After a day of soul searching, I found myself alone tonight, watching The Shawshank Redemption. And I found myself, though for different reasons, identifying more with Red, a petrified dinosaur of the prison, who tells Andy amidst his dreaming, “Andy, hope is a dangerous thing. You gotta stop doing this to yourself.”
Despite the strong words, Andy goes on hoping. He even gives Red something to hope for himself. The last 30 minutes of the movie capture Red’s progression well: after rejecting the possibility of hope, he strolls down the beach himself, uttering these, the final words of the film, “I hope I see my friend. I hope…”
Andy’s words, likewise, paint an interesting picture: “Red, hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things.” I think there’s a lot to learn from the message of the film (though not from the profanities strewn throughout the movie).
HOPE IS A GOOD THING. MAYBE THE BEST OF THINGS.
As a Christian, the hope is so much greater than freedom, a hotel in Mexico, watching justice unfold, or seeing an old friend. Despite the suffering we must face in this life, Jesus the Christ tells us there is a coming day, for those who are born into his kingdom, when we will know the joy of being in the presence of the most breathtaking, divine, beautiful, loving being that can ever be (Jn. 14:2). We are going home to see our Father.
The last few days I have groaned inwardly, looking at my life and feeling the emptiness of having many good things and yet not having what really fills my heart and soul with life and joy. It’s the feeling that there’s got to be more. And there is.
Only the hope God offers isn’t like the kind Andy offers. Andy’s is the “I hope I see you again, but I’m not sure at all that I will. I hope I see my friend, and get out of prison, but I can’t be certain.” The hope God offers in Jesus Christ is absolute certainty that we will be with him in paradise. When God speaks, things come into existence and go out. And when he promises to see us again, it happens.
“So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (Jn. 14:22). Hope in Jesus Christ is the best of things.
