Hopeless

Scripture: John 19:38-42

Holy Saturday is one day that just leaves me in a place of anxiety. I do not know why, but I think it has to do with the unknown. It is a day we remember that not only was Jesus tortured and killed, but that He was buried. Buried, placed in the ground, unseen, perhaps lost forever. These are words of finality and dispair. Jesus is dead and buried the hope of the coming kingdom is dead with Him. It is buried in a tomb and things will not change.

There is anxiety there, it is a sense that maybe God does not care as much as we would like. Maybe we were getting worked up about nothing. That is the point of this day. It is a day for us to re-evaluate what we put our faith in. If you think about it the disciples did not have faith in God, they had faith in the idea of Messiah. Their entire life and purpose was wrappd up around this one idea, and there was no room for adjustment. It was either their way or nothing. But their hope died, their Messiah buried.

As I pray over this and consider my own life I ask myself where am I placing my hope?  I have great hope in the church, but is that hope found in the meeting house or the people of the Meeting? Today we looked into an issue in our meeting house, the lights did not work so an electrician came to look at the wiring. Long story shortened it does not look good. He speak about it and I begin to think the church is going to die. Quickly I realize that thechurch is not the building. Our meeting house could burn to the ground and those truly committed to the ministry of our Meeting would remain to carry on. I catch myself in the very idea that I so often preach against. I have idolized a building over the people God loves. I have placed my hope in something made of wood fashioned by the hands of men and women.

Realize after this one quick second I understand Holy Saturday. Jesus is dead buried, hope is buried. If our hope is placed firmly in the world and culture we live, then where is our hope? Our hope I in man. My son asked me today why all congressmen look creepy, my answer was they are creeps that’s why. If you are a congressman or woman I hope I don’t offend you, but more often than not they are there because of selfish motives and personal gain. In other words they are creeps. If our hope is in this world then that I what we get. We get people hording the wealth of the world to themselves and doing what they can to keep anyone from taking their claim. Hopeless.

Holy Satuday reminds us that we are dead if left to ourselves. We are hopless without God’s intevention. We weep on Saturday not because Jesus is buried but because we have placed our hope in something other than the truth. We weep because we are not gods we are not the masters of the universe we cannot will the world to our likings. It is scary it means that we are subject to something else beyond our control.

There is hope that remains. The story does not end. As the discples sit in their hoplessness they begin to remember the words and teachings of their Teacher, and hope begins to build, there is a power beyond humanity that does have power over the things of this world, power that healed the sick, cause the lame to walk, and the dead to rise. What if it really could be true?