March 12, 2016
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Hope in the Darkness

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Opening Prayer

Mighty Lord God, marvelous are Your deeds, just and true are Your ways. I give You all my praise.

Read ACTS 26:1-18

[1] Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense: [2] “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews, [3] and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently. [4] “The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem. [5] They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee. [6] And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today. [7] This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me. [8] Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead? [9] “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. [10] And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. [11] Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities. [12] “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. [13] About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. [14] We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ [15] “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ ” ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. [16] ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. [17] I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them [18] to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

“Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew his way out of the grave” (G.K. Chesterton, 1874-1936). It is on such a God that our hope is based.

Paul repeatedly refers to “hope” as his main defense in each different trial. Before the Sanhedrin, he speaks of “the hope of the resurrection of the dead” (Acts 23:6). With Felix he confesses he has “the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked” (Acts 24:15). His last mention is with Jewish leaders in Rome when he refers to “the hope of Israel” which caused his imprisonment (Acts 28:20). Here with Agrippa he elaborates on the theme of hope in God’s promise to raise the dead (6-8).

For Paul, “hope” rests on God’s promises, through the prophets, to Jewish ancestors, that there is more to life than living and dying. In each defense speech he associates hope with resurrection. This includes the resurrection of both righteous and wicked, to appear before the judgment throne, but more importantly it refers to the resurrection of Jesus, the first to rise from the dead (Acts 26:23). When the risen Jesus appeared to Paul on the Damascus road, his life was dramatically changed forever, for the resurrection itself was incontrovertible proof that Jesus was Lord and God. He embodied the hope of Israel, and that was the sure foundation on which Paul built his mission of witness to Jesus (16).  

We, with Paul, are sent to Jews and Gentiles to turn them from the darkness of evil to the true light of God, so that they might be forgiven and live holy lives by faith (18). Theologians place great emphasis on the cross of Christ, with good reason, but without the resurrection everything we believe is futile and we are “still in [our] sins” (1 Cor. 15:12-17). Our world needs this message of hope in the darkness. Only the living, resurrected Jesus can bring hope to all humanity.

Apply

“Hopelessness is characteristic of life today.” Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not? How does the Gospel message address hopelessness?

Closing prayer

Father, the words of an old hymn are ringing in my ears: “help of the helpless, Lord, abide with me.” In my heart I changed the words to: “hope of the hopeless.” Thank You for abiding with me.

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