Despair is an ugly word. If you've ever been in despair or tried to console someone in despair, you know the dark, dark void of despair. It becomes a hole from which one cannot escape. There is despair when there is no money to pay the bills or buy food and no money in the foreseeable future. There is despair when the doctor says there are no further treatments available. There is despair when the marriage is about to end despite one's best efforts to reconcile. There is despair when the child you love changes into someone you do not recognize, and all communication is lost.
Why is despair so grave, dark, and draining of life and joy? Because despair means the absence of hope. When hope is lost, there is only deep despair.
The message of Christmas is the antidote to despair. It is the message of hope. Amid any and all despair, there are God's myriad promises and the faith and longing for their fulfillment. The hope of the Christian extends beyond this life, so that whatever depths of despair one may sink to, there is the eternal hope of something far better.
Christmas is the time when hope is rekindled. "The world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing." Whatever darkness, whatever trial, whatever unmet longings of this life, "are all met in thee tonight."
Hope gives us a reason to keep on going. Hope gives us substance to anchor our lives (Hebrews 6:19). When we are given hope, we are motivated to continue.
Here is an example of how hope can help at a human level. Eugene Land was a self-made millionaire invited to speak to 59 sixth graders at a school in East Harlem in 1981. “I asked the principal of the school how many of these kids would go to college, and he told me maybe one,” he said. At the last minute, Land scrapped his notes and said, "Stay in school, and I'll help pay the college tuition for every one of you." It was a pivotal moment in their lives. One student said, "I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling." The results were that 90 percent of the students went on to graduate from High School, and about half went on to college.
Inspiring? Yes, because the students finally had something to look forward to. But how much better is our hope. Our hope is of a greater substance, a greater quality, a greater duration. Our hope is rooted in the eternal. In the extended birth narrative of Luke's Gospel, the story is told of Simeon, who "happened" to run into Joseph and Mary in the temple on the day Jesus was presented to the Lord.
And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
Simeon had hope. He had a hope that He would see the Messiah before he died. He lived in that hope, "looking for the consolation of Israel." God's Spirit revealed to him that He would not die until He saw Christ. That was all the encouragement he needed to live in hope. Simeon said,
“Now, Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.”
Simeon's hope was realized when he saw the baby as promised by God.
Christmas hope is found in one of the most unlikely places: a manger in a stable. This is the mystery of hope found in the manger. This baby is the embodiment of God's promises of the ages that cannot go unfulfilled, for “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
Despair is dispelled in the light of the hope of Christ.
O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul (Hebrews 6:19).