Advent - The Hope Candle
When I was a little girl, my grandparents lived a couple of hours down the road. They visited often, sometimes coming up just for the evening, spending the night, and then going home after we left for school the next day.
My brothers and I knew their routine so on days when they were headed to our house, we would go outside and play in the yard. Every so often, we’d look toward the corner to see if we could spot their blue-green car turning onto our street.
When we’d finally see our grandparents’ car, we’d run down the sidewalk, turn around, and race them to the house. We were always so excited to see them! In a home where conflict was the norm, our grandparents gave us hope that there were people and spaces where voices were kind and soft and where hugs and smiles were given generously.
We loved our visits from Granny and Gramps! Granny usually brought some kind of sweet treat (her specialty was popcorn balls), and there would be some sort of small gift or a dollar bill for each one of us without fail.
We live in a world today where, like my childhood, conflict is rampant. Injustice seems to always get the upper hand. Oppression is thick, and despair is thicker still. Our world is thirsty for hope – not just something we tell ourselves to feel better, but a reality promised and coming that comforts our longing hearts.
And over thousands of years, although times are different, not much has changed. The prophet Zechariah shared a message from God to the exiles who had returned to Jerusalem after 70 years in Babylonian captivity. The work of rebuilding God’s Temple was moving slowly, and the people were discouraged. These tender words from God were delivered to bring life and hope:
“ ‘Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,’ declares the Lord. ‘Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become My people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent Me to you.’ ” (Zechariah 2:10-11)
The Lord made a promise to send a Messiah, and He made good on that promise in a stable in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago.
The Hope of the world – long awaited and fervently prayed for – arrived on the scene as a tiny Baby held in the arms of a teenage mom. Jesus was here!
He did walk among us – just as Zechariah and others had prophesied. He lived a sinless life – something impossible for us to do. He gave Himself up to be the perfect spotless sacrifice as payment for our sins. And He dealt a death blow to death itself when He walked out of the tomb.
Forty days after His resurrection, Jesus was then taken up into heaven. Two angels questioned the bystanders who were staring intently into the blue:
“ ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, Who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.’ ” (Acts 1:11)
And so we wait. We anticipate the fulfillment of a reality promised and coming that will comfort our longing hearts. Jesus, our sure Hope, will come not as a Baby in a stable, but as a King on a white horse.
Rejoice, and light the candle! We have Hope!
