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I sincerely doubt that Jesus Christ, the creator of heaven and earth - humbled Himself, emptied Himself of His godliness, came down to earth, pooped his nappies, endured puberty, struggled with adolescence, became acquainted with with sorrow and grief, knew what is was to be rejected, spent 33 years on this dusty rock called earth, was beaten, whipped, mocked, spat upon, and nailed to a cross, spent three days in hell, and overcame death – simply so that we can go to church three times on a Sunday.
Jesus did not come to earth to start a religion, but to set us free.
In Luke 4:18 we see Jesus quote the book of Isaiah saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.”
Jesus came to show us the Way of freedom and to make it possible for us to walk in that Way. The Kingdom of God.
Every command in the Word of God is marker to the path of Freedom.
Every Church service should equip people to be free and help free others.
Every decision for holiness is a decision for freedom.
Freedom. Its what Jesus died for.
I don’t if you’ve ever had one of those moments where someone you see brings you to tears without them even knowing it? Those people that you are convinced came straight out of heaven?
Well, a few days ago I met such an angel. A friend and I were sitting in the Mugg and Bean on the Margate beachfront, looking out over the amphitheater and the beautiful beach, enjoying a warm cup of coffee. As I was staring at all the people walking by, fascinated by all the different types of people there are, I spotted a guy in a wheelchair. If you know Margate, you’ll know it’s not a flat straight area, but one big slope. But this guy was with the only one working foot he had, pushing himself backward up the hill.
Let me just interrupt myself for a moment to explain his capabilities. He could not use his arms; he can walk on his knees, but only really use one foot to push his wheelchair.
What got me first is that no-one offered to help. But at the same time the sheer persistence that this guy had. He was on a mission and nothing was stopping him. I lost sight of him of a while, but then saw his empty chair at the bottom of the stairs heading up to the Mugg and Bean. Nosy as I am, leaned forward and peeked over, to find that he was pulling himself up the stairs.
At this point, I could not take it any more. I excused myself from the table and met him halfway up the stairs. That is when I had the privilege of meeting Siswe, the 18 year old hero. I asked him where he was headed and if I could help him, he told me he was on his way to the café, to go and buy a pie and a cool drink. So I headed up to get him a chicken pie and a pineapple Fanta(as that was what he wanted). Getting back to him I opened his drink, put in the straw and he told me I can put the pie on the step, and he’ll be able to eat it. After I said goodbye and was heading up the stairs the store owner came down and set his table – a store basket upside down as the table, the pie, cut in pieces in his plate. And there Siswe sat, and enjoyed as I later learned, his daily pie and cool drink. Every now and then he’ll look up and I’d be looking, he’d smile as he was enjoying his meal.
After he finished eating his pie, he picked up his can with his mouth, and placed it in the plate, and then he wiped his mouth with the napkin he picked up with his mouth and used his knee as his hand.
But what struck me most about this remarkable young man was not his persistence, or his manners, but his amazing smile. Siswe just kept smiling the whole time. It’s as if nothing was too hard for him, and if everyday was a moment of joy.
I offered to help him back down to his chair, but he, with his beautiful smile, just said he was fine, and then he headed back down to his wheelchair.
I could not stop thinking about Siswe the rest of the day.
I saw him again today, and he greeted me with a smile as he headed down to the beach with a friend who helped take of his shoes and watched his wheelchair as he walked on his knees on the beach.
I saw God in this amazing 18 year old man. He has no mother, he has no father, he cannot walk, he cannot properly talk, he’s got every reason to curl up and give up, yet every day you’ll find Siswe at the Margate beachfront, pushing himself up the hills most of the times, enjoying his pineapple Fanta and pie and smiling at all those he meets.
Why do we find it so hard to find joy in life when we’ve got everything going for us?
If I never see Siswe again, his face is ingrained in my heart.
He is a light lit in a dark room. He is joy and beauty in this world.
I pray he knows what a treasure he is.
He is the face of hope…
Our reason for hope lies not in the way things are now, in the present reality of our circumstances, but rather in the way things could be. Our hope is defined not by what is, but by the joy of a future that could potentially realise!
When we look at our broken, destructive selves, we lose any hope for a positive future. But looking towards the kind of people we can become, we once again regain that long lost, elusive sense of hope.
Isn't it ironic, how hope is so intrinsically bound to the times and places in our lives when things seemed to fall apart? It is almost as if hope reaches its full potential, just as we seem to come undone. As circumstances and relationships seem to go south, just so hope becomes more and more prevalent in our lives.
But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came. Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning... Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.
[from The Book Of Job]
‘God is dead. God remains dead ... what are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchres of God?’ - Nietzsche
We often think (though mostly not consciously I hope) we dish out hope when we give good theological answers to or get people into programs when they ask questions like,
Am I going to be ok?
Is God in control?
Why did I get raped?
Why is it wrong to like other girls?
We are so good at providing answers and creating recovery programs and we get better at it day by day, we can even go and do courses on giving even better answers and go on workshops to design better programs but does this give people what they need?
Hope.
what everyone is truly looking for is hope not always answers. Just something to hold on to that makes life (even just a little) liveable. Hope is not a product of debate or a well formed argument and hope does not exist in fine rhetoric.
Hope is a person.
Think about this:
If God died, would you notice?
Do we still need God if we have our answers?
Haven’t we then become God?
Read: Simply Christian – Tom Wright
by Dries Cronje
Last month we had an overall theme of Faith. This month we will talk about Hope. Hebrews 11 starts out by giving us the relationship between the two:
"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see."
So... to have faith, we need something to hope for. What do you hope for? Do you believe that Jesus will reward you when he comes back? Do you hope to gain eternal life? Do you hope that He will say: "Well done good and faithful servant."?
These are good things to hope for.
If we have the necessary faith, and hope for recognition from our Lord, our lives and our actions will look different. We will work hard to find out what exactly Jesus requires of us, and then go further to assure that we live accordingly.
Faith is necessary. But hope is necessary even for faith...
Why is that so many of us have lost all hope for this world? Crime, corruption, and poor leadership, to name but a few. Why can't we see that we live in an era where the opportunities for good, for love, is more bountiful than ever?
Next month we will be delving into love, but for the rest of this month... Why don't you try and reconnect to the Hope that is necessary for you to make a positive impact in this world?
Faith without hope is not worth much!
