This Easter with all the celebration and excitement around the hope we have in Jesus… it feels like it’s much easier for me to be reminded of moments of hopelessness than it is anything else.
What about you? When you think of hope…. Are you more inclined to think of what you are anticipating… or the times hope has been seemingly shattered?
Even still… Easter is a day we celebrate hope. But as we read through the Old Testament, it doesn’t seem like I’m alone in my inclination to feel hopeless.
The ancient Israelites felt a constant anticipation of a future that was better than their present circumstance. A feeling of excitement, giddiness, and even uncertainty about what was to come. That experience is one we all know… and would call Hope. A state of anticipation that is crucial for a healthy human existence… and a really important concept throughout the Scriptures.
There are many words for “hope” in the ancient languages of the Bible. But in the Old Testament, there are two main Hebrew words translated as hope… yakhal and qavah… and they both mean “to wait.”
But when these words are used in the Hebrew Scriptures… what are the Israelites waiting on?
Based on what was recorded by the Prophets during the dark days of Israel’s self-destruction and exile… the only hope they held onto was in God Himself.
These same words for hope are recorded over 40 times in the Psalms as well… including Psalm 42 verse 11.
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope (yakhal) in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God. (Psalm 42:11)
It's through this poem we will look at the events surrounding the resurrection of Jesus.
In our Bibles, Chapters 42 and 43 divide this poem up, but it is really one poem about being in the presence of God. Contextually, it is more specifically about someone who has experienced the presence of God in the Temple in Jerusalem. The poet holds onto the memory of being close to God in the Temple, all while feeling a deep ache and sense of loss because he is not near the Temple anymore while he’s in exile.
The poet goes through a state of depression at the beginning of chapter 42, longing for God, until he remembers what it was actually like being in God’s presence. He’s a long way from Jerusalem and knows in theory that YHWH is with him even in exile. He can pray to YHWH, but the poet still feels like there is a great distance separating them.
His enemies oppress him, he’s taunted, and he just wants to be back in Jerusalem… the place where he could sense God’s presence, and everyone worshipped God together. And as he remembers all of that… he reminds himself to hope… which isn’t the same as hoping… but sometimes reminding ourselves to hope is all we can manage.
Then, in what we have as Psalm 43, the problem is zeroed in on. The poet is not just physically distant from the house of God…. He is surrounded by people who live radically opposed to God. Ungodly, untrustworthy, unjust. He hits his lowest point… and prays:
Send me your light and your truth,
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God. (Psalm 43:3-4)
He's a long way from Jerusalem and deeply desires to return with joy. But he also speaks some truth into the situation… when everything about you is down and depressed… when you feel like you just can’t go on… the light of God and His truth are precisely what you need.
And then he returns to the refrain:
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope (yakhal) in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God. (Psalm 43:5)
Can any of us relate to this poem? A sadness, a longing, despair… wanting nothing more than to know you are in the presence of God?
As I read on to Luke chapter 24, I can't help but think of this scene: verse 13 of chapter 24 takes us to the afternoon of the first Easter day. The last week had been eventful to say the least. The disciples witnessed the brutal crucifixion of their rabbi, the one they had come to believe as the Messiah the Hebrew Scriptures pointed to, the one on whom ALL their hopes rested.
And Easter morning contains strange events of its own. Rumors of visions and an empty tomb are swirling…even the women who went to the tomb found it empty with the stone rolled away… and while they were trying to figure it out, two (what we think were angels) asked the women why they look for the living among the dead and reminded them of the very words Jesus himself said: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” (Luke 24:7) … and the disciples have heard all of these rumors… and feel sorrow, suspense, uncertainty, powerlessness, fear… met with excitement and hope…
They had hoped that just as Israel had been redeemed from slavery in Egypt, that God through Jesus would redeem Israel and liberate them once and for all from their oppressors.
You see, it is vital that we grasp the central point Luke is trying to convey in verse 21… “We had hoped he was the one.” We had hoped that all of the historical precedence, the prophetic promises, the songs of the Psalmist… would come true in Jesus.
But what they hadn't yet realized was that "They crucified him- but we had hoped he would redeem Israel" would quickly become "They crucified him- and that was HOW he redeemed Israel."
And just so we are clear this also isn’t just optimism. No… Christian hope transcends optimism. Resurrection hope is a choice to wait for and partner with God to bring about a future that is as surprising as a crucified man rising from the dead. It’s more than optimism… and it’s more than the pain we endure right now. It’s something that doesn’t necessarily bring redemption from suffering… but rather… through suffering.
Resurrection hope looks back to the risen Jesus, so that we can move forward. Let the light and truth of the risen Christ burn within you today.
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