Jesus Christ Our Living Hope
Have you ever noticed how we tend to pray more—or perhaps pray at all (when prayer is not a part of our daily lives)—when we find ourselves in desperate situations? There have been times when I’ve offered to pray for a loved one of someone I know does not yet have a relationship with God. I’ve never been turned down in those situations. Typically, it’s met with a response like, “We’ll take all the help we can get!”
This Sunday, we will be singing the song Living Hope, which contains the line: “In desperation, I turned to heaven and spoke Your name into the night.” This is something I think we can all relate to—the need for help in desperate times.
Our key text for this Sunday is Mark 4. Towards the end of the chapter, we find Jesus and His disciples on a boat when a great windstorm arises, and the waves begin breaking into the boat (Mark 4:37). Meanwhile, Jesus is sleeping, and the disciples promptly wake Him up, saying, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38).
The disciples were panicked. I’m sure thoughts of what might happen to them were swirling in their minds. So, they turn to the One in charge for help and say, “Don’t You care?”
Jesus wakes up, rebukes the wind and the sea, saying, “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:39), and immediately, everything calms down. Then He turns to them and asks, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40).
The disciples did what we all do in times of distress—they turned to the one they believed had the power to help them. I always find it convicting that I’m quick to pray, “God, help me!” when things are tough, but slow to pray, “God, direct me.” when things are going well.
This passage is challenging because the disciples clearly had faith that Jesus could help them, but not enough faith to trust that things would be okay without His direct intervention. I think the key to understanding this is found in the previous parable—The Parable of the Mustard Seed:
Mark 4:30-32
“30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
The ECNT explains, “The point of the parable is that the kingdom of God will have small and insignificant beginnings, but will grow into something great.”1
If you’ve been around church at all during Christmas, you’ve seen this—you’ve seen how Jesus was born in insignificance in a manger, yet thousands of years later, His church is still alive and well.
That’s the primary focus of the Parable of the Mustard Seed. However, have you considered its personal impact on you? I recently heard a sermon by Tim Keller on The Lord’s Prayer, where he discussed praying, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done,” and adding, “and may Your Kingdom go deeper in me.” There is a reality that the truths of the Kingdom grow within each of us as we follow Christ.
At this point in your walk with Christ, you may only have enough faith to turn to Him in times of trouble and say, “God, help me!” But as that Kingdom seed grows within us, we will eventually be able to stand in peace amidst the storms—because of our relationship with and understanding of who Christ is and what He has done for us.
1 Peter 1:3-9
“3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Warren Wiersbe defines living hope as: “A ‘living hope’ is one that has life in it and therefore can give life to us. Because it has life, it grows and becomes greater and more beautiful as time goes on. Time destroys most hopes; they fade and then die. But the passing of time only makes a Christian’s hope that much more glorious.”2
Jesus is alive, so our hope is alive. As the chorus of Living Hope declares:
“Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope.”
May we rest in the power of our Savior. May we grow in our depth of understanding and trust in who He is and the hope found in Him.
Adam
- Exegetical Commentary On The New Testament, Pg 340 ↩︎
- Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 392. ↩︎