We Had Hoped

Have you ever gotten your hopes up, only to have them dashed?  That might be a little extreme, but I think there’s a range of negative emotions—disappointment, grief, feeling lost, etc.  A lot of hope is tied up with expectations.  That’s one of the underlying themes of the gospel this Sunday (Luke 24:13-35).  It begins with two disciples, one named Cleopas and the other is anonymous.  They are on the road to Emmaus from Jerusalem, feeling dejected.  The Risen Jesus appears and joins them on the road but is “hidden” from them.  He asks why they are so sad, and they tell him about Jesus’ crucifixion and conclude, “We had hoped he would be the one to restore Israel.”  We had hoped… 

            Faith and hope are very closely related.  It is why when someone’s hopes—or expectations—don’t come true, then they often lose faith.  One wonders what Cleopas and the other disciple were expecting.  What did their hopes for Israel’s “redemption” look like?  Luke tells us they were disciples—not among Jesus’ close circle of the twelve—but they probably heard Jesus preach, teach, and see him perform miracles.  But powerlessness and death didn’t fit into their “hopes” around Jesus.  Do we do the same thing?  Imagine and hope for something God doesn’t promise or we hope that God answering our prayers will look a certain way?  Jesus was “hidden” to them but was with them on the road.  He reveals more about who he is and why he had to suffer.  Later, after the fact, they remember how their “hearts burned within them,” and directly connecting that experience to Jesus’ presence.

            Parts of the story should be a warning to us.  Our hopes aren’t neutral.  We bring all kinds of things into our hopes, and if we’re not careful, they can become further removed from what God in Christ does promise.  I’m sure their “hopes for Israel’s redemption” were things that were “good,” and maybe included worldly power, getting rid of the Romans, and establishing justice against the hypocrisy of the Jewish leadership.  But Jesus didn’t do any of those things.  Faith in him—and the hopes that result—are deeper.  They are about life and death and the spirit and cause our hearts to burn within us.  Let us hope….

Peace,

Pr. Christian