Changing the Narrative | Sojourners

Changing the Narrative

Hope means believing in spite of the evidence, then watching the evidence change.
Ryan T. McKnight

DURING THE Easter season Christians commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, after the devastation of Good Friday, when Christ was crucified. From darkness to light, from pain to healing, from despair to hope, from defeat to victory, from death to life. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation for our hope as Christians, even—and especially—when it’s hardest to have any hope, like at a time such as this.

I often quote Hebrews 11:1, which says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” especially around Easter. I often paraphrase the text as, “Hope means believing in spite of the evidence, then watching the evidence change.”

It’s appropriate that, as Christians, we believe in a radical hope, a hope that often comes “in spite of the evidence.” Easter Sunday, which we just celebrated, is the perpetual reminder of the hope that comes when things seem most hopeless. We Christians say we are a resurrection people, and Easter Sunday both reminds us and dares us to prove it—that we are a people who can live our lives in hope, despite the evidence.

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