Hoping, trusting... Being...

A man was talking to his friend one day and asked him if he had ever achieved any of his childhood hopes. The friend replied, ‘Yes. When my mother used to comb my hair, I used to wish I didn’t have any !’ Hope can come in all kinds of forms. 

Today’s gospel reading (Luke 12:32-40) is part of a long section of teaching by Jesus – teaching about the need to get our priorities right in life – he talks to his listeners about the rich man who stores up lots of property but who dies before he gets the chance to enjoy it. Jesus talks about not worrying, but placing our troubles and fears before him… And after the section we heard today he went on to talk about the unfaithful slave – the person not using the opportunities put before them…

He was talking to a group of people who would need to call on this teaching in days and months and years to come when faced with huge dangers simply because they called themselves Christians – the dangers certainly would involve a lack of possessions or wealth, but they would, far more importantly, involve a genuine risk to their lives… 

These followers of Jesus would need hope – and that hope would need to be placed in something or someone far more substantial than any earthly wealth or property. Jesus, though the followers at the time didn’t know it, was preparing them for a ministry in the world where they would need to have their priorities firmly fixed on him… 

And though our situation and our cultures may be very different today, the need for hope is something which still dominates our existence – The Greek philosopher, Diogenes, wrote, ‘The last thing that dies is a persons hope.’ And whilst he may have written well over 2000 years ago, his words remain as true today. 

Every person needs something to hope for and someone to hope in; without that a person, whether physically alive or not, is as good as dead… Jesus understood that his followers would face huge trials and temptations, he knew that they would need to be equipped with a confidence in him that could never be shaken, and as he spoke the words of our gospel, he was reminding people to recognise where true hope comes from.   

The actress Sophia Loren apparently once cried at the theft of a valuable necklace, before her husband Carlo Ponte told her, ‘Don’t cry over something that can’t cry over you.’ She recognised the wisdom of what he said and stopped crying.’ And over and over again Jesus is asking us to consider the truth of that comment – and challenging us to answer the question, ‘where do we look for hope?’ 

Because hope is not something that sustains us just through bad times, but it is something that gives our whole lives purpose - Legend has it that two men were digging rocks one day – when one was asked what he was doing he said ‘just digging, making money, biding my time.’ But the other said, "I'm helping Christopher Wren build a great cathedral.” Hope and vision made that man’s work worthwhile… It gave his life meaning… 

And it is that vision and that hope that Jesus asks his followers to have… it is that vision and that hope which enables us to live as stars shining in the midst of any darkness – stars which will be seen by others, as well as helping us to live… 

And this need for hope to sustain us and to give us purpose reminds us of the need for hope all of the time – in the gospel Jesus talks about his return, and warns people to be ready, and that is something that he is saying to us – don’t for a moment forget that he is coming back and that we don’t know when – we must be ready… we must be people living with hope and with faith, knowing that in Jesus we can place all of our trust… 

Alexander Solzhenitsyn tells of a moment when he was on the verge of giving up all hope. While a political prisoner in the Soviet Union, he was forced to work 12 hours a day on a starvation diet; and he became gravely ill. The doctors, in fact, predicted his death. 

One afternoon, while shoveling sand under a blazing sun, he simply stopped working, even though he knew that the guards would beat him severely, even to death. But he felt he just could not go on. Then he saw another prisoner, a fellow Christian, moving towards him. With a stick that man quickly drew a cross in the sand and then erased it. In that brief moment, Solzhenitsyn felt all of the hope of the gospel flood through his soul. It was a renewal of Christian hope, even though the situation had not changed. It gave him courage to endure that difficult day and the months of imprisonment that followed.

Life will undoubtedly be dark at times. Life will sometimes probably be difficult and painful, but looking to Jesus in all situations, we can have confidence – we can be ready to face anything that might come before us, because we know that through Jesus we share in a victory over pain and suffering and worry and death…

Like most of us now, the followers of Jesus 2000 years ago had doubts, and they certainly had fears. And they were also very often confused ! And Jesus knew that… But in his teaching he told them to put aside any fears about possessions or about wealth, and trust in him alone… he told them to never put anything material between them and him… he told them that he would never leave them… 

And in their confusion, and doubt and fear at times, I am sure they questioned that teaching, but ultimately, Jesus showed them that he could do anything as he conquered death… And through their belief, through their faith, through their trust, they began to build a Church that has grown stronger and stronger through the centuries, and today we can still display the hope because the victory of Jesus has been won for all of us, and he still remains with us, guiding us, strengthening us, filling us with hope, and loving us… 

And so we are called to live as people of hope, people of confidence, people who trust in someone who can never be destroyed or taken away from us… And with that hope we are called to display the love and compassion of Jesus; we are called to offer others a message of hope, the hope that nobody is beyond the love of God – whatever they may have done or been… And added to that hope is the challenge that nobody must be beyond our love… 

Dwight Moody, the American preacher said that “To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don't worry about the darkness, for that is when the stars shine brightest.”

As we gather this morning, as we leave here later, as we meet people tomorrow how is our light shining, as individuals and as a church… 

Jesus calls us all to get our priorities right -  to trust in him above all things, to receive and share his love with others and to be, at all times, the stars shining brightly in the world today. AMEN