The message of Easter is very simple: it is truly all about hope. For life itself is all about hope. Vaclav Havel, the Czech poet and former President, speaking out of his years of suffering oppression and persecution, said, "I am not an optimist, because I am not sure that everything ends well. Nor am I a pessimist, because I am not sure everything ends badly. I just carry hope in my heart...." Havel then went on to speak of the vital importance of hope for the human spirit: "Life without hope is an empty, boring and useless life. I cannot imagine that I could strive for something if I did not carry hope in me. I am thankful to God for this gift. It is as big a gift as life itself."

There are always Good Fridays in our lives, days and times when all seems dead, dark and hopeless. No one escapes from such times. No one is exempt. Havel knew those times. He experienced them firsthand, and they were painful. But Havel also believed those times would end, that something new and better would arise. That was his hope. That is what kept him going. What those new times, what that new life, what that resurrection would be like, he did not know. He simply hoped they would come – and they did for him and his people.

As with Havel, so with us: hope is what keeps us going when things are going badly. On the other hand, when things are going well, hope is also what keeps us going forward rather than looking over our shoulders for the shoe to drop. Hope is the promise of resurrection, new life, not only when all seems dead but also when all seems, well, fully alive. Hope is what instills in us the belief that it can indeed get better than this, no matter how good it already is.

Jesus hung onto the cross because he hung unto the hope that this would pass and that something good and better would come from it, even if he did not know what that something would be. Hope is what keeps us hanging on even though we do not know what new life will arise out of what is, even if we do not know what kind of resurrection will take place. We simply hope that it will come somehow in some way. We not only hope, we believe.

Resurrection came quickly for Jesus. It did not come quickly for Havel or his people. It usually does not come quickly for us. Those Saturdays between Friday and Resurrection are often long and difficult and sometimes extremely painful. To deny that truth is to deny the truth and it is foolish to do so. But to move from Friday through Saturday to the Sunday of our resurrection to new life, hope is of the essence. It is often the only thing we can hang on to, and so we do.

Easter is a reminder that for every death there is a resurrection, there is new life. We cannot orchestrate what that new life will be like. We can only hope for that day to come soon even as we believe that it will be, that it will take place in God’s own good time and in God’s own good way. And as we say "Alleluia!" to Jesus’ resurrection to new life, so we have said and so will continue to say "Alleluia!" to our own resurrections, whenever and wherever they happen.

As we celebrate Easter and Jesus’ resurrection, may we continue to be filled with hope, no matter what.

WJP