Hope in the midst of suffering

03-01-2021

By Maryclare Beche

Hope is a spiritual force. It is the sense of possibility that generates and sustains moral agency. Hope must be practiced because it is essential to daily life, the moral life, and the Christian life and because responsible hope does not come naturally. We must practice hope in order to cultivate it as a disposition. Religious or not, hope is that force that gives you courage on the possibility of a better future even when the current circumstance says otherwise. “How did you manage to stay hopeful in the midst of everything?” this has been a common question that I have been constantly asked over time. I find this question very relevant even today. How do we maintain hope in this dreadful world? How do we express hope without taunt? How do we rejoice in moments of comfort and remain involved in the events that discourage?

There was one woman who lived in a place called Shunem. She was rich in possession but was with no son. This woman felt called to offer hospitality to Prophet Elisha. “Look” she told her husband, “I know that he is a holy man of God and he passes by regularly. Let’s make a small room on the roof. We’ll set up a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp for him there. Then when he comes to us, he can stay there.” (2 Kings 4: 9-10, NRSV) One day the prophet wanted to return the act of kindness to the woman and while he inquired, he was informed that the woman had no son and her husband is old. Elisha then told her that within a year, she would have a son. “No, my Lord,” she said “O man of God, do not deceive your servant.” (2 Kings 4:16, NRSV)

For Elisha to be informed that this Shunammite woman does not have a son, two things are for sure; either having a son was a very important thing in that time, or this woman had been praying to have a son for a long time. With her response however, I would like to believe that the latter is true. I see a woman who has been holding onto hope for a long time that in her days of waiting, her hope slowly faded away. When the prophet tells her she will have a son, it sparks a new ray of hope once again. Her response to Elisha however shows fear, fear of rekindling her hope only for her to be disappointed again. She was scared to fall back into the continuous cycle of having a sense of possible, then to disappointment. According to Marshall, the question of hope is really the question of the relationship between faith and history. And so thinking about her history, this woman pleads to the prophet for an assurance that this new rekindled hope will not end up in disappointment.

I come from a community that continuously distinguishes any spark of hope that the people might have. A community that has created systems that denies me the power to recreate my imagination simply because I am a woman. Any efforts to fight or redesign these systems always leads to a continuous cycle of hopelessness. Being a part of this community, I can relate to the Shunammite woman’s fear in all levels – of rekindling your hope only for something to happen that completely shatters it.

The prophesy was fulfilled and the woman had a son. Few years later, the boy suddenly fell sick and died. Here, her fear comes to pass - she goes back from possibilities to disappointments. This time she does something different, she does not tarry in the place of disappointment. Instead, she chooses to confront the “systems” that led her to be in that position. By confronting the “systems” she stays hopeful in the midst of her suffering. “Did I ask my lord for a son?” she said “Did I not say, do not mislead me?” (2 Kings 4:28, NRSV) As a result, hope won. The prophet raises her son and I will carefully say they live happily ever after.

In conclusion, reflecting on hope reminds me of the common saying “for without hope we cease to live.” Sometimes it might be as an obvious need, other times it might be that which is beyond what the human eye term possible. Like the Shunammite woman, having the courage to confront the “systems” that are put in place to continue perpetuating the cycle of oppression, can be one of the things that keeps us holding onto hope that one day things will be better. One thing for sure is that, God does not wait for us to be perfect before granting us grace to keep being hopeful, God meets us right where we are, in our suffering, in our mess.

Marshall, Ellen Ott. Though the Fig Tree Does Not Blossom : Toward a Responsible Theology of Christian Hope. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash