Hope for the Hopeless

Think back to a day of great pain – a day of hopelessness, of despair. A day when you lost a loved one – or a loved one betrayed you. A day it seemed as if God didn’t care for you – or He didn’t even exist.

That’s the situation for the followers of Jesus after the crucifixion. They had left everything to follow Him – fathers, mothers, homes, employment. For they thought He was the long-promised Messiah, the descendant of David who would restore Israel and reign forever. They had seen His power; they had heard His words – no one had ever spoken like that! When the religious authorities tried to trap Him, time and again He turned the tables on them. So those authorities didn’t even dare to ask him anything else publicly.

Jesus had called His followers out of their simple, normal lives. He had raised their hopes in the inevitable advance of the Kingdom of God. And He told them they would judge the twelve tribes of Israel! Simple fishermen, a tax collector!

But now, they have seen this almighty King stripped, scourged, and scorned. They have heard the soldiers mock Him as King of the Jews. They saw Him hanging on the cross. They saw Him die. They saw His lifeless corpse.

This dashes all their hopes. All their dreams. Now they just look like fools for leaving everything and following an itinerant preacher – indeed, a madman.

So they despair – as you may well have despaired on your day of greatest pain.

That’s the women’s state of mind as they come to Jesus’ tomb early Sunday morning. In the midst of their despair, they intend to do what they can – to honor Jesus’ lifeless body.

But they find the tomb open! And Jesus’ body is not there!

Luke tells us two men – presumably angels – then speak:

“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you … that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” (From Luke 24:5-7)

The women return to the apostles, reporting what they’ve seen. But Luke tells us, “These words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:11).

Peter goes to the tomb and finds it empty – but does not see Jesus.

Later that day two followers are walking away from Jerusalem. The risen Jesus overtakes them, but they do not recognize Him. Still very much in despair, they describe to Him what has happened and then summarize their present state of mind: “We had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). The implication: They no longer have that hope. The empty tomb has not raised them out of despair.

They go on to say that others went to the tomb and verified the women’s report, but conclude, “Him they did not see.”

What does Jesus then say?

He says what He says to us on our hardest days, when we lose all hope: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25)

Foolish! Why?

We all are foolish for at least three reasons when we despair:

  • First, because we have the prophets. Over many centuries the prophets tell us that God has advanced His great plan, overcoming human sin and human opposition, culminating in the descendant of David who lives a righteous life, suffers and dies for the people, rises from the dead, and promises to return to usher in His eternal Kingdom when “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). Nothing can keep Him from fulfilling that plan.
  • Second, because we have Jesus. The two followers are in despair because those who went to the tomb did not see Jesus. And they are looking at Jesus when they say that! They see Jesus! Yet they are completely ignorant of His presence.
  • Third, because of what Jesus Himself said. The angels tell the women, “Remember how He told you.” He had said that a disciple would betray Him. He had said He would mocked, beaten, and killed. And He had said that He would rise from the dead. He told them all this ahead of time.

So, friends: In our times of great pain, we must hold on to these same three truths.

We too have the Scriptures and the evidence from biblical history that nothing derails God’s plan. Furthermore, we today have the privilege of seeing more clearly than those disciples how God is working out His great plan through church history and through missions.

We too have the presence of Jesus via His Holy Spirit. The night He was betrayed, Jesus told His disciples, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, … he dwells with you and will be in you” (From John 14:16-17). So when we feel abandoned – He is right there with us. We too must recognize Him, like those disciples in Luke 24.

Finally, we too have the words, the promises of Jesus.

Think about this: Suppose I promise to give you a million dollars on Monday, and then a thousand dollars Tuesday.  You would have reason to be skeptical about that promise! But suppose somehow I fulfill the first half of the promise – I give you a million dollars Monday!

What then do you expect to happen on Tuesday? If I fulfill the promise to give you a million dollars on Monday, surely I’ll give you the thousand dollars on Tuesday – you will have no doubt! I’ve kept the hard promise – surely I’ll keep the easy one!

Think, now: Isn’t the promise to rise from the dead the hardest promise to keep anyone has ever made? Jesus kept the hard promise. He lived up to His word. Shouldn’t we then believe the rest of His words, and trust Him to be speaking truthfully? He’s fulfilled the million-dollar promise – surely He’ll fulfill all the thousand dollar promises He made.

Jesus’ resurrection verifies all God’s promises.

These include:

  • “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
  • “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3).
  • “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5, Joshua 1:5).
  • Via the Apostle Paul: Nothing in all creation “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (From Romans 8:39).

So this Resurrection Sunday: Commit yourself not to be foolish and slow of heart to believe:

  • Remember the story of the Bible, God’s great plan;
  • Remember that if you are in Jesus, you have the downpayment of your inheritance, the Holy Spirit within you;
  • Remember Jesus has fulfilled the most difficult promise; He will surely fulfill all the others.

We experience many sorrows and sins in this world. There are times for weeping, times for mourning. Jesus’ followers were right to weep at the crucifixion.

But Jesus is risen, just as He said! Therefore, we should never despair, for we have a certain, living Hope. Trust in His plan. Trust in His presence. And trust in His promises.

[This devotion was preached at the sunrise service of Desiring God Community Church on April 20, 2025]

 

The Master’s Questions to His Questioners

If you could ask God one question, what would you ask Him? This is a key starter question from evangelism training that some of us have attended in past years. It is also a feature question from one of our online courses at Billy Graham. Here are some actual students’ responses from just this past week in the course. (One question for God, what would you ask Him?).

  • Why is life so difficult?
  • How do I use my challenges to benefit the world in a realistic and tangible way?
  • What can I do for my friends and family to know and believe in Him?
  • How can I forgive without hurting when remembering the incident?
  • Why was I created?
  • How long will I be suffering in this world my Father?

These are genuine, raw questions!

How do you think God would answer those questions?

How would you answer those questions if asked??

There will be times in all our lives where not only will we have questions, but we’ll encounter loved ones, friends, neighbors, and coworkers with eternal questions. So how do we know how God would approach these questions and how He’d want us to as well?

One of the great things about the Bible is that it reveals to us, from start to finish, the character of God. In fact, the Word of God is God revealing His own character, so we might know Him, enjoy Him, and rightly worship and reflect Him in the world.

  • He shows His character through wisdom literature like Psalms and Proverbs.
  • He discloses Himself through His words to and through His Prophets.
  • He makes Himself known through the mighty promises and faithful actions in the books of the Law and with Israel.
  • He demonstrates who He is through logical conclusions in the letters.
  • He reveals Himself through the glorious defeat of evil and eternal reign as the King of kings and Lord of lords in Revelation.

But in the Gospels, we see the life and Person of Jesus laid out—the perfect image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15a). Here is truly on display God in human flesh making Himself known. You could look at His teaching, His miracles, His parables, His prophetic fulfillments and see great heights of His nature and the essence of His character.

However, one thing God has laid on my heart over the last month or so is to look deeper into how Jesus answers His questioners. During Jesus’ lifetime, He fielded many questions. I’m still working my way through the Gospels, but I counted 38 direct questions thrown Jesus’ way in Matthew. This won’t be a surprise to many of you, but Jesus answered 11 of those 38 questions with a question of His own.

Think about that. God Himself, who has the answer to every question and is the most loving being in the universe, did not always count it best to initially and directly answer His questioners. He asked questions back to them.

Today we’ll look at three instances where our Savior and Lord, questioned His questioners.

I. Change the Frame

Our first instance comes in Mark 2:18. The context concerns John the Baptist’s disciples and the Pharisees fasting. So some people come up to Jesus and ask Him, “18Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

The question Jesus gives in response is the first type we’ll ponder. Let’s call it, change the frame—the frame of reference that is. This question rightly notices a difference in behavior between Jesus’ followers and those of John and the Pharisees. However, it wrongly assumes Jesus is on par with John and the Law. Jesus is the One to whom John’s whole life has been called to point to. He is the Giver and perfect fulfillment of the Law. Jesus is other, above, beyond, greater than any prophet, priest, or king and is the perfect embodiment of what a life in obedience to God and fulfillment of the Law looks like. Jesus’ initial question is going to change the frame. It’s meant to reset the frame of reference for the questioners. It’s meant to lovingly show them someone different is in front of them that they need recognize.

In verses 19–20 Jesus says,

Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

He uses a picture of a groom and the celebration he brings to help his questioners understand His disciples are acting differently because the One who makes their joy complete is in their midst. He asked a question to change their frame of mind, to see Jesus as different, set apart, and bringing in a new era.

II. Turning the Tables

The second example of Jesus answering a question with a question comes from Matthew 15:1-9. We’ll call this turning the tables through pointing out hypocrisy. Here the tone from Jesus’ questioners is accusing His disciples of wrongdoing. “1Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ‘2Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.’” Here Jesus question doesn’t seek to help explain or answer where they’re hung up. It turns the tables on His questioners by exposing their “acceptable” sin and underlying hypocrisy.

Hear Jesus’ words in verses 3–9:

And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, “Honor your father and your mother,” and, “Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.” But you say, “If anyone tells his father or his mother, ‘What you would have gained from me is given to God,’ he need not honor his father.” So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (cf. Isaiah 29:13).

The Pharisees were making new laws of tradition to pile on others while they were not even keeping God’s Law itself. Jesus lovingly, directly, and bravely calls them on their wrong, knowing that they will be offended. Some of us run to this option too often. We imagine ourselves as hammers and most conversations as an opportunity to nail others where they’re missing it. Others of us are too afraid of offending others. The fear of people has a hold on us instead of the love of Christ. For those of us in this category, we need to prayerfully risk offending others and love them enough to point out the truth.

III. Drawing them Out

Now for a third way Jesus questions his questioners. This a famous one and is a bit different. It’s in Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 24, starting in verse 13 with the two men on the walk to Emmaus. We will call this one drawing them out.

Proverbs 20:5—The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.

Here two disciples are walking from Jerusalem. They are looking sad and talking about the things that have happened in the wake of Jesus’ death. Jesus comes up behind them and initiates the conversation with a question, asking what they are talking about among themselves. Then one of the guys named Cleopas answers, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

How ironic is this that the One to whom they’re asking the question was the very One who endured all of the betrayal, arrest, whipping, shaming, and crucifixion. What’s more, He had planned this with the Father from the foundation of the world. Nevertheless, our all-wise King in awesome love, humility, and wisdom draws them out by asking in verse 19, “What things?”

Only after they’ve explained the things on their heart does Jesus give them a rebuke and then the most amazing Bible study that we’ve mentioned many times! By drawing out where they were, He allowed His great lesson of the Scriptures being centered on His crucifixion and resurrection to fully sink in.

So what can we glean from our Savior at times questioning His questioners? A few takeaways:

  1. It’s a helpful thing to ask questions. It shows other people you’re interested in them. It keeps them engaged. It allows for dialogue.
  2. Of the three, it seems like the “drawing them out” method should probably be our bread and butter. Unlike Jesus, we don’t already know people’s hearts, or the thing that they need the most to hear. After praying for wisdom and the Spirit’s guidance, drawing them out allows us to better know where someone is coming from and gives us a sense of their worldview. It also shows us areas of common ground to start from and build toward Christ and the Gospel.
  3. All three methods of answering with questions are helpful and useful and called for in different circumstances. Sometimes analogies and visuals can help change the frame of people’s mindsets and reference points to see truths of Scripture and who our God is in a new perspective. Even turning the tables is needed at times to lovingly stand on truth and point others to the most flourishing way forward.

In all of this, we are called to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) and follow our Savior who is full of “grace and truth” (John 1:17).