Gordon E. Ellis
March 13, 2005
CHRISTIANS ARE PRISONERS OF HOPE
A number of years ago, a man named Peter Niewiek learned he had CANCER. His doctors told him that, even though they BELIEVED the disease to be TREATABLE, Peter’s PROGNOSIS was UNCERTAIN. More TESTS were needed and SPECIALISTS had to be consulted. SO, Peter began that very DIFFICULT period between getting a DIAGNOSIS and beginning TREATMENT. During that period, Peter felt very OUT of control and ANXIOUS. Well, always the OPTIMIST, his WIFE insisted they go on with their USUAL activities and try to feel as NORMAL as possible. She recommended a HIKE around a mountain LAKE they’d NEVER visited. 2 FRIENDS decided to join them. Well, EVERYTHING was just BEAUTIFUL! They EVEN stumbled upon a little mountain LODGE in the WOODS, and were so TAKEN by it that Peter’s wife TRIED to book a ROOM for the following weekend. She was TOLD, however, that the LODGE was so POPULAR that they didn’t have a SINGLE vacancy until the same month the NEXT year. SHE said: Then go ahead and MAKE us a reservation. Well, THAT’S when Peter broke DOWN in front of his friends. He said: LOOK at this place! The TREES, the LAKE, the MOUNTAIN – they’re ALL so PERMANENT! And I have NEVER felt so MORTAL! Here we are making reservations for next YEAR, and I probably won’t even BE here next year! I’d LOVE to COME, but I’m AFRAID to HOPE that much! (William Miller, The Joy of Feeling Good, 1986)
Well, that LINE really STRUCK me: I’m AFRAID to HOPE that much. I mean: THAT must be how MARTHA feels in our Scripture Lesson. Jesus arrives at her home, but her brother, LAZARUS, is already DEAD. SO, Martha GREETS Jesus with words that show her HOPE to be WANING. She says: Lord, IF you had BEEN here, my brother would not have DIED. Jesus reassures her that her brother WILL rise again. And MARTHA speaks for ALL of us saying: I KNOW that he will rise again -- in the RESURRECTION on the LAST day… But then, she STOPS. And what’s IMPORTANT here is NOT what she SAYS, but what she DOESN’T say, because I believe that what she DOESN’T say is this: I KNOW he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day… but not NOW! He’s been in the tomb 4 days already! I KNOW you can work MIRACLES, and I’d LOVE to have him BACK with us, but I’m afraid to HOPE that much! And THOSE are words that ALL of us would say, and maybe HAVE.
Our OTHER Scripture Lesson tells us how, 2400 years ago, the Spirit of God summoned the prophet, EZEKIEL, to walk in ANOTHER cemetery, a VALLEY of scattered, dry BONES. And of course, DRY bones have NO marrow! DRY bones are HOLLOW! DRY bones are BLEACHED and YELLOWED! And the DRY bones in THIS valley numbered in the thousands and thousands, ALL representing the nation of JUDAH, which had been destroyed by the great SUPERPOWER of THAT day, BABYLON. And the SURVIVORS had been carted off into EXILE to live in Babylonian GHETTOS. Well, the years have FLOWN by since then! And NOW they wonder: Will we FOREVER remain in EXILE in this HORRID land? Our BONES are dried up, and our HOPE is LOST!
They’re NOT pretty pictures in our Scripture Lessons today, are they: a valley of DRY BONES and a TOMB containing the body of a beloved BROTHER for 4 days? Tell me: have YOU ever felt like it was just too PAINFUL to continue HOPING? Have YOU ever felt like you just wanted to LEAVE your old worn-out hopes BEHIND and start a NEW life? I mean: it just STARVES and HARDENS our HEARTS to keep hoping and hoping, when ALL hope seems LOST, doesn’t it?
