Unfading Hope
Acts 2:25-28; Ps. 16[1]
One
of the great obstacles to joy in our world today is the prevalence of death. Of
course, death has always been around, but I think we see so much more of it.
With instant global communications, we see the death and destruction of wars being
waged all over the world. We experience the grief of those who have lost loved
ones to an unexpected mudslide, or a lost airliner, or a capsized ferry. Even
locally, it seems that the first ten minutes of the news is filled with
violence and death. It’s enough to drain from even the most stalwart believer the
hope that life has meaning and purpose. And that is only what we see reported
on the news!
All
of us have or will have our lives interrupted by death. Whether it is a beloved
spouse, a sister or brother, or even a treasured child, at one point or another
in life, we come face to face with the reality of death. It is a powerful
reality. It can take the wind out of our sails, knock us completely off course,
and leave us empty of faith, or hope, or joy. For many people in our world,
death is the ultimate obstacle to faith. Because of the stark reality of death,
they simply cannot muster the faith to believe that there is anything beyond
this life to look forward to.
As
difficult a challenge death can pose for us, the Scripture lessons during this
Easter season point us to a different “ultimate reality.” The experience the Apostles had of the risen
Lord Jesus Christ completely redefined for them what “ultimate reality” looked
like.[2]
For some of them, prior to that experience, they may very well have agreed with
Ben Franklin’s famous sentiment that “In this world nothing can be said to be
certain, except death and taxes.”[3]
But after seeing and hearing and touching and eating with the risen Christ,
they could no longer surrender their hearts to death as the ultimate reality.
In the presence of the one who had overcome death, they were possessed of a
hope that Peter said “cannot decay or spoil or fade away” (1 Pet. 1:4, TEV).
This
is the message of our Scripture lesson from the book of Acts for today. Peter,
in his sermon at Pentecost, quotes Psalm 16 to make the point that it was God’s
intention to raise Jesus from the dead all along. And yet, originally, Psalm 16
was a declaration of hope for anyone who trusted that their life was in God’s
hands, and that nothing, not even death, could snatch them from the safety and
refuge and joy they had in God’s presence.[4]
Although the words of the original Psalm are inspiring, I particularly like the
way Peter recites them. He quotes from the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible,
which translates the original in some interesting ways.
Both
texts express the confidence that because we live our lives in God’s abiding
presence, we have the assurance that we will not be “shaken” (Acts 2:25; Ps.
16:8). Both also affirm the faith that those who trust in the Lord will not be
forsaken in the grip of death (Acts 2:27; Ps. 16:10), but rather even in death
there will be life and joy in the presence of God (Acts 2:28; Ps. 16:11). But
the version that Peter quotes makes a couple of interpretations that I find
interesting. For one thing, the Psalm in the Hebrew Bible says that God’s
abiding presence means that “my body also rests secure” (Ps. 16:9). But in the Greek translation Peter quotes, it
says, “my flesh will live in hope”
(Acts 2:26). It seems to me that while the original Psalm affirms confidence in
God as a present reality, the Greek translation that Peter quotes points us to
a future hope, the hope that death will not be the end for us.[5]
I
think this gives us some insight into Peter’s experience of Easter faith:
because of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead Peter has a hope that goes beyond
death. This hope includes the confidence that he too will experience new life
on the other side of the grave. And so Peter can point also to joy, saying “you
will make me full of gladness with your presence” (Acts 2:28). I think this was
the reason why Peter’s sermon in the book of Acts quotes Psalm 16 in this unique
way. For the Apostles, indeed for all believers, the realization that Jesus had
truly overcome even the power of death changed their whole outlook on life.[6]
From now on faith, not fatalism, would define their lives. From now on a
“living hope” (1 Pet 1:3) would determine their attitude about the meaning and
purpose of life.[7]
Their lives were profoundly changed by their joyful experience of the risen
Lord.
The reason we look to these
texts is not for the sake of some history lesson. We too can embrace the faith
and hope and joy that those first believers did. It may be more of a challenge
for us, because we are among those who “have not seen and yet have come to
believe” (Jn. 20:29). But that doesn’t mean that we are prevented from knowing
the hope and the joy that come from experiencing the abiding presence of the
living Lord Jesus Christ. This is the good news that we celebrate throughout
the Easter season. This good news reinforces for us the faith that nothing, not
even death, can separate us from the ultimate hope and joy of God’s life-giving
presence.
[1] ©
2014 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 4/27/2014 at
First Presbyterian Church of Dickinson, TX.
[2]
Cf. James L. Mays, Psalms, 86: Psalm
16 “teaches that trust is not merely a warm feeling or a passing impulse in a
time of trouble; it is a structure of acts and experiences that open one’s
consciousness to the LORD as the supreme reality of life.” Cf. also H.-J. Kraus, Psalms 1-59, 242: “the life that has come to light in Christ Jesus
is the power that now and today embraces human life.”
[3]
Benjamin Franklin, Letter to
Jean-Baptiste Leroy (13 November 1789); accessed at http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin.
[4]
Cf. Mays, Psalms, 87: “Trust is
confidence in the face of death. ... Death in the thought world of the Psalms
is not only the polar opposition of life, the loss of one’s vital existence. It
is also the loss of the presence of God and the pleasures of that presence.”
[5]
While some would argue that Peter was just using the Psalm as a “prooftext”
(cf. Richard I. Pervo, Acts: A commentary
on the Book of Acts, 75), I think it is more accurate to say that the Psalm
provided him with the language to express his conviction that Jesus had been
raised from the dead (cf. Kraus, Psalms
1-59, 242).
[6]
Cf. Mays, Psalms, 88: “Life and joy go together. Life is consummated in joy.
Where death is removed as a threat, life is finally free for complete joy in
the presence of God.” It is significant
to call attention to the fact, as Mays does, that the Psalmist expressed this
trust without a developed “doctrine of resurrection or eternal life.”
[7]
Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Source of Life:
The Holy Spirit and the Theology of Life, 29: “New life begins in us
through the power of hope: that is an Easter experience.” Cf. also Jürgen Moltmann, Experiences of God, 28: “Anyone who has
grasped what Easter means has found an enduring hope.”
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