made a rather bold statement in a sermon I gave. I said, "Married couples who say they have never had an argument either have their heads in the sand or they're not telling the truth."
After I said that, there was a feeling of affirmation in the congregation. People seemed to say, "That's true, that's true." Yet later that week, Peggy Ward saw me in a hallway and said, "Arthur, you said something in your sermon that Emory and I disagree with. We've been married forty-five years, and we have never had an argument." I had been in their home many times, and I know what she said was true.
But then, Peggy died. And when Peggy died, Emory was bereft. He went into a deep, deep pit. He struggled and suffered. One of the things about Emory Ward, however, is that even though his hope almost gave out, he kept the search alive and kept trying.
The following year, many of us got a Christmas letter from Emory. It was the most extraordinary Christmas letter anyone could ever receive. There was a buzz all around our church as people asked each other, "Did you get that letter from Emory?" "Yes, did you get one, too?" It's a story of hope realized.
Let me quote from that letter Emory sent to his wide circle of loved ones...
Dear Friend and Good Samaritan:
You have given me a priceless gift: a memory of love that lasts forever! It is a miracle that is happening even now with every stroke of my pen... memories of happy yesterdays that suddenly live again and become a part of my life.
It was while I was struggling through my own Armageddon that I discovered the amazing therapeutic miracle of memory that kept me alive after I lost the greatest blessing God ever gave me.
Peg and I were an inseparable team. We did everything together. So when she died, I died too. And after she left, I stumbled through endless days and endless nights of sheer benumbing loneliness and an existence that seemed futile and hopeless. The loneliness reached its most depressing moments when I returned to my room and found it lonely and deserted.
But that's when I discovered that memories are one of God's greatest gifts and I learned how to use them as miracle drugs to cure my loneliness.
The secret is, close your eyes and let the memories come alive. For example, I picture myself standing at the front of the center aisle at Marble Collegiate Church. Suddenly I can hear the sound of the Wedding March and I see an angel in white coming down the aisle to meet me. She says "I do!" and suddenly my life is changed, for those two words open the door to 55 years of unbelievable happiness, happiness so wonderful and exciting that we never dreamed it possible.
Or whenever my aging legs are reluctant to move, I close my eyes and Peg and I are climbing the Matterhorn or strolling hand-in-hand around beautiful Lake Louise... Thanks to the miracle of memory I no longer suffer the heartbreaks of loneliness. Instead, I fill my apartment with memories of love, and I can live again.
So on this Christmas I thank you for the happy memories you have added to my life. So I say, "Thanks for the memories. God bless you." They are memories of love that lives forever.
That was a resurrection. A man who was right on the edge almost gave up hope, but never did. When we stay with it, hope has enormous power. God takes hold of it and gives us what He gave to Emory.
I recently had lunch with a very dear friend, Dr. David Kelley, who is both a psychologist and an ordained minister. He asked me what my sermon would be this Sunday, and I told him "Easter Means You Have a Future." He replied, "Oh, that's hope you're talking about."
He told me that when he counsels married couples in his office, they often say to him, "We've tried everything. We don't know how to make this relationship work any more. Everything goes bad."
At those times, he told me, he answers, "Stop. Stop trying. You have brought yourself to a place where you can be helped. The one thing you have to do now is keep hope alive."
Those words make me think of something that happened when my sons were four and six years old. I had taken them to one of these humongous shopping malls, bigger than anything I'd ever seen. And I'd said to them, as always, "Stick with me. Stay close."
Well, within a few minutes they were gone. Three minutes went by, then four minutes, then five minutes, then ten. I waited for them to find their way back to me. Then I looked for them in every aisle. Finally I found them, waiting by an exit door.
My older son Paul said, "Daddy, we knew you would have to come out this door."
In other words, they put themselves in a place where they could be found.
In our conversation, David Kelley and I discussed the fact that Jesus did just that. We discussed how, during the period of Lent, Jesus was less and less able to control the events that were taking place in His life. At last, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He came to the point of saying, "I don't want to want to go through this. I don't understand what's happening to me. Take this cup from me if You can."
Later, on the cross, He became desolate and cried, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" Yet His last words showed that even there, He never completely gave up hope..."Into Thy hands I commit my spirit."
When we do as Jesus did, keeping hope alive and placing ourselves where God can find us, we will be helped. We will find our path from wonderful place to wonderful place, even to a new life. Let us pray.
We thank you, Lord, for the wonder of Easter, for the joy and the miracle of the Resurrection and for the hope that we now have and can depend upon. Lord, help us never to lose hope, but to trust it and keep it alive. Help us to experience resurrection after resurrection after resurrection in our lives. Help us, O God. In Jesus' name we pray. AMEN |
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