Paul states in Romans 5:5, the second reading for the Third Sunday in Lent, that “hope does not disappoint.” Really? Hope does not disappoint? It seems to me that everyone at some time or another has had their “hopes dashed” or named a situation “hopeless”. While it might be true that looking back on some youthful “hopes,” one might see ephemeral or worldly desires – the desire to be rich or famous – or passing fancies – “I hope she talks to me” – it is certainly true that not every human hope falls into this category. What of the child who “hopes” that his or her parents get back together after the divorce, never to see this hope realized? What of people who “hope” for an end to war? What of refugees who “hope” for a place to live? None of these situations could be properly categorized as selfish desires or an immature “hope” for mere things. They represent human longing at its deepest and most sincere. Paul certainly was aware of hopes which had not been realized, either in his own life (2 Cor. 12:8-10) or those of others he knew and loved (1 Thess. 4:13), so what does he mean when he says that hope does not disappoint? A professor of mine used to distinguish between “hope for” and “hope in” as a means of discerning the difference between human hopes, however elevated, and theological hope, or hope in God. It does seem true that no matter how profound our human hopes “for” something, they can be disappointed and leave us raw and wounded. Yesterday, by chance, I came across a PBS production called Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple. I had not thought of Jonestown for years or the death that entombed the hopes of many well-meaning people who had placed their own dreams for racial harmony and love of others and God in an increasingly mad man. These sorts of misplaced messianic hopes, embedded either in a person or in an institution – small or large – can leave one crushed, lost in the mire of despair, or, as in Jonestown, dead. The hope that Paul calls us to does not reside in human institutions or in human beings, but in Christ, the one who gave his life for us. This hope points to glory – “we boast in our hope of sharing in the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2) – but makes it clear that hope does not evade suffering but encompasses it. It is in our endurance of human suffering, loss and disappointment that we claim our hope. Hope in God transcends the lost hopes of human frailty and sin and begins to take effect in our life precisely when human hopes are gone (Rom. 4:18f). John W. Martens

John W. Martens is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn,where he teaches early Christianity and Judaism. He also directs the Master of Arts in Theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He was born in Vancouver, B.C. into a Mennonite family that had decided to confront modernity in an urban setting. His post-secondary education began at Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas, came to an abrupt stop, then started again at Vancouver Community College, where his interest in Judaism and Christianity in the earliest centuries emerged. He then studied at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, and McMaster University, with stops at University of Haifa and University of Tubingen. His writing often explores the intersection of Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman culture and belief, such as in "let the little children come to me: Children and Childhood in Early Christianity" (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), but he is not beyond jumping into the intersection of modernity and ancient religion, as in "The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination in Film and Television" (Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford Press, 2003). He blogs at  www.biblejunkies.com and at www.americamagazine.org for "The Good Word." You can follow him on Twitter @biblejunkies, where he would be excited to welcome you to his random and obscure interests, which range from the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Timberwolves, to his dog, and 70s punk, pop and rock. When he can, he brings students to Greece, Turkey and Rome to explore the artifacts and landscape of the ancient world. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and has two sons. He is certain that the world will not end until the Vancouver Canucks have won the Stanley Cup, as evidence has emerged from the Revelation of John, 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and 4 Ezra which all point in this direction.