“The Shawshank Redemption” recently re-played on TV and I realized what a statement that movie makes about hope.
An innocent man, Andy, is sent to prison but escapes by secretly boring through a concrete wall with a small rock hammer, producing bits of concrete dust each day. It takes years. But he emerges free and those who were truly guilty of crimes are found out. Hope pushes him on to fulfillment. As the movie’s tag line says, “Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.”
Hope is evident here in Washington, as spring strongly launches its beauty bringing joy to the hearts of winter-weary residents. Flowers instead of snow. Blossoms instead of sleet. Inviting warmth in place of repellant cold. It’s so dramatic!
Spring time is also the season for two very key religious holidays (or, more accurately, “holy days”): Passover and Easter. Both are celebrated this week. They are intimately connected, not only because they occur together each spring, but also because they are holy days marking great acts of redemption. And redemption brings hope.
Passover is the holy day in the Jewish year marking the greatest of the 10 Plagues brought by God against the Egyptians so they would “let my people go.” On that dread night, the first born in any household that did not have the blood of the Passover lamb over the door (on the posts and the lintel) would die. Any home (whatever race, religion, or ethnicity) that had the blood over the door, the Lord would “pass over,” and the eldest would be spared.
This became a yearly Holy Day in the Jewish year, followed by a week-long “Feast of Unleavened Bread” signifying the bread that had to be baked in haste, without time for the dough to rise, as the Israelites were miraculously released from Egypt (eventually through the Red Sea). This flat bread, or “matzo,” is used today in the Passover meal, or Seder.
So, how does this tie in with Easter?
During Passover week, the New Testament records that Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples in the Upper Room. There is no reason to think this was anything different than a normal Seder these men had experienced all their lives. But as the bread (matzo) and cup were shared, Jesus gave a new significance to them saying that the bread was his body and the cup his blood, given for them. And that they were to remember him in the eating and drinking of the bread and the cup. The New Testament confirms that after the meal, Jesus went to pray and was arrested, confined, and crucified the next day (Friday), rising from the dead on Sunday morning. Thus, Sunday is the standard Christian day of worship.
So, we have two religious holy days, both full of redemptive symbolism. Whether or not you celebrate these holidays personally, they have influenced our culture deeply. And those great acts of deliverance, of redemption, offer hope. Hope for the future. Hope for eternity. Hope that enables on-going effort.
We have a big job in the military, defending a nation in a very turbulent world. Let’s engage even more in hope because what we are doing really does make a difference.
We may not see it day to day, any more than those swiftly exiting Jewish people in ancient Egypt or those bewildered disciples at Jesus’ table. But there is hope. I find my hope mainly in these great acts of redemption. It keeps me going. It keeps me reaching out to military families.
Even more than Andy and his rock hammer.

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