HOWEVER, today’s Scripture Lessons tell us that there ARE times when the Spirit of God TAKES us by the hand and LEADS us into the PRIVATE cemeteries that we ALL keep HIDDEN in our HEARTS, cemeteries that are NOT UNLIKE that place where the Spirit took EZEKIEL, OR that place where JESUS took Martha and Mary. And THERE, in our PRIVATE little cemeteries, hidden in our STONE cold HEARTS, the Spirit CONFRONTS us with WHAT we have BURIED in those TOMBS. Maybe we’ve BURIED there the JOY that has gone OUT of our marriage; or our FEELINGS for our CHILD who no longer LISTENS to us, but seems BENT on self-destruction; or a FRIENDSHIP that we once treasured, but is now DEAD. Yes, THAT’S where we BURY all the HOPES that are just too PAINFUL to keep on NURSING. And those hopes NOW seem like DRY BONES: CRACKED and HOLLOW, BLEACHED and YELLOWED. And YET, under the Spirit’s GUIDANCE, AS we stand in the PRIVATE little CEMETERY of our HEART, something WITHIN us whispers a HOLY and HOPE-FILLED question: Can these bones LIVE? And we answer: THESE bones? THIS marriage? THIS son or daughter? THIS friendship? THIS sister? I don’t THINK so! They’ve been in the TOMB a long time, you know. They’re VERY dry. And there’s a SMELL about these old HOPES past hoping! Maybe, Lord, we should just look someplace ELSE for signs of LIFE, because quite frankly, I’ve just grown TIRED of HOPING. I’m TIRED of the PAIN of carrying these BROKEN dreams, these BROKEN people, and these BROKEN promises! I’m TIRED of OPEN wounds that NEVER seem to heal! And in our most HONEST prayers, we say: Lord, I’m just AFRAID to HOPE that much.
But you know, there ARE people in this world who are NOT like US, because THEY are people who go on HOPING against hope LONGER than WE can even IMAGINE. For example: through the years, I’ve had a COUPLE opportunities to meet and talk with Desmond Tutu, the Anglican Archbishop of South Africa. And ALL during Apartheid and its horrors, while so MANY in his country were just SURE that a devastating RACE war was INEVITABLE, Desmond Tutu remained POSITIVE, EVEN in the face of great RIDICULE. Well, one day, a group of us in Rhode Island ASKED him: Bishop, WHY do you continue to hold out HOPE for a peaceful SOLUTION to this crisis? It just doesn’t seem possible. It seems so HOPELESS now! He just SMILED one of his unforgettable smiles and answered in words that I will NEVER forget: Because I am a CHRISTIAN and a CHRISTIAN is a PRISONER of hope.
You know: to THIS day, I’ve NEVER heard a BETTER definition of what it means to be a CHRISTIAN. A Christian is a PRISONER of HOPE! THAT is our LEGACY! You know: when Jesus was CRUCIFIED, His disciples SCATTERED and SOME went back to FISHING. And while they may NOT have said a WORD about Jesus as they cast out their nets, I’m SURE they WONDERED, EACH in his or her own SECRET heart, whether the One who had brought LAZARUS back from the dead might HIMSELF return from the dead. You see: they KNEW Jesus; and therefore, THEY were prisoners of HOPE! And THAT’S who WE are called to be TODAY. WE are called to have HOPE, EVEN when things seem HOPELESS. And THAT’S because we ALSO know JESUS, the RISEN Christ! And THROUGH Him, we know that GOD is ALWAYS at work, transforming CRUCIFIXIONS of EVERY kind into RESURRECTIONS, transforming death into NEW life all over the place, and transforming PAIN into JOY. And that KNOWLEDGE, that eternal TRUTH, MAKES us PRISONERS of HOPE!
I’ll ALSO never forget a man telling me, a few years ago, how on the 50th Anniversary of D-Day, he went to NORMANDY, in France. It was NOT a vacation for him, but a PILGRIMAGE. HE, and many other survivors of D-DAY, gathered there. He said that he felt like the HORSE that returns to the barn, even though the barn is BURNING. It was SO painful to go BACK, and yet he just COULDN’T stay AWAY. WHY? I asked. Well, he was RETIRED now. And for nearly 50 years, his CAREER, his KIDS and all the DEMANDS of life had OCCUPIED him. But all THAT was OVER now, and he was ALONE most of the time, and his 50-year old questions now DEMANDED answers. He KNEW that he had LOCKED away ALL of his HURT and NEVER allowed himself to HEAL. SO, he returned to FRANCE with a heart of STONE that had been ENTOMBED for HALF a century, FULL of memories he’d been UNABLE to talk about and EMOTIONS he hadn’t ALLOWED himself to FEEL. But for ALL those years, his D-DAY experience had been WORKING on him, sort of PERCOLATING inside of him. Well, WHEN he got there, he FOUND that he was drawn, IRRESISTIBLY, to the CEMETERIES of Normandy. And he said that he CARRIED with him the SURVIVOR’S curse, the GUILTY question: WHY did I survive when so many good young soldiers are BURIED here -- good young soldiers on BOTH sides of that HORRIFIC struggle -- WHY? He also spoke of the BURDEN that he had carried ALL those years, the burden of having to ACCOMPLISH something in order to PROVE that his was LIFE worthwhile. WHY? I asked. Because the lives of his dead BUDDIES had been CUT so TRAGICALLY short, and somehow, he felt like HE had to REDEEM the deaths of those THOUSANDS who had NOT survived. Friends, what a WEIGHT to carry! And what a WEIGHT to carry ALONE! SO, he said, I WENT to Normandy with FEAR, but ALSO with HOPE, that SOMEHOW the BONES of my young friends would ANSWER me in some way, and somehow TELL me that I had done RIGHT by them. And he said that, in Normandy, he CRIED for the FIRST time in 50 years! And THEN he said: And I ALSO found the WORDS to come back home and finally TELL my CHILDREN what I had SEEN and HEARD over there 50 years ago, such UNSPEAKABLE horror, that it was hell on earth.
Well friends, that POOR old man found his HEART of STONE transformed in Normandy into a HEART of FLESH. It was a PAINFUL gift, but to HIM, it was SUCH a PRECIOUS gift. And it was HEALING beyond measure! Well, I sense that THAT is what ALL of us want for MOST of our lives: even though it HURTS. WE want a HEART of FLESH! It’s like at the END of the movie, The Wizard of Oz. The TIN MAN has traveled ALL the way to Emerald City in search of a HEART. And the WIZARD tells him: YOU don’t know how LUCKY you are NOT to have one. Hearts will NEVER be PRACTICAL until they can be made UNBREAKABLE. But the Tin Man replies: But I still WANT one! Friends, the TIME will come -- and it may SEEM like FOREVER, but it’s NOT, so DON’T give up HOPE -- the TIME will come when God will OPEN that stone cold TOMB that IS your heart and REPLACE it with a heart of FLESH! Yes, God will give a heart of FLESH to those whose MARRIAGES have gone STALE, those whose CHILDREN have become UNMANAGEABLE, and those whose MEMORIES are just TOO PAINFUL to talk about. You see: OUR God is always FAITHFUL, and ALWAYS working ALL things for GOOD. OUR God is a REDEEMING God! And THAT’S why we CAN and MUST remain HOPEFUL! It’s because KNOWING that TRUTH, that Good News of the Gospel, makes EVERYONE who can truly COMPREHEND it a PRISONER of HOPE!
I BEGAN my sermon today by telling you about Peter Niewiek, who was SO afraid to HOPE that he wasn’t able to plan his NEXT year’s VACATION. Well, let me tell you the REST of Peter’s story. Peter did NOT get to go to that beautiful mountain lodge the next year. Oh, it’s NOT that anything happened to PETER. In fact, his CANCER went into sustained REMISSION. BUT, something DID happen to the MOUNTAIN! You see: the LODGE where Peter and his wife had booked reservations was Harmony Falls Lodge. And the LAKE next to it was SPIRIT Lake. And the MOUNTAIN above it ALL was Mount St. Helens. And BEFORE that year was up, the LAKE and the LODGE, the TREES and MUCH of the MOUNTAIN itself – ALL the things that PETER thought were so PERMANENT – were ALL GONE forever, blown away by a GREAT volcanic ERUPTION.
And, as Peter tells his story in his book, The Joy of Feeling Good, he TESTIFIES to both the CURSE, AND the BLESSING, of being held PRISONER by a thing called HOPE. Friends, don’t EVER forget today’s MESSAGE: to be a CHRISTIAN is to be a PRISONER of HOPE. Amen.
(My thanks to my colleague, Scott Dalgarno)