Have you ever felt hopeless?
I have.
Today is a day that causes me to pause and sit with what hope is.
I remember once being told that hope stands for…
Hold
On
Peace
Exists
Peace exists.
That’s a beautiful idea but is it true?
I believe it is.
And what brings me hope and makes me believe this is a person and a historical event, which we celebrate this Easter weekend.
Yesterday was Good Friday, the day Jesus died. All those who followed Jesus lost all hope that day.
The person they had been following died. All the hope they had in Jesus and who they thought he was and what he had proclaimed died with him.
Sometimes I will sit today and imagine what it must have been like to have been a Jesus follower on this day back then. The followers had put all their eggs in this one basket and now he was gone.
Why would anyone think someone would come back to life? That doesn’t happen, especially after a crucifixion.
Until it did.
Three days after Jesus died, he is alive. And it was not for a brief moment, but for forty days, and he is seen not by one person but hundreds of people during that time.
How do we know this?
It’s documented in historical books, many of which exist together in one book, which we call the Bible.
It is in the truth of the resurrection of Jesus where hope lies and where peace exists.
This Easter weekend, I invite you to join me to…
pause. breathe. pray.
May we reflect on the cornerstones of our faith, the person and the event; Jesus and the resurrection.
May we recognize that hope isn’t a formless something to grasp for but it’s found in a person, Jesus.
When all hope was lost, He came back. He showed that death is not the end of the story and gives us hope that what is seen isn’t the whole story.
God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways.
May our hope be in Jesus, in His story, in the resurrection, in what is unseen. And may we trust when we follow Him he will lead us to peace and we will never have to feel hopeless again.
With love and hope,
Shawn
"He is not here; he has risen!"
- Luke 24:6-7