See, further, the follcwing article.
Charles T. P. Geierson.
HOPEFULNESS (Christ's).— Knowing that all our possessions of grace come from Christ, in whom we believe all fulness dwells, and lii/li.>\ inu thut He alone among the sons of moii |Mi-,,,-,a |iinfect knowledge, we mi"ht be led to .Imlii v, h.therwe could justly attribute hope tu lliiii. .U regards His perfect knowledge, we must remember that uncertainty is no essential element in hope. Human hope may be proverbially disappointing, but that is due to the uncertainty of temporal things, and not to the nature of hope itself. Indeed, the glory of the Christian hope consists in the moral cer- tainty of its grounds. It is a ' better hope ' in part as being ' sure and steailfast ' (He 7'" 6"). The fact, then, that our Lord's faith rendered future objