Hope
Dr. Larry Thorson
Luke 1:30-38
30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have
found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are
to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most
High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will
reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
34 "How will this be," Mary asked the
angel, "since I am a virgin?"
35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will
come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy
one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative
is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to
conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail."
38 "I am the Lord's servant," Mary
answered. "May it be to me according to your word." Then the angel
left her.
Today’s New
International Version Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society
Every year at this time certain decorations appear
in the sanctuary thanks to a committed group of volunteers. There’s a Christmas tree, a nativity set in
the narthex (lobby), garland draped from the
balcony and there’s something else… What
is that something else?
It’s an Advent
Wreath. My family has one on our kitchen
table as probably many of you do. It’s
an ancient Christian tradition marking the weeks leading up to Christmas. Each week we light one additional candle
until we arrive on Christmas Eve and light the Christ candle in the center that
signifies we have come to the birthday of the Savior.
The Advent Wreath has a real simple task, help us
count down the weeks until Christmas.
Each Sunday the Advent Wreath has a different theme to prepare us for the
coming of the Savior. The first week starts
with hope. Next Sunday it’s peace. The third Sunday is joy. The fourth Sunday is Savior. In case you’re wondering, the joy candle is
the pink candle in our church. I’ll
explain that when we get to it on the third Sunday. Hope, peace, joy and Savior.
Today we look at hope. The opposite of hope is despair. When I served a church in upscale
Now we all know that hope can’t be purchased. It’s not magic dust sprinkled on us by
Tinkerbelle. We also know that hope
isn’t the same for everyone. Since
August when I pulled a hamstring, my biggest hope has been to be able to go
running. Even though Dr. Pam, my
chiropractor said that I wouldn’t be able to run on it until after Thanksgiving,
every week I’d try running and my hope would be dashed when the pain
returned. As much as running was my
hope, I can safely say that would not be the same hope our middle school
students have in PE.
Think about what gives you hope. If you’re over 50, being able to get your
body out of bed in the morning gives you hope that the day might not be too
bad. Maybe it’s a phone call from
someone saying they’re coming to see you.
Maybe it’s the stock market reports. Well, probably not.
What do you think hope was for Mary? If Mary was alive today living in
For a teenage girl in Mary’s day, she would have
hoped for three things; a loving husband capable of supporting her family,
healthy children and a long life. Those
were about the only hopes of first century females. Without the husband, there were no children. Without the husband there was little
income. Without the husband…long life
was definitely more likely!
Enter the angel Gabriel with a message
of hope for Mary in the passage we read earlier… 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son,
and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son
of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33
and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never
end."
Notice,
there is no mention of the future husband.
Of course we know that she was already engaged to Mr. Wonderful, Joseph,
a young tradesman from
Her hope was in her yet to be born son who was
destined for greatness. But first off remember
she didn’t even have a son at this point.
Secondly, someone from a working class family doesn’t normally have a
son who grows up to be a leader of the free world. Imagine someone saying to a white Ann Dunham
in 1961 when she was engaged to be married to a Kenyan student named Barrack
Obama that her son would one day be the President of the
Hope
doesn’t have to be based on precedent.
For example a doctor says you have a 90% chance of recovery. Those odds sound pretty good don’t they? But those odds give you hope only because you
choose to make them hopeful. If three of
your cousins were in that 10% who didn’t recover then those doctor’s words
would be scary, not hopeful.
Gabriel’s prophecy to Mary could give her hope of
having a wonderful son and a purpose in life or they could be terrifying
words. Having a baby out of wedlock in
those days would be scary enough but what might her fiancé do when he found out. She could lose the love of her life, her
wedding, her only source of a decent income and her dignity. So were Gabriel’s words hopeful or terrifying
or both?
Terry Anderson was a chief
After Terry was released he was asked
what had enabled him to survive this awful experience and he answered without
hesitation, “My faith, my companions, and my stubbornness.” Then he was asked “Terry, did you ever lose
hope?” Terry Anderson said, “Hard question... Of course, I had some blue
moments, moments of despair, but fortunately, right after I became a hostage,
one of the first things that fell into my hands was a Bible. Over the last 6 ½
years as a captive, I have spent a lot of time with the Bible... and that
helped me so much because it’s about hope; it’s about trust in God, and that’s
what gave me the strength to make it through each day.” And then Terry Anderson
said, “You do what you have to do. Faith helps you to do what you have to do. I
spent a lot of time with the Bible and it reminded me to do the best I could
each day... and to trust God for the future.”[1]
This week you will either find
something hopeful in the events of your days or you’ll find something dreadful
and it may be just the way you look at it.
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.”[2]
A
number of years ago researchers performed an experiment to see the effect hope
has on those undergoing hardship. Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in
separate tubs of water. The researchers left one set in the water and found
that within an hour they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically
lifted out of the water and then returned. When that happened, the second set
of rats swam for over 24 hours. Why? Not because they were given a rest, but
because they suddenly had hope!
Those
animals somehow hoped that if they could stay afloat just a little longer,
someone would reach down and rescue them. If hope holds such power for
unthinking rodents, how much greater should its effect be on our lives.[3]
Clare Boothe Luce’s life
is a story of hope. She was born in 1903-
the 2nd illegitimate child of a dancer who moved frequently, staying near her father
who was married to someone else until 1912 while her mother became a high dollar
call girl. Clare’s first husband became an alcoholic and the marriage
ended in divorce. Then she lost close friend to suicide.
But Clare went a different path than
those in her past. She started as a
administrative assistant, became an associate editor of Vogue magazine, a playwright,
and Congresswoman representing
Her greatest challenge in life was when
her daughter, a senior at
May you not grow hopeless about your
situation today. I recommend that during
this Advent you start each morning in the gospel of Luke and try to find what
is hopeful in the words that you read.
Sometimes you’re so discouraged and so despairing from week after week
of set backs and disappointments that you can’t find hope in anything. But it’s there.
If you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior
there’s a silver lining in every event. Difficult
times are like dark clouds that block the warmth of the sun. But when we look more closely at the edges of
the clouds often you can see that silver lining from the sun.
God loves us so very much. Don’t miss that love by focusing on what’s
wrong. Hope in the unseen. Focus on what’s possible. Look forward to what God has in store for us
because of what he did in Jesus Christ.
Happy Advent.