Hope Is a Thing With Flesh
April 12, 2020 | By Bradley Yam, SY ‘21. Bradley is majoring in Ethics, Politics & Economics.
Full-bodied hope is a thing with flesh.
This year I’m celebrating Easter all by myself in quarantine. It feels surreal to hear the sound of the hotel door latching irrevocably shut, knowing that it will stay shut for the next fourteen days. In here, it’s easy to hope. I could stream the Easter service from my local church, sing along with the songs and be satisfied with warm feelings and abstract ideas. This is the kind of hope of Dickinson’s “hope is a thing with feathers”, hope that whispers in the soul but asks nothing of you at all.
As much as I love Dickinson, that kind of hope is silent against the four white walls, against the careening unemployment rates, against the deepening trenches of tragedy that is not a probability but a certainty for all of us, global pandemic or no. Hope that is detached from reality, that is quarantined in its own room of the heart, that never has to fight with disappointment and failed expectations, that is too light and ethereal to stake action upon, is only the shadow of the real thing.
“Do you know the difference between a-lieving something and believing something? A-lieving is when you say you think something is true before you really believe it, before you let it sink in.”
Full-bodied hope is a thing with flesh. It comes through in a time of crisis, it is presence in the midst of loneliness, practical aid for the suffering, and resurrection for the dead. Hope gives us strength, comfort and purpose, especially given the uncertainty of the world this Easter, but it also demands that we act like the things we believe are true, that we become a presence for the lonely, help for the needy, and a sign of eternal life to the dying. This is the kind of hope that can and will bear all our fears and failures, our disappointments and our depressions. This is the kind of hope we can lean on, and bear us on, because if we push it, it will push back. This is the kind of hope that demands to be reckoned with. If not, it will reckon with us.
This is the kind of hope that we have, only because He is risen.
Luke 24
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
Jason Lee, TD ‘22
What are you hoping for? What brings you hope? What do you want to see new life come into?
I still don't really know what I'm hoping for. But there's much to be thankful for with respect to the love and support of friends and some of the most open conversations I've had with my mother in a while.
With respect to new life, a way of living that not only is not dependent on the plans I lay, but that can find joy or at least peace when they are interrupted.
Prince Caspian, C.S. Lewis
When the whole party was finally awake Lucy had to tell her story for the fourth time. The blank silence which followed it was as discouraging as anything could be.
“I can’t see anything,” said Peter after he had stared his eyes sore. “Can you, Susan?”
“No, of course I can’t,” snapped Susan, “Because there isn’t anything to see. She’s been dreaming. Do lie down and go to sleep, Lucy.”
“And I do hope,” said Lucy in a tremulous voice, “that you will all come with me. Because - because I’ll have to go with him whether anyone else does or not.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, Lucy,” said Susan. “Of course you can’t go off on your own. Don’t let her, Peter. She’s being downright naughty.”
“I’ll go with her, if she must go,” said Edmund. “She’s been right before.”
Serena Puang, DC ‘22
What are you hoping for? What brings you hope? What do you want to see new life come into?
I’m sitting here looking at cancelled plans and a lot of uncertainty, I’m reminded about all the other times I have had plans cancelled and things haven’t gone my way. I feel like God keeps reminding me that for the last 20 years, he’s been faithful and his plans have been good. That gives me hope for the future.
As for what I’m hoping for specifically, I think it’s that God is doing something bigger than I can see and that some day he’ll open my eyes to see it. I hope I’ll come out of this time not just having gaps in my resume and a half semester where I stayed home but a deeper understanding of the nature of God and who he is that drives me to go to him with my anxieties. I’m a naturally anxious person, my world has always felt very precarious. I’ve looked out at it for a long time with a lot of the anxiety many people seem to just be coming into now. But in all these years, God has taken what I see as shambles and written a beautiful story. I hope to continue to see him do it again and again.
The last question kinda confuses me but if new life means the other side of heaven, I look forward to a world where I don’t see the world in shambles. If it’s just after this craziness is over, I think I hope to see lasting change and gratitude for the things we took for granted.
Luke 24
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
Lauren Chan, GH ‘21
What are you hoping for? What brings you hope? What do you want to see new life come into?
Lauren had told me that a little boy in a park ran up to her and gave her a big hug, a hope-filled hug in this time of social distancing. She said that this simple thing gave her hope. That gesture though simple, fully embodied the hopes for a return to normalcy and love amongst strangers.
She is hoping for the same excitement and joy at celebrating Easter with her family at home, that usually comes with the whole church congregation celebrating together.
Prince Caspian, C.S. Lewis
This time Edmund saw him. “Oh, Aslan!” he cried, darting forward. But the Lion whisked round and began padding up the slope on the far side of the Rush.
“Peter, Peter,” cried Edmund. “Did you see?”
“I saw something,” said Peter. “But it’s so tricky in this moonlight. On we go, though, and three cheers for Lucy. I don’t feel half so tired now, either.”
Aslan without hesitation led them to their left, farther up the gorge. The whole journey was odd and dream-like the roaring stream, the wet grey grass, the glimmery cliffs which they were approaching, and always the glorious, silently pacing Beast ahead.
Daniel Chabeda, ES ‘22
What are you hoping for? What brings you hope? What do you want to see new life come into?
I am hoping for many people to soften their hearts towards Jesus and wake up to see that He is the God who will judge the hearts of men.
I am brought hope whenever I think about how God delivered my family members and continues to work in bringing us closer together. He has done so many miracles in the past, and will bring them all to their completion by redeeming us in the Day of the Lord! With new life I am really excited to see God's face! I'm really excited for the tangible aspects. What new creatures will live in the New Earth, what pleasures will we occupy ourselves with, and what skills can we master with an eternity of practice? What will the family of God feel like as we become spiritually connected? I just am ready for my mind to explode beyond imagination!
Luke 24
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.
44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
The Everlasting Man, G.K. Chesterton
On the third day the friends of Christ coming at daybreak to the place found the grave empty and the stone rolled away. In varying ways they realized the new wonder; but even they hardly realized that the world had died in the night. What they were looking at was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of the gardener God walked again in the garden, in the cool not of the evening but the dawn.
Excerpt from Seven Stanzas at Easter, John Updike
Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping, transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.
The stone is rolled back, not papier-maché,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.
Jadan Anderson, MC ‘22
What are you hoping for? What brings you hope? What do you want to see new life come into?
Today I'm hoping for sustained change, that whatever good comes out of the next few months would stay for years. Like, having a class discussion memorized by heart instead of having to constantly pull notes for reference. Practical examples include having rekindled tenderness for family or newfound concern for and attention to the rest of the world last past August.
Every year that I've come to stay with my aunt and uncle, their marriage has been on the rocks. The difference right now is almost tangible, and when I asked about it they shared all of the long-suffered efforts they made to learn how to love each other better. The commitment to do better was so important. What brings me hope right now is intentional* (or actionable?) love, the kind my aunt and uncle showed each other, the kind the God showed us through Christ.
I want to believe for the resurrection of good things soured (like familial relationships) or things present gone (like hope).
Revelation 21:3-5 is one of my favorite passages in recalibrating what I'm hoping for and in whom I put my hope.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
The Return of the King, J.R.R Tolkien
And Frodo when he saw her come glimmering in the evening, with stars on her brow and a sweet fragrance about her, was moved with great wonder, and he said to Gandalf: ‘At last I understand why we have waited! This is the ending. Now not day only shall be beloved, but night too shall be beautiful and blessed and all its fear pass away!’
Then the King welcomed his guests, and they alighted; and Elrond surrendered the sceptre, and laid the hand of his daughter in the hand of the King, and together they went up into the High City, and all the stars flowered in the sky. And Aragorn the King elessar wedded Arwen Undómiel in the City of Kings upon the day of Midsummer, and the tale of their long waiting and labours was come to fulfillment.