There was a very, very rich man, he decided that he was gonna go out into the town, he was gonna find the poorest person he could find, and give the poorest person he can find some money. A large quantity of money with only one condition. He wanted that the person to receive this money will be the person who is most distraught, most helpless. So he set out into the town looking for the poorest person he can find without any hope.

So he encountered a gentleman who looked pretty poverty stricken. And he started to engaged this gentleman and said, “I have a large quantity of money to give you.” Well the man’s eyes lit up. And then the rich man explained, “The only condition is that I give you this money because you’re poor and because you don’t have any hope.” Well the the poor man got a very confused look on his face and said, “Well, that’s not me. You’ll have to take your money back because I, yes I’m poor, yes for sure I am poor. But I am not without hope. I hope for my children, I hope for myself, I have hope in God who saves us. I am not a person without hope.”
The poor man said, “Only the dead have no hope.” Well, the rich man was shocked to say the least. We might even suggest that it was the rich man who maybe lost hope in the world. I shared this little story about the fact that we have a deep and powerful hope because of the gospel that we heard today.

In the powerful gospel, Martha and Mary lost their brother Lazarus. Now Martha and Mary and Jesus, and Lazarus, the four of them were very, very good friends. None of them were married, which is probably why they hung around all the time. But how unbelievable that when Jesus heard that his friend Lazarus was dying, he didn’t go right away to bring him healing. Only when Lazarus was dead did Jesus finally go. And Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Martha and Mary never lost hope. Martha and Mary never lost hope.

How about us during this Lenten season? Here we are at the fifth Sunday of Lent already, how do we maintain that hope we have in Jesus Christ, who we know in just a couple weeks will rise from the dead? Where have we lost hope in the world around us? In whom? In what child? In what neighbor? In what government official? How have we lost hope? We never lose hope, for Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He’s our source of hope. In Him, we never lose hope.