The problem of hope

The problem of hope.

The problem of hope.Hope.  A problem?  Absolutely!

A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous.

You have to realize where this quote is from to understand it.  Please – read on.

The context for the quote above –

President Snow: Seneca… why do you think we have a winner?
Seneca Crane: [frowns] What do you mean?
President Snow: I mean, why do we have a winner? I mean, if we just wanted to intimidate the districts, why not round up twenty-four of them at random and execute them all at once? Be a lot faster.
[Seneca just stares, confused]
President Snow: Hope.
Seneca Crane: Hope?
President Snow: Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it’s contained.
Seneca Crane: So…?
President Snow: So, CONTAIN it.

Got it yet?

Yes – Hunger Games.  I finally watched it a couple says ago.  In a way – I was surprised.  But in another way – I wasn’t surprised at all.
As Christians, we believe that God is everywhere.  Given that – we should be able to see something of Him – well – everywhere.
And yes – Hunger Games was no different.

Obviously, the quote from President Snow isn’t something God would say.  After all, Snow, if anything, is the embodiment of evil.

But before we go there, here’s something of what the movie is supposedly about from Huffington Post –

If one accepts the truisms of internet memes, in the spring of 2012 as a culture we gathered in dark theaters to be entertained by teenagers killing each other. For those who had not read the books, The Hunger Games movie seemed to be simply a glorification of the worst sort of violence. In a time when school shootings plague our nation, the idea of being entertained by a film about teenagers killing each other seemed utterly inappropriate. Naturally, protests of the movie abounded and numerous calls were sent out to boycott the film and get the book banned from school libraries–all of which served as exercises in missing the point.

But far from being a distraction or celebration of violence, at its core Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series is ultimately a story about hope. It is a hope which holds that resisting injustice is not futile, that violence can come to an end, and that a better world is indeed possible. Interestingly, despite the marketing, glitz, and glamour surrounding the release of the Catching Fire film, that message of hope has been central to the promotion of the second film.

Not surprisingly, I think the Huffington Post actually missed the point –
maybe not the point of the movie –
but the point of the word hope.

However – if what they wrote so far wasn’t bad enough – they actually kept going –

A little hope can keep people in line. Offer people rewards in heaven someday after they die as long as they are good submissive people now and you keep them subdued.

And so we have now come full circle to my original point.

Thank you Huffington Post for making the point for me!

In order to really understand the significance of this quote (which apparently wasn’t in the book – but was added for the movie) – one needs to look no further than C. S. Lewis and The Screwtape Letters.  That book was written from the point of view of Screwtape – who was mentoring his nephew, Wormwood.  The mentoring process, if you’re not familiar with the book, was to train little Wormwood to become a devil.  As such, all of the letters in the book were written by Wormwood to guide his nephew as he tries to keep his “patient” from turning to God – and instead to “our father below”.  In other words – Satan.

And there it is. 

The one who would look on a little hope as a good thing – and lot’s of hope as a bad thing – would be Satan.

I’ll let you come to your own conclusions on the Huffington Post’s statement about a little hope for going to heaven being something to keep people subdued.

I will say though – a lot of hope for going to Heaven should do anything but keep people subdued.  No one living at the time of Jesus would likely have considered him quiet, submissive, or subdued.  He was killed in no small part for being such a radical that the leaders were afraid of Him.

Referring to the image at the top – this is what can happen with a lot of hope –

Heb 6:19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

Now, all of a sudden everyone can go to the place where previously only the high priest of the Jewish people could go.  And only once a year.  And at that one time, with a rope tied around his waist – because if he wasn’t truly pure – he would die and have to be pulled out by the rope, because no one else could go in and get him out!  But now – everyone who believes in Jesus could go there.

No wander Satan – like President Snow – says CONTAIN it

Including the reference above, the word hope appears 75 times in the NIV translation of the New Testament.

We have a meaning for the word “hope” today.  It’s for things like I hope I find a parking space close to the store.  I hope I win the lottery.  I hope I get a nice present for my birthday.  I hope I pass the test.  The point is, that hope is often used for trivial things.  Or for things that have little chance of happening.  For pretty much everything.

But let’s look at the very first example of the word hope in the New testament.  It’s actually from a reference to Isaiah, in the Old Testament –

God’s Chosen Servant

Mt 12:15 Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, 16 warning them not to tell who he was. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
Mt 12:18 “Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
Mt 12:19 He will not quarrel or cry out;
no one will hear his voice in the streets.
Mt 12:20 A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he leads justice to victory.
Mt 12:21 In his name the nations will put their hope.”

That doesn’t seem trivial.  And it certainly seems like something extremely important.

And yet – the word hope is there.  What does that word mean?  At least – what did it mean at the time it was spoken – and in the context within which it was spoken?

Let’s check out the Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon first –

1679 ἐλπίζω [elpizo /el·pid·zo/] v. From 1680; TDNT 2:517; TDNTA 229; GK 1827; 32 occurrences; AV translates as “trust” 18 times, “hope” 10 times, “hope for” twice, “things hoped for” once, and “vr hope” once. 1 to hope. 1A in a religious sense, to wait for salvation with joy and full confidence. 2 hopefully to trust in.

Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.

And in the Greek-English Lexicon –

25.59 ἐλπίζωa; ἐλπίςa, ίδος f: to look forward with confidence to that which is good and beneficial—‘to hope, to hope for, hope.’

Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 295). New York: United Bible Societies.

So we see there’s a level of confidence we see that’s far beyond the way we use the word today.

Quite honestly, I suspect Satan is rejoicing over this.  Trivial hope isn’t really much different than a little hope.  Either way – there’s nothing substantial about it.  No reason to risk one’s life as the disciples and other early Christians did.  And while some parts of the world the risk of death is still there, no reason to make a major shift away from the way the rest of the world lives, as would be the case for many today.  The thing is – Satan doesn’t have to get us to follow Him.  He just needs to get us to turn away from God.  And whether that by by trivializing the word hope – or trivializing the thing we hope for – the end result is the same.  

If Satan gets his way – We are CONTAINed!

To give some idea of just how important this hope is – let’s look at what Paul wrote about the possibility of his hope being unjustified –

1Co 15:12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

Paul understood the importance of both the thing he hoped for
but also used hope the way the word was used in his time.
It was a confident hope.  
It was a trust.

It was a belief that God didn’t lie.
It was a belief that Jesus told the truth.

Jn 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

If you don’t believe Him – what is it that you do believe?
And on whose words are you basing that belief?

If you believe what Jesus said is true – don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

Jn 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

It won’t be easy.  There’s lot of people in the world who are like Snow – who want to CONTAIN us.

And yet – Jesus also said –

Rev 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Whose voice are your ears listening to?

Is it a voice telling you there’s no hope – nothing worth hoping for – or it’s pointless to hope?
Or is it a voice to confident and trusting hope?

 


image from ourjourneywithgod.wordpress.com

 

Please leave a comment or ask a question - it's nice to hear from you.

Scroll to Top