At a time of considerable uncertainty in the world, in his Easter Message, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Rt Rev Dr Richard Murray, asks a simple question, ‘Have you any hope?’
Quoting from a story told by Dr Billy Graham in his autobiography, the American evangelist wrote of a conversation that he had had with Sir Winston Churchill in Downing Street. Looking at the newspapers arrayed around him, the Prime Minister lamented, “I tell you I have no hope. I see no hope for the world. I am a man without hope”
Looking around the world today, the Moderator writes that “Like Sir Winston, we may be tempted to say, ‘I have no hope. I see no hope for the world.’ He explains that on what we now call Good Friday, Jesus’ disciples might have also said the same thing, having seen their hope crucified on a cross that day. Yet Sunday came, and all that it meant for them and the world, that Jesus ‘our hope’ (1 Timothy 1:1) had conquered death and the worst the devil could throw at Him…”
Dr Murray ends by saying, “…there is hope, and it can be found in found in the person Jesus, for ‘…those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint’ (Isaiah 40:31).”
The full text of the Moderator’s 2025 Easter Message
Whenever someone has lost all hope, or nearly all hope, they will have discovered that they’re in a difficult place. In his autobiography, the American evangelist Dr Billy Graham tells of a conversation that he had with Sir Winston Churchill in 10 Downing Steet. In the room was a table with some newspapers, and pointing to them Sir Winston said, “Look at these newspapers – filled with nothing but murder and war and what the Communists are up to…I tell you I have no hope. I see no hope for the world. I am a man without hope.”
Reflecting on those words from one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th century, we might sense how they sum up the way many are feeling some 70 years later. Daily we are confronted with wars and rumours of wars, environmental emergencies, tax increases and tariffs, natural disasters, morals being redefined, attacks on free speech, and the huge drug problem. Like Sir Winston, we may be tempted to say, “I have no hope. I see no hope for the world.”
The disciples of Jesus Christ might have said exactly the same thing when they saw Him crucified on what we call Good Friday. They had left everything in order to follow Him and for three years they had witnessed a matchless life, accompanied by matchless miracles and His matchless teaching. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah, about to usher in a global golden age, but their hope died in the brutality of a Roman crucifixion. One wonders how they spent that Friday evening, all day Saturday and early Sunday – surely with a sense of, “I have no hope. I see no hope for the world.”
However, on the third day news began to filter through that Jesus had been raised from the dead. This must have seemed impossible, even though some of the women testified to having seen him – a claim probably that most dismissed as ‘fake news’. But then there were other appearances – in an upper room, on the road to Emmaus, at the seashore in Galilee and to a crowd of five hundred followers all at once. Before too long all disciples had met with Jesus and there began in the words of the modern hymn, “the dawning of hope in Jerusalem.”
In one of his letters the apostle Paul refers to Christ Jesus as ‘our hope’ (1 Timothy 1:1) and it’s not hard to explain why. Jesus has conquered death and the worst the devil could throw at Him, He also promised to come back as the judge on the last day. Those putting their hope in Jesus will be as safe on that day as people in a stone tower are safe from arrows.
However, those who do not have their hope in Jesus literally have no hope, and they will be lost on that day. Consequently, it is better to live with hope firmly fixed in Jesus than to say with Churchill, “I have no hope. I see no hope for the world,” because there is hope, and it can be found in found in the person Jesus, for “…those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
Rt Rev Dr Richard Murray, Moderator, Presbyterian Church in Ireland
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