Preface
I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to engage with my friends who are watching LDS General Conference this weekend. I have seen that people respond very negatively to even gentle criticism of specific talks and I want to let my LDS friends enjoy the weekend without being a source of negativity.
So this year I’ve decided that rather than critique talks, I am going to share some of my own thoughts related to the talks that I listen to, mini-talks or devotionals of my own if you wish. I hope that these can offer some different insights and a unique perspective that will enhance rather than detract.
This post is called Jesus is Our Only Hope and was written in response to Elder Neil L. Anderson’s Saturday Morning talk on the topic of hope.
As I listened to his talk, one particular Bible quotation came to my mind: Jesus’s pronouncement to his disciples to “[b]e of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) And one message stood out to me that I want to share: Jesus is the reason for our hope.
This verse comes as part of Jesus’s upper room discourse as he prepares his disciples for his death on the cross. At the start of Chapter 16 of the Gospel of John, Jesus begins to warn the disciples about the persecutions and suffering that they will endure. He warns that they “will put [them] out of the synagogue” and even kill them (John 16:2) Jesus therefore prepares and equips them with what they need to “not fall away.” (John 16:1). In effect, Jesus is giving his disciples reasons for hope despite the dark days that are coming. He teaches them about the spirit that will come and comfort them, about the joy they will feel in the resurrection, and about how the Father will answer their prayers and give them whatever they ask.
After these teachings, the disciples respond with great confidence. They declare their faith in Christ and that they “believe that you came from God.” (John 16:30).
In many ways, their overconfidence hearkens back to Peter’s earlier brash pronouncement in John 13 that “I will lay down my life for you.” (John 13:37). Then, Jesus predicted that Peter would deny him three times. Here once again Jesus predicts that his disciples will soon falter. Indeed, they will all “be scattered” and “will leave [Jesus] all alone.” (Johne 16:32)
Jesus tells them of these things — the fact that they will soon betray him and abandon him “so that in me you may have peace.” (John 16:33a) This is unexpected and at first blush contradictory. Why would knowing that they will fail Jesus that very night be a source of peace?
Jesus explains, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33b)
Jesus is saying that he knows that they will fail him, but he will never fail them. He has overcome the world. And that is what really matters.
Jesus knew his disciples would face persecution and suffering. He knew that most of them would die a martyr’s death.
Jesus also knew that in just a few hours even his most stalwart followers would fall asleep while he prepared for betrayal and death on the cross. He knew that they would scatter and even betray him.
Christ is telling us that if our hope rests on us and our faith, we will falter. Our only sure foundation is Christ and Christ alone.
What gives us hope and peace is knowing that Christ knows all of the troubles that we will face. He knows us at our absolute lowest. He knows the deepest sins we will commit. He knows the darkness that remains in our hearts. But it doesn’t matter. He has “overcome the world.”
Jesus emphasizes that our source of peace and hope is not in ourselves, but in what he has done.
Through all of the trials and tribulations of life, Jesus is our hope. That’s true for things like a child’s illness or tragic death, but its just as true with the inner struggles that we face and all of the times when we fall short or doubt or falter.
Our hope cannot be in others, because at times they will let us down and betray us. Our hope cannot be in the strength of our own faith, because there are times when it will fail us. Jesus is telling us that the only thing we can have real and lasting confidence in, is him, because he has overcome.
I love the words of the song Christ Our Hope in Life and Death which convey this so well:
“What is our hope in life and death?
Christ alone, Christ alone
What is our only confidence?
That our souls to Him belong”
Christ is our only hope and confidence. I am grateful to know that I am saved by a Savior who can give me true assurance and hope. If our souls belong to him, then we will overcome not because of our strength, but because He has overcome it all.
_________________________________________
A few additional thoughts about some of the other key reasons Jesus offers for his disciples to be of “good cheer” and have hope in John 16 that didn’t fit with my main point.
- The Spirit
Throughout the upper room discourse, Jesus focuses on the coming of the Holy Spirit as a source of comfort and consolation and hope for the disciples. In John 14, Jesus emphasizes that the spirit or “advocate” will “help you and be with you forever” and that because the spirit will live in the disciples, they will not be left “as orphans.” (John 14:16-18). In John 16, Jesus returns to this thought emphasizing that the disciples should be joyful rather than grieving that Jesus is leaving because the Spirit will come and “guide [them] into all truth.” (John 16:13).
I find Jesus’s promise that because of the spirit Jesus’s disciples (and us) will not be left as “orphans” particularly comforting and inspiring. Elsewhere in the New Testament, Paul emphasizes that the spirit is a spirit of adoption that “testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” and allows us to cry out “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8: 15-16). If we are in Christ, then we are part of God’s family. That is such an incredible source of comfort and consolation and hope no matter what we go through. If we believe in Christ, then God has made us a part of his family, and he is not going to abandon one of his children.
2. The Resurrection
Jesus emphasizes that role of his resurrection as a sure source of hope and joy for the disciples. He explains that after he died they will “weep and mourn while the world rejoices.” But their “grief will turn to joy” when he rises again. (John 16:20) It will be like a woman who has been in labor but forgets the pain of labor as she is overcome with joy at holding her newborn child.
For us likewise, the sure knowledge of the resurrection of Christ can be a source of comfort. If we understand what it means that Christ rose from the dead, then we can have joy “and no one will take away your joy.” (John 16:22).