The word hope is kind of a funny word. It can either mean something amazing and eternal and incredible…or it can be the most casual word we ever use. We can use it to describe heaven and Jesus and salvation…or whether we get ice cream tonight.
“I hope it doesn’t snow on Easter.”
“I hope the Brewers have a winning season this year.”
“I hope I get that job.”
“I hope I get a good parking spot at Target.”
“I hope my kids get into a good college.”
“I hope my kids don’t fight over the remote tonight.”
Hope is the emotional bridge that Jesus builds with his followers. It was on full display during the “Triumphal Entry,” the story Matthew 21 where Jesus comes into Jerusalem for the Passover festival, his final journey to the cross, the grave, and the resurrection. The people were cheering for him! “Hosanna! God, save us! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”
What he had to offer was hope. What they assumed was a conquering hero, a man ready to fight the Roman oppressors, a return to the glories of Israel’s past. What they got looked a lot different – a man on a donkey, the king coming in peace, willing to die. What Jesus offered was hope. But many of them missed it.
Jesus offers us hope for today. When the alarm goes off but you hit snooze too many times and you rush out the door and your daughter is complaining about her hair for the thousandth time and you need to get to work but there’s a wreck on the way… And when your boss says, “I’m so sorry” but hands you the layoff notice anyway and the car will cost more than twice the amount you thought to fix and your husband seems even more distant… Jesus offers hope.
And we sometimes don’t get it because we don’t notice it or recognize it. We want a white knight on a shining steed. But we get a man on a donkey. But his hope is always greater than our despair.
Jesus offers us hope for eternity. When you go to bed at night and the doubts start to seep in again and you’re not sure how to answer that question from your son about how exactly we know that Jesus rose again and the world is both a wonderful gift and a broken chaos… Jesus offers hope.
The eternal hope of Jesus is not an escape. We’re not just biding our time until we can get out of here. His eternal hope is tied directly to his everyday hope. Jesus offers hope for today that begins now and stretches to eternity. You may not see it because it’s just way too big. But it’s there.
When we lean into our relationship with God, we can get a deeper sense of that hope. It may take a moment of silence to begin each day, patiently waiting for him to clear the fog and reset our vision. But he will be there. Extending a hand of hope.
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