Genuine Hope
Sermon
Sermons on the Second Readings
Series III, Cycle B
Object:
The season is upon us once again. Around this time every year we can expect the annual cycle to bring us to this special season when we are intentional about carving out extra time in our lives for that which is most important to us. It's not like other times of the year. Instead, during this season, for many of us, our thoughts and our conversations take a distinctively different focus. Of course, most of you probably realize what season I'm talking about. We are now in the midst of the latest season of American Idol on television.
One of the most entertaining parts of American Idol comes at the beginning where thousands of people audition to become contestants on the show. The ones we end up seeing are the very best and very worst. I have a feeling that there are some contestants who are intentionally weird and awful so that they will be televised and can have their brief moment of fame. They seem to have no sense of embarrassment, even though I find myself being embarrassed for them.
But the ones who break my heart are the ones who really hope they will become the next American Idol. They really think they have such great voices that they will be the one in 100,000 people chosen as the American Idol, when they can't even carry a tune. When they don't get chosen to go on to the next round, they're crushed. They lash out in anger, or they cry buckets of tears, and it's really a pitiful thing to watch. I'm sitting at home watching this spectacle and wondering, how can they possibly think they can sing? Have they never listened to themselves in the shower? Has no one who has heard them ever been honest with them? And have they never listened to the people who make it on this show? How could they seriously hope to win the competition against singers of such phenomenal talent? It's really sad to watch people make complete fools of themselves, hoping for something that has no connection to reality.
None of us can live without hope and living hopefully is certainly an important part of being a Christian. But there is a huge difference between genuine hope and foolish hope.
What if you were a 99-year-old man, married to an equally old woman who has been barren all her life, and God comes to you and promises you that you're going to be the ancestor of a multitude of nations? You know what you're hearing is impossible. But this isn't just some fortuneteller looking into a crystal ball who is speaking to you; it's God. Abraham believed that it would happen as God promised. We call that faith, trusting in the promises of God, trusting that God is going do what God has promised to do. Even when it sounds like it might be impossible. Perhaps, especially when it sounds like it might be impossible.
In today's second lesson, Saint Paul says Christians have a lot in common with Abraham. Abraham was made right before God, not by following the law, but by faith, by trusting in God's promises.
You see, at this time there was a big controversy going on in the church about whether or not Gentiles needed to first become Jews before they could become Christians. Because the earliest Christians were Jewish, that seemed to be the way it worked. First you were a Jew who followed the Jewish laws and then you could also become a follower of Jesus. Being a Jew seemed to be a prerequisite for becoming a Christian. Then, when Gentiles also responded to the good news about Jesus, there was a problem. Were they going to be required to first become Jews? For males in particular, this wasn't something you'd want to go through unless it was absolutely necessary.
Now, as a missionary to the Gentiles, Paul was particularly sensitive to their plight. His biggest objection to the whole idea of Christians being subject to the Jewish law was mostly theological. In this passage, he is making a strong case by using the example of Abraham. Would any who argued against Paul dare to say that the father of them all, Abraham, was not righteous before God? And yet, Abraham lived before the law was given, so no one could say that Abraham was made righteous by following the law. What was it about Abraham that made him righteous before God? It was his faith.
Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "So numerous shall your descendants be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
-- Romans 4:18-22
Now, like Abraham, there were those in Paul's own generation who were also made right before God by faith, "In order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham" (4:16). What binds God's people together is not their ethnicity, but it is the faith of Abraham. Abraham's children aren't just the Jews, but they are all those who have faith.
Paul draws a parallel between us and Abraham: Like Abraham, we also trust in God's promise of life even in the midst of death. But as Christians, the way the promise of God manifests itself for us is through the promise of the resurrection. God's promise of life that we cling to is the promise of eternal life.
I have to be honest and admit that sometimes I have trouble getting my head around this whole idea of eternal life with God. I sure want to believe it, but for me that seems to be the problem. I want to believe it so much that I'm afraid I may be just deluding myself. I may have convinced myself that it's true because I deeply want it to be true. I wonder if maybe it's just something I choose to believe in because I couldn't bear to accept the truth ... that death really does have the last word for us. In other words, the fact that eternal life is so appealing often makes me question whether it might not be a foolish hope on my part.
The theologian, Paul Tillich, has helped me sort through that. He makes a distinction between a genuine hope and a foolish hope. Tillich says that where there is genuine hope, that which we hope for is already present for us in some form. What we hope for is at the same time here and not here. It has not yet been fulfilled and it may never be fulfilled. But it is present in the now, it has already begun. This beginning drives the hope into the future. If the hope is rooted in the reality of something already present, the fulfillment of that hope is possible. Maybe not certain, but possible. That's genuine hope. But where a beginning of what is hoped for is absent, hope is foolishness.1
For example, if you have a talent for singing, you might have a genuine hope of becoming the next American Idol, but if you can't sing, any hope of becoming the next American Idol is a foolish hope. If the hope is rooted in the reality of something already present, the fulfillment of that hope is possible. Even if it never comes to pass, the hope is genuine hope. But where a beginning of what is hoped for is absent, hope is foolishness: It's like wishful thinking or living in a fantasy world.
Is trusting in the promise of eternal life a foolish hope or a genuine hope for us? It's only genuine if the seeds of that promise are already present for us. If we are just longing for some pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by-after-we-die, our hope is foolish. Don't we see evidence of eternal life here and now? Aren't the seeds of God's promise already present for us? We may see a glimpse of eternal life when we experience an act of self-giving love, or a moment of absolute truth. Or, we may feel the rush of sublime joy in the many big and small ways we experience the holy in our lives. Certainly we know it when we gather at the communion table and receive Christ's body and blood. Our hope is genuine, because there is already a presence and a beginning of what we hope for. The more we realize we are participating in eternal life right now, the deeper our hope becomes.
Like Abraham and Sarah, we live by faith. We trust in God's promises. That doesn't mean that we turn a blind eye to the facts. It doesn't mean we won't encounter setbacks in our lives. It doesn't mean that we won't struggle and go through dark times of the soul. Just because we're people of faith doesn't mean we won't have trials. The difference is that for people of faith the promises of God are always there to ground us. Our faith tells us that there is more to life than all the stuff that bogs us down. Like Abraham, we find ourselves hoping against hope. And it's not a foolish hope at all -- hoping for life even in the midst of death. Amen.
____________
1. Paul Tillich, "The Right to Hope," in The Christian Century, November 14, 1990, pp. 1064-1067.
One of the most entertaining parts of American Idol comes at the beginning where thousands of people audition to become contestants on the show. The ones we end up seeing are the very best and very worst. I have a feeling that there are some contestants who are intentionally weird and awful so that they will be televised and can have their brief moment of fame. They seem to have no sense of embarrassment, even though I find myself being embarrassed for them.
But the ones who break my heart are the ones who really hope they will become the next American Idol. They really think they have such great voices that they will be the one in 100,000 people chosen as the American Idol, when they can't even carry a tune. When they don't get chosen to go on to the next round, they're crushed. They lash out in anger, or they cry buckets of tears, and it's really a pitiful thing to watch. I'm sitting at home watching this spectacle and wondering, how can they possibly think they can sing? Have they never listened to themselves in the shower? Has no one who has heard them ever been honest with them? And have they never listened to the people who make it on this show? How could they seriously hope to win the competition against singers of such phenomenal talent? It's really sad to watch people make complete fools of themselves, hoping for something that has no connection to reality.
None of us can live without hope and living hopefully is certainly an important part of being a Christian. But there is a huge difference between genuine hope and foolish hope.
What if you were a 99-year-old man, married to an equally old woman who has been barren all her life, and God comes to you and promises you that you're going to be the ancestor of a multitude of nations? You know what you're hearing is impossible. But this isn't just some fortuneteller looking into a crystal ball who is speaking to you; it's God. Abraham believed that it would happen as God promised. We call that faith, trusting in the promises of God, trusting that God is going do what God has promised to do. Even when it sounds like it might be impossible. Perhaps, especially when it sounds like it might be impossible.
In today's second lesson, Saint Paul says Christians have a lot in common with Abraham. Abraham was made right before God, not by following the law, but by faith, by trusting in God's promises.
You see, at this time there was a big controversy going on in the church about whether or not Gentiles needed to first become Jews before they could become Christians. Because the earliest Christians were Jewish, that seemed to be the way it worked. First you were a Jew who followed the Jewish laws and then you could also become a follower of Jesus. Being a Jew seemed to be a prerequisite for becoming a Christian. Then, when Gentiles also responded to the good news about Jesus, there was a problem. Were they going to be required to first become Jews? For males in particular, this wasn't something you'd want to go through unless it was absolutely necessary.
Now, as a missionary to the Gentiles, Paul was particularly sensitive to their plight. His biggest objection to the whole idea of Christians being subject to the Jewish law was mostly theological. In this passage, he is making a strong case by using the example of Abraham. Would any who argued against Paul dare to say that the father of them all, Abraham, was not righteous before God? And yet, Abraham lived before the law was given, so no one could say that Abraham was made righteous by following the law. What was it about Abraham that made him righteous before God? It was his faith.
Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "So numerous shall your descendants be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
-- Romans 4:18-22
Now, like Abraham, there were those in Paul's own generation who were also made right before God by faith, "In order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham" (4:16). What binds God's people together is not their ethnicity, but it is the faith of Abraham. Abraham's children aren't just the Jews, but they are all those who have faith.
Paul draws a parallel between us and Abraham: Like Abraham, we also trust in God's promise of life even in the midst of death. But as Christians, the way the promise of God manifests itself for us is through the promise of the resurrection. God's promise of life that we cling to is the promise of eternal life.
I have to be honest and admit that sometimes I have trouble getting my head around this whole idea of eternal life with God. I sure want to believe it, but for me that seems to be the problem. I want to believe it so much that I'm afraid I may be just deluding myself. I may have convinced myself that it's true because I deeply want it to be true. I wonder if maybe it's just something I choose to believe in because I couldn't bear to accept the truth ... that death really does have the last word for us. In other words, the fact that eternal life is so appealing often makes me question whether it might not be a foolish hope on my part.
The theologian, Paul Tillich, has helped me sort through that. He makes a distinction between a genuine hope and a foolish hope. Tillich says that where there is genuine hope, that which we hope for is already present for us in some form. What we hope for is at the same time here and not here. It has not yet been fulfilled and it may never be fulfilled. But it is present in the now, it has already begun. This beginning drives the hope into the future. If the hope is rooted in the reality of something already present, the fulfillment of that hope is possible. Maybe not certain, but possible. That's genuine hope. But where a beginning of what is hoped for is absent, hope is foolishness.1
For example, if you have a talent for singing, you might have a genuine hope of becoming the next American Idol, but if you can't sing, any hope of becoming the next American Idol is a foolish hope. If the hope is rooted in the reality of something already present, the fulfillment of that hope is possible. Even if it never comes to pass, the hope is genuine hope. But where a beginning of what is hoped for is absent, hope is foolishness: It's like wishful thinking or living in a fantasy world.
Is trusting in the promise of eternal life a foolish hope or a genuine hope for us? It's only genuine if the seeds of that promise are already present for us. If we are just longing for some pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by-after-we-die, our hope is foolish. Don't we see evidence of eternal life here and now? Aren't the seeds of God's promise already present for us? We may see a glimpse of eternal life when we experience an act of self-giving love, or a moment of absolute truth. Or, we may feel the rush of sublime joy in the many big and small ways we experience the holy in our lives. Certainly we know it when we gather at the communion table and receive Christ's body and blood. Our hope is genuine, because there is already a presence and a beginning of what we hope for. The more we realize we are participating in eternal life right now, the deeper our hope becomes.
Like Abraham and Sarah, we live by faith. We trust in God's promises. That doesn't mean that we turn a blind eye to the facts. It doesn't mean we won't encounter setbacks in our lives. It doesn't mean that we won't struggle and go through dark times of the soul. Just because we're people of faith doesn't mean we won't have trials. The difference is that for people of faith the promises of God are always there to ground us. Our faith tells us that there is more to life than all the stuff that bogs us down. Like Abraham, we find ourselves hoping against hope. And it's not a foolish hope at all -- hoping for life even in the midst of death. Amen.
____________
1. Paul Tillich, "The Right to Hope," in The Christian Century, November 14, 1990, pp. 1064-1067.
