Hope

[Written November 2010]

Recently, I was meditating on the mystery of the Resurrection, when a fact struck me that I had never contemplated before. Or rather, to speak more strictly, I had contemplated the fact itself, but I had never really given much thought to the implications it had, and how it should apply to our own lives as Christians. While it may be a little difficult for me to explain what I mean, I'll try.

First, imagine you were one of the women who went to the tomb with spices to anoint the body of Christ early on that first Easter Sunday morning. The most inspiring person you had ever known had been brutally executed the Friday before, the one Whom (as the disciples on the Emmaus Road would later put it) you had expected to be "he which should have redeemed Israel." (Luke 24:21). It was not simply that he was executed by the Roman occupiers of your country, however (which would have been bad enough), but also that it was done so at the urging of the leaders of your own nation, who had rejected Him as a false Messiah. And they of all people would know if He was one, would they not? His execution would seem to have confirmed their judgment in any case. Indeed, all of the facts would seem to indicate to one that, given the inglorious end Jesus had come to, He was certainly cursed of God (cf. Gal 3:13). If ever there was a situation which would make one hopeless, it would seem to be this one, would it not? Where would you go from here? And how could you reconcile the above facts with everything you thought you had known about Jesus?

Can you imagine what must have been going through the minds of those women on their way to the tomb that morning? Note what I just said in those last few words: "on their way to the tomb that morning." That is what struck me recently. In spite of everything that I recounted above, the women still were on their way to the tomb to anoint the body of Christ. In spite of everything that would seem to have indicated that Jesus was a false Messiah (with perhaps His miracles simply being the tricks of a "magician", as was later to be alleged by some of the enemies of Christianity), the women had not lost faith in Him. They knew Christ. They knew Him so closely as to be convinced that, despite everything seeming to point to the contrary, despite not being able to understand how to reconcile the tragic facts mentioned above with their image of Him, that nevertheless, He was not a fraud who had deceived them, a false Messiah. His miracles were not "magic" that nevertheless were unable to save Him from His doom in the end. Their faith in Him, even under those most trying of circumstances, remained intact, because they knew Him personally in whom they had believed.

That is why they were on their way to the tomb that morning. They did not have understanding of what had happened, true. But they knew in Whom they had placed their faith. That was enough. And therefore they remained loyal to Him even after His death.

In consequence, they were to have the reward of their faith by being the first to hear the good news of Easter morning, the Resurrection, the fact that was to put into focus all of the other facts that had hitherto perplexed them so much.

I cannot help but think of this and try to apply it to my own life. So many times I may come across events that I do not understand why God allows to happen, and at times things appear to me to be "hopeless." Yet have I ever came across any circumstances that were as hopeless as those which the women who went to the tomb of Christ that morning had experienced? Any honest reflection would have to admit that the obvious answer is "no." In fact, it is even more than that: given what I know of the Resurrection, I have knowledge of the supreme example of how a seemingly hopeless situation can be reversed, an advantage that the women, needless to say, did not have when they first started on their way to the tomb of Jesus that morning. Yet if they could still have faith in Christ, despite not having the advantage that I have, then since I have such knowledge, should not I all the more have faith that He is working for my good (cf. Rom 8:28), no matter what circumstances I may find myself in?