Against All Hope
Romans 4:13-25
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, 'I have made you the father of many nations')—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become 'the father of many nations', according to what was said, 'So numerous shall your descendants be.' He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith 'was reckoned to him as righteousness.' Now the words, 'it was reckoned to him', were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
__________
What was the last thing you hoped for? Perhaps you've hoped for your favorite team to win the Super Bowl or a friend/family member to win at a sports competition. Maybe you've hoped for something deeper, like a job, relationship, or the health of someone close to you. I admit that, at times, hope doesn't always make much sense. Hope transcends human understanding; it gives us something to look forward to, to cling to when the going gets tough. However, it can be challenging to hope against hope when the world sometimes feels quite hopeless. And therein lies the key as we explore this lenten passage and expand our ability to hope when the world says otherwise.
The reality is that Abraham and Sarah had no reason to hope for what their hearts desired. Abraham explicitly grapples with the reality of their decaying bodies and inability to bear children. This makes God's promise appear all the more audacious, especially when God says, "I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous." (Gen. 17:2) Abraham falls in disbelief and laughs, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" (Gen. 17:18) At this point, Abraham knows that hope holds great power and great pain, yet he still leaves room for his faith in God to comprehend this promise of a new beginning; perhaps it's because he had a community to draw strength from that supported his faith.
I don't know if you've noticed, but a significant number of people are struggling to find hope; some may be here today. While Abraham and Sarah may have had a community to lend them strength, many do not have that kind of support, and the sad truth is many turn to places like the church and are hurt even more. Dr. David Litts, who once served as a Special Advisor to the US Surgeon General, observed that people in this position of hopelessness and contemplating desperate acts do so for two reasons: "A loss of hope and a loss of social connection. And if the church of Jesus Christ can't do something about those two things, it might as well just close its doors."
A church I once served would occasionally set out big letters that spelled out H-O-P-E; they did this for Relay for Life (American Cancer Society) and had it set up during the pandemic. I was surprised by how many people would drop notes or comment on how much they appreciated seeing that word on the street corner. It makes me wonder how we as the church can live into hope more faithfully, live into hope more authentically, and shed any vain notion that would seek to gate keep hope. As Dr. Litts reminds us, if we, as the church, cannot even create space for people who are hopeless, then what in the world are we doing?
There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God, from the hope that flows from the throne of God. Paul reiterates that the law or our human traditions cannot keep us from such faith and hope. The beauty of our faith is that it speaks hope into places that are in need of it, speaks hope into the hearts and minds of those who need that saving word that nothing can keep us from the grace and hope of God. What would it look like for us to cultivate this hope in a manner that welcomes, invites change, and allows us to try something new for the sake of living into the law of God's hope, which abounds in steadfast grace?
I believe it was the goofy and loveable Midwest coach Ted Lasso who said, "I think it's the lack of hope that comes and gets you. See, I believe in hope. I believe in belief." Hope goes against our love for what is rational and quantifiable. We cannot measure hope or predict whether it bears any impact on a particular outcome, so by all means, hope doesn't make much sense. Yet it is hope that binds us together, hope that speaks a vision for how life together can and should be when guided by the law of God's love. It is all the more important then for us to realize that while hope is something we seek for ourselves, it is something that we strive to grow in others in sacred and ordinary spaces. For if it's the lack of hope that comes and gets us, it is the fullness of hope that strengthens us.
Against all hope, Abraham and Sarah become parents, just as the Lord promised them. Against all hope, we became children of God bound by a law of love. And against all hope, we are called to be a living embodiment of hope even when the world says otherwise. Who doesn't need a dose of hope when it seems like everything is falling apart? As we craft a vision for what it means to be people of faith, a community of faith, shouldn't we include the radical idea of cultivating space for hope to flourish, hope that breathes God's new life into places that need it most? Our creating space for hope to grow will allow people to share their experiences, which will nurture us further.
As we think about how Abraham and Sarah never gave up hope and the faith of those who came before us, let us remember that hope often breaks conventional wisdom. This season, we are asked to grab onto hope as we discern where God is leading us. Sometimes, it feels like the world has no hope left. But together, as a community of believers, we can be agents of hope and healing in this weary world, making spaces where hope grows and changes lives. Let's not forget how powerful hope can be, especially when life gets tough. Against all hope, the love of God prevails and calls us into a deeper relationship with those around us as we build a community that reflects the hope-bearing heart of God.