What do we think of when we hear the word “hope?” How do we
tend to use the word “hope?” Throughout my many years working with Youth, I
have heard this word used in prayers all the time. “Dear God, I hope my soccer
team wins the tournament on Saturday.” “Dear God, I hope the homeless people
are able to find shelter tonight from the elements.” “Dear God, I hope I do
well on this exam.” (As a side note, this last one is my personal favorite.
When I was in Youth Group and someone asked for this as a prayer request, my
dad would tell them that what he would pray for them is that the score on their
exam would accurately reflect the amount of effort they put into preparing for
it. This was not a popular response, but I liked it so much that Chad and I
started using it when we worked in Youth Ministry ourselves.) “Dear God, I hope
my uncle’s cancer is healed.” “Dear God, I hope we have a good time on the
mission trip.”
I’m not sure what you hear when I give these examples, but
all of these used to grate on me when I would hear them. Why are we praying to
God that we hope something is going to happen? Doesn’t that mean we have no
reason to expect that God will answer us and are only asking for an outcome
that we wish would occur? Ignoring the fact that praying for a win at the
soccer tournament is a lot like praying to do well on an exam, I felt it was
wrong to pray that we “hoped” God would do a particular thing. We don’t need to
wish God to do anything. He’s God! I even corrected some students on this and
felt like I was teaching them something valuable about prayer.
Then I started thinking about the word “hope.” Did you know
“hope” has different meanings? Dictionary.com has two meanings broken down into
nouns and verbs with or without objects, which can sound very confusing but
goes something like this:
One:
·
the feeling that what is wanted can
be had or that events will turn out for the best
·
to look forward to with desire and
reasonable confidence.
·
to believe, desire, or trust
·
to feel that something desired may
happen
Two:
·
Archaic. to place trust; rely (usually followed by in).
·
a person or thing in which
expectations are centered
The Holman Bible Dictionary has a whole page on what the
word "hope" means to Christians. It says, "…trustful
expectation, particularly with reference to the fulfillment of God's promises.
Biblical hope is the anticipation of a favorable outcome under God's guidance.
More specifically, hope is the confidence that what God has done for us in the
past guarantees our participation in what God will do in the future. This
contrasts to the world's definition of hope as 'a feeling that what is wanted
will happen.'"
Hoping something does not just mean that we wish it to be
true without truly believing it is. We can have hope in something that we know
to be true and that we know will come about at some point. This is why we say,
“Our hope is in the Lord.” When we say this we don’t mean we wishfully
anticipate that maybe God will be our Lord and Savior if he’s able to do it for
us or if we’re lucky. We mean that we know the Lord has saved us and has
something better planned for us with him for all eternity. It is the one thing
we can be absolutely sure of and that will never be in doubt. When we say, “Our
hope is in the Lord,” we are saying that He is the one and only anchoring thing
in our lives that we can completely count on to never fail us.
So, I have realized I was wrong. Some of the prayers I
mentioned earlier are not the best because of other reasons, but in terms of
using the word “hope” they are fully within the scope of an appropriate way to
approach God. We should be praying with the hope that the all-powerful God of
the universe is fully able and willing to heal the sick, bring about the result
that he desires, and create spaces for us to build community with Him and each
other.
And that, my friends, brings me to the topic of Ascension.
John says that Jesus told his disciples during the Last Supper that he was
going to prepare a place for them when he returned to heaven.
"Do not let your hearts be
troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms;
if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you
to be with me that you also may be where I am." John 14:1-3
He was going to prepare their rooms in his father’s house so
that they would be ready for them when they finally went to be with him. We
just completed a very visual exercise that helped us think about what makes us
feel at home and what home means to us. For some people, it is the structure
itself, for others it is a smell or sound. For many, it is hard to define what
makes them feel at home, they just know that when they walk through those
doors, they immediately feel safe and at peace. We all have very different
things that make “home” for us, and yet, we ALL have something that we identify
with home.
My in-laws live in Southern California. The weather is
always perfect, the grass is always green and perfectly manicured, and the
ocean is just a few miles away, if that. Their house is big, beautiful, and
spotless with coordinating decorations, lots of food in the fridge and the
pantry, and lots of room for all of us to spread out. They even have authentic
L. L. Bean Adirondack Chairs (with footrests!) in the backyard surrounded by
roses and other flowering plants. It is pretty much as close to paradise as you
could hope to get without being on an undiscovered tropical island that somehow
also has running water and no bugs.
I love my husband’s family. They are fun to be around, and
we always have lots of unique adventures. And yet, when I get out of the car
after a full day of traveling across the country in a plane with at least one
layover and terrible Springfield traffic and open the door to my small rental
house painted in weird colors with 5 different types of flooring just in the
living/dining room area that still smells a little bit like skunk when it is
shut up for a week and didn’t get very clean before I left, do you know how I
feel? I open the door, step over the threshold, take a deep breath, and sigh in
contentment. Why is that? My house is nothing compared to where I just came
from in any way. In fact, it’s probably the complete opposite. And yet, my soul
is at rest when I’m in my own house. I have come home.
Now, I’m guessing we could go around the room and hear a
similar story from every single one of you. The details will be different, of
course, and it may be a different type of space for you, but we all have
something in our lives that creates that sense of true belonging where our soul
can truly be at rest. Think about that for a moment and then consider this:
Whatever you have just been thinking of is a cheap, distorted version of the
place Jesus is preparing for you right now. He is personally overseeing the
creation of your eternal place in heaven, the place that will actually rest
your soul in the fullest way possible and that will fulfill all your deepest
longings for a true home. And the best part is that he will be there bodily
with us.
What must it have been like for Jesus to go home to his
Father? My mom gets really excited when she thinks about this part. We all
should! Here we have the true King of Heaven doing what
is obviously beneath his station by being born a human baby on Earth and then
dying in the worst way possible after getting no credit for who he is with the
World. I mean, I’m continually grossed out by my human body and I’m supposed to
be a human. It’s too embarrassing for words that the Lord of the Universe had
to deal with a body like mine. And the times he came to weren’t exactly the
cleanest and most sanitary. No toilet paper, no running water, no body wash.
The roads weren’t paved, he didn’t have an air-conditioned car (or a car
period), and he didn’t even have hiking boots. No, thank you! Add all of that
in with the fact that he was away from home for three decades, and you can
imagine how much he must have missed home!
Now, he had a family here on earth that loved him dearly,
and he had a familiar place that belonged to them that was his also. He had
friends that followed him everywhere, with whom he could be comfortable and
share meals with. While his time here may not have been as much of a paradise
as going to my in-laws’ house can be, it is like having an extended visit with
them. As I’ve already told you, no matter how long I am at my in-laws’ house, I
still feel most at home when I walk through my own front door.
If I like coming home to my rental that much, can you
imagine Jesus finally going home to be with his Father? He went back to HEAVEN,
back to his PERFECT place that is his HOME. What a sigh of relief he must have
felt! He returned to his place, where he belongs, where he is most fit to be,
and where he rightfully should be.
There are so many cool things to think about here! I don’t
have time to explore them all with you so I’ll reign it in a little bit. Don’t
forget that when Jesus went up into heaven, he went up with his body. He didn’t
just dissolve into sparkles like pixie dust and get blown into the clouds. He
didn’t get “beamed up” and kind of go all shimmery and then just disappear. The
account says he was lifted up into the clouds, which makes me think of when
Elijah was taken into heaven without dying. This means that he is currently in
heaven preparing our eternal homes and he still has his body. He gets to
literally sit at the right hand of God and do the work of the King. I picture
him pacing around in front of God the Father continually interceding for us.
And not just interceding once the same day he went up. He is presently working
for our good and will continue to do so until he comes again. (Then, of course,
he won’t have to anymore because we’ll be brought back to heaven to live with
him.)
A quick point here: When Jesus returns and brings us back
with him to the place he has prepared for us that will be the most perfect
version of home for us that we could never imagine, we will not miss the things
here that made it home for us. Our new home will be so perfect that we will
wonder how we ever found rest for our souls in any earthly home. If you think
about it, what makes us feel at home on earth is sort of a hint of what awaits
us in heaven. It is the smallest glimmer of what we have to hope for.
Which brings me back to hope. Ascension is all about hope.
Not the wishing kind of hope that may or may not come true but we really really
want it to. I’m talking about the hope that we have because we know without a
shadow of a doubt that Jesus died for us, rose from the dead, and returned to
heaven to prepare it for when he comes back for us. It is the kind of hope that
we already know the outcome and can assume that the promises for the future are
true. We can anchor our faith in these truths and rely on them above all else.
The Ascension of Jesus points us toward our true and everlasting hope.
