One of the things that people begin to learn as they study the Bible more and more is that words that we commonly use today do not have the same meaning as they once had, or more specifically, still have in the biblical context. One of those words is the concept of “hope.” Today we use this term in reference to an outcome we desire to happen or not happen. We can think of situations like “I hope it does not rain today” or “I hope the Lions do not embarrass our state too much this season.” These are things that may or may not happen. Hope in the biblical context is a term in reference to the expectation of an outcome happening because God said it will. To a believer, this “hope” does not have a chance of failing, and there is something amazing about that.
There is something that is quite troublesome that occurs following the death of Jesus. It is as if all of His followers lose this hope and begin to just go on with life, as usual, mourning the loss of a loved one. This hope of His resurrection seems to be almost forgotten about. His followers watched Him die and then there was a period, the story was over, and they were ready to move on. We see this hope lost in Peter as he denies Jesus. Something that stands out to me the most is that the denial and doubting of Jesus follow Peter even after Jesus’ death. Upon hearing that Jesus has risen from the dead, Peter does not believe the words he is hearing and has to see them for himself.
Luke 24:11-12 records, “But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.”
Why was it so difficult for Peter to just believe the words of these women? We often read this and think Peter is terrible for what he has done. He lost hope in Jesus at the first sign of failure. I like to think, “What would I have done in this situation?” I want to say I would stand stronger, but the reality is I probably would not. We have to remember that Peter did not know how the story ends yet. He does not have the same luxury that we do. We are lucky that we have seen the writings of His resurrection to know that this whole concept of Christianity was not lost at His death on the cross; but instead, it truly began. His death gave us the ability to have hope in Him in the past, the present, and the future. We must read His Word and have hope that what He says is going to come true will and not lose that hope at the first sign of struggle.