Christmas_in_One_Word_Hope
I still find it ironic that Jesus told His disciples that He had a NEW command for them…waiting until their ears perked up… then told them to “Love each other.”
I imagine they would deflate a little having just heard again, literally, the one thing they ALWAYS heard and needed to learn most from Jesus throughout His entire ministry: LOVE! He probably could have done the same thing with hope… offering it again and again as something they needed reminded of.
This Christmas we have been looking at one word at a time each sermon that can serve as a foundation for how we, the Church, can and should respond to the Incarnation. The latest entry (12/22/19) focused on the word: Hope.
Hope is a powerful force, with much of our daily lives built upon it. We hope today is a good day. We hope we have enough to retire someday. We hope the diagnosis comes back the way we want. We hope we don’t gain too much weight this holiday season.
Hope gets us out of bed in the morning. Sometimes hope is our only companion when we fall asleep. This season is built on hope. And maybe we need a reminder to hope just like the disciples continually needed reminded to love.
Jesus was not what the world expected Him to be. He continues to not be what we expected Him to be. He came to serve, sacrifice, and save. We tend to want Him to have come to Bless, Bless, and Bless! “Jesus, can you do more of that feeding the 5000 with magic bread and fish thing again?”
We want all the good and none of the transformation. We want all of our “hope” to be fulfilled right here, right now. In other words, our hope is built upon our earthly understandings and expectations. Jesus gave us a new Hope – one of divine perspective.
We set our eyes on things above… We love each other as the sign of discipleship… We sacrifice and submit and give and tithe and work because we want others to be built up and better. Everything Jesus set in place is built on the hope of something better waiting for us Post-Judgement.
This new hope is a revelation to the world. Why would we be so giving? Because we have hope. Why would we sacrifice so much of our time and lives? Because we have hope. Without hope, why would we worship? We hope God is listening.
That is why we can sing “Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness…”
Because we have hope.
Church, be blessed this holiday season. Find hope in the Incarnation. Peek into the manger and see the One, True Hope.
Romans 15:12-13 NLT
…“The heir to David’s throne will come, and he will rule over the Gentiles. They will place their hope on him.” [13] I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.