By Glen Zeidler
It’s Friday
S.M. Lockridge (1913-2000)
Hope is lost
Death has won
Sin has conquered
But it’s Friday
It is only Friday
Sunday is a comin’!
In January 1964, Dusty Springfield recorded the song “Wishing and Hoping.” It was about a girl who was hoping that a boy would take notice of her. Hope for most people is wishful thinking. The dictionary says hope means “to want something to happen or be true.” For Christians, hope is far more than wishful thinking. Let us take a walk along the Emmaus Road as we discover true hope.
Two men were walking along the road to Emmaus in conversation about what had happened in Jerusalem. Jesus, who had hidden His identity from them, approached and asked them what they were talking about. The men replied with sad faces. Their dreams about Jesus as the Messiah had been shattered; they had lost all hope. They had heard about the resurrection, but they were not convinced. Jesus was supposed to set Israel free from the grip of the Romans; instead, He had been crucified and placed in a tomb. They could not believe that Jesus was resurrected. They were without hope.
We live in a world that for many is hopeless. The COVID pandemic has frightened a lot of people. We are going through a time of financial stress. For older people, aging brings on financial and health burdens. For many people, the future seems very bleak. Even for Christians, there is a fear of the future. But there is hope!
Jesus did not leave the men on the Emmaus Road in a hopeless state. He called them foolish, but then explained to them from Scripture why it was necessary “for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter His glory” (Luke 24:26). Once they understood, once they saw, their whole attitude changed. They now had hope.
When the Bible speaks of hope, it is talking about something that is one hundred percent sure! Something that is not yet here or visible but is certain to take place. It is God who guarantees the outcome and who will honour these guarantees.
To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1). God has not only completely guaranteed us things, but also already given us the things we hope for; we simply do not see all of His promises yet. We have hope because we possess all the heavenly blessings in Christ Jesus, and God is saving what we have hoped for until He comes, and we are resurrected.
It’s Friday, but Sunday is a comin’. We are but travellers through this dark, sinful world. The resurrection of Jesus offers us the promise of a bright eternity. It is our hope waiting to be realised.