Hope is a Dangerous Thing

"Hope is a dangerous thing. It can drive a man insane." Red, Shawshank Redemption

The above quote is taken from the novel and movie Shawshank Redemption. Red, a lifelong convict, has adopted this mentality over a lifetime of disappointments and incarceration. Many of you may explicitly or implicitly, absolutely or partially, buy into Red's conviction regarding hope. You have been burned once too often. Even the Gospel promises, which are the embodiment of hope, seem far off and untouchable. God's people throughout the ages have walked in darkness, cried out in oppression, felt hope slipping away.

But then something happens that breaks into the darkness. For Red, it happened one day when another inmate barricaded himself in the warden’s office, flipped on the prison P.A. system, and played a portion of a Mozart opera, bringing the entire prison to a standstill as each prisoner listens to the aria. Even Red, the one who resisted all talk of hope, could not ignore this incursion of beauty. Listen as Red tries to capture the burgeoning of hope that he felt, “I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singin’ about. I like to think they were singin’ about something so beautiful it can’t be expressed in words, and it makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared, higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away. For the briefest of moments, every last man at Shawshank was free."

Red's speech sounds an awful lot like the way the gospel works doesn't it? Consider these words from John, "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it." (Jn 1:5). Have you seen the light yet this Advent season? Has something so beautiful penetrated whatever prison you find yourself in and ignited hope? Perhaps you feel a little like Balaam who said "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near" (Num. 24:17). Maybe deliverance stills seems far away. But maybe hope is kindled. You see, the idea that "hope is a dangerous thing" works two ways. As Red formulated it above, hope was what made life miserable as it disappointed over and over. But hope, founded on something as solid as the finished work of Christ, is a sure and steadfast anchor for our souls (cf. Heb. 6:19). Hope founded on the blood of a lamb can lead slaves out of Egypt (cf. Ex 12).