Finding Hope in Desperate Times
In the globalized world we live in, it’s all about communication, media, and power. Sadly, most of the time communication is a power that feeds us (and gets fed in return from) desperate news that is empty and brings no hope. We hear of wars and countries getting ready to strike back. People live with unnecessary anguish created by politicians and governments who quickly blame news reporters for their own mistakes. This, in turn, greatly affects the emotional stability of people drastically and forever.
We come across this every day with the people we talk to—family and church included. Our country is deeply impacted by the desperation of refugees who are now in Colombia.
What is our role as believers and followers of Jesus facing the complex dilemma of our generations? In a world full of definitions that are not clear, blurred limits, and ambiguity, people pretend to be ok with this, but deep down I believe they are not happy with this scenario.
When it comes to the Gospel, people are waiting for something more than old-fashioned doctrines that are empty. They are looking for the good news. And, sometimes, the news that we share with them about Jesus is neither good nor even news!
In fact, we find that people already have a doctrinal concept in their minds about religious information, depending on their background. It truly is hard to preach about Jesus as new and fresh when almost everybody has a preconceived idea of who he is. They just choose to ignore him and continue their journeys. That’s why we should share the true Jesus and portray him as who he really is. Let’s talk about the Jesus who transcends religious boundaries that were built by people who want you out of touch from him.
People here are not interested—and want to avoid at all cost—religious and ritualistic matters. They’re broken, and they want to know what is in it for them when they’re broken and going through crises. For the emotionally broken and abandoned, they need to hear that God is “close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” –Psalm 34:18.
I come across displaced people with postgraduate education who used to hold prestigious positions back in their countries, and now they are selling fruit and coffee on the street. I can perceive the nostalgia, rage, and frustration in their eyes now that they are away from home with no option of going back. What hope can I possibly give them? What good news do I share with them to ease their pain? I can’t promise them anything material or that their situation will get better.
The good news is that Jesus will always be the model to follow with how we approach people. He was never curious to find out people’s past sins as he was fulfilling his father’s itinerary. In Luke 4:18-19 we found him at a synagogue on the Sabbath, unrolling and reading the scroll of Isaiah reading:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
He is declaring that today this scripture has been fulfilled. Not tomorrow. As we speak, there are thousands of brothers and sisters from Africa trying to come to America, and they land in my home country of Colombia. There are mothers leaving their children at the airport in Bogotá so the Colombian government will take care of them. These women know that their children might not survive the odyssey from here all the way to the US/Mexico border. What is my responsibility in all of this?
We need to acknowledge that we are all experiencing displacement. We are all running away from something—whether it’s metaphorical or real. We are all poor inside. Something inside us has to be filled. What do we do when we find ourselves outside our church buildings and synagogues? I find a mother who has abandoned her children, and I find people working a job that they had not envisioned for themselves. All of them are looking for a word of hope. I tell them that Jesus has come near to them. He is not approaching them from a pulpit, as a preacher; but he eats with Zacchaeus and allows his feet to be washed by a woman with dubious reputation. He gives them hope and tells them that their lives are not disposable: they are not trash.
Their lives are way more valuable, and their reality goes beyond what the people around them are saying. He loves you. God loves you! How am I making this phrase real to the broken people I encounter? It’s making God real to them that matters.
When we meet on Fridays outside our church building, people who have never read the scriptures are fascinated when I share Jesus’s parables using their own terms. It’s beautiful to see their eyes opened wide when they meet this God who is one of them. It is up to us to deliver a fresh Word to a generation that has actively tried to avoid reading the Bible.
My street ministry serves over 120 children. We want them to love Jesus and to have hope. I myself am an orphan. I was raised by adults who gave me hope through the Gospel. It is our mission to make the Gospel real to both adults and children. The Gospel is good news that solves real problems—not imaginary problems.
To be honest, I deal with melancholy and depression. It’s hard for me—sometimes—to find the right motivation. And then I think about those who suffer so much, and I try to cry with them and break bread with them. It isn’t until after the job has been done that I realize that I’ve shared the real Jesus with that person. Then my motivation is complete.
It’s one thing to preach a sermon from the pulpit, but it’s a different thing to let the Spirit change your theology and get you closer to suffering people. I believe the Lord wired us in such a way that we are not easily satisfied. If we were, then there wouldn’t be a need for Heaven. We are all in the same condition as “foreigners and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11) who long to be home with the Lord.