H. Michael Brewer
Crescent Springs Presbyterian
2 July 2006
HOPE
Mark 5:21-43
Highland Park was a working-class community in Louisville, a place where people took pride in their
shotgun homes and swept the sidewalks and curbs in front of their property—a nice little neighborhood. Then
the airport expansion took Highland Park. In spite of some protest, City Hall prevailed. Houses were
assessed, checks were cut, assistance was given in relocating people. The saddest part was watching the
neighborhood deteriorate over the next several months. The once-proud residents quit cutting grass, quit
painting fences, quit replacing broken windows, quit sweeping and picking up garbage. Why keep things
spruced up when the bulldozers are on the way?
For a great many people, life in today’s world is like living in Highland Park: no future, no anticipation, no
hope of good things to come. Yet for Christians, hope is vital to who we are, hope is essential to our faith. For
instance, hope is the key ingredient in both of the healing stories we read today. One is the story of a
hemorrhaging woman who has been sick for twelve years. The other is about man whose daughter is
desperately ill. Alas, even as he and Jesus are on their way, the little girl dies. These stories are the very
definition of hopelessness: dead ends, no options, no possibilities. Yet by the end of the chapter, the
bleeding woman is whole and the little girl is alive. Hope is vindicated.
If you look at your life and discover a sense of hopelessness, as Christians what can we do about this?
What is the nature of hope in our faith?
First, hope is the gift of God, not merely a regimen of positive thinking. Hope is a holy blessing God alone
can nurture in us. Hope is God-founded, God-sustained, and God-directed. If we experience an absence of
hope, the first task is to get closer to God, the source of hope. In the Letter to the Colossians, Paul goes so far
as to say that hope is the presence of Christ in you. (Colossians 1:27) At the risk of being glib, if you need
more hope, get more of God, more of Christ, more the living Holy Spirit.
Second, hope is also a choice. God offers us hope, but we choose whether or not to participate in that gift.
It’s as if someone gave you a membership to the gym. What you get out of the gift depends on whether you
use it. Hope is both God’s gift and our response to God’s gift. This’s why Paul warns us not to shift from the
hope God has given us. (Colossians 1:23) If the hemorrhaging woman had said, “This isn’t going to work
anyway. I’m going home,” she would not have been healed. She would have spent the rest of her life in
bondage to her sickness.
What if the desperate father had heeded the well-meant advice of his servant? “Your daughter is dead.
It’s too late. Don’t bother Jesus any further. Come on home and make the burial arrangements.” That little girl
would have been laid in the tomb and that poor man would have spent the rest of his days despising himself
for not going to fetch Jesus an hour sooner. Hope is choosing and acting and living our confidence in God.
Third, Christians do not settle for small hopes like winning the lottery or finding a handy parking meter.
God may well give us those things, but for Christians there is only one great hope. Listen to these words from
Ephesians 4:4-6: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” Our
one great hope is that God is at work and God’s good and loving plans for you and me—plans for our
wholeness, for our salvation— God’s good and loving plans will be worked out.
When you throw a wild basketball down the length of the court in the last two seconds of the game
because, hey, you never know—that’s not hope, not the biblical vision of hope. Christians take chances, run
risks, play long shots, not because “you never know.” No, we can live boldly because we do know. We know
that God is good, God loves us, God’s promises are sure, and God cannot fail.
Which leads to number four. Hope is partly a gift and partly a choice, and it is also a habit. Paul gives the
Roman Christians two exercises by which to strengthen their hope in God. (Romans 15:4) The first exercise
is steadfastness or perseverance. According to Paul (Cf. Romans 5:3-5) steadfastness produces character,
and character yields hope that does not disappoint. This means intentionally trusting Christ all the time, not
only when the sun is shining. It means remaining convinced of God’s goodness when things are tough. It
means hoping even when there is no visible evidence for hope.
Here is the New Testament teaching: Hold so tightly to your hope in Christ that your hope becomes a
steadfast anchor for your soul—an anchor that keeps you from being driven on the rocks, an anchor that holds
you steady in the storm, an anchor that holds you in the safe harbor of God’s care. (Hebrews 6) The more we
persevere in hope, the more hope grows. In other words, when it comes to hope, practice, practice, practice!
Paul’s other advice is to steep ourselves in the stories and promises of Scripture. The more we absorb
the Bible, the more encouragement we receive for our hope. Soak up those stories of believers who hoped in
God and were vindicated. Ponder those descriptions of God as defender, savior and promise-keeper. Plant in
your heart those visions of the glory awaiting us. We live and die and live again in the hands of a loving God
who never fails or forsakes. That truth, that conviction, is rooted in the knowledge of Scripture. If we are
anemic in hope, maybe our reading habits are to blame.
Does hope matter so much? Can we live without hope? Maybe, but it won’t be much of a life. According to
the New Testament, healthy hope leads to confidence, boldness, freedom, peace, and rejoicing. Can we live
without those things? The question is, why would we want to?
Finally, Christian hope is a big thing, bigger than what can be seen, bigger than what can be proved, it is
bigger than this present world. Indeed, if we have hoped in Christ only for this lifetime, we are to be pitied.
Yes, I’m talking about heaven, our transformation into the likeness our Lord, our reunion with loved ones in
the family Christ, our bliss in gazing upon the glory of God. A big hope, a very big hope.
In an episode of M*A*S*H, Major Charles Emerson Winchester’s protective shell cracks and he falls into
deep depression, wondering if there is anything on the other side of death. He finds no comfort, no hope, until
he encounters a dying soldier near the front line. The soldier says, “I can’t see anything. Hold my hand.”
Winchester says, “I am holding your hand.” “I’m dying,” the soldier moans. Winchester leans close and
whispers, “Can you see anything? Can you feel anything? I have to know.”There’s a long pause, and just
before dying the soldier smiles and says, “I smell bread.”
Soli Deo Gloria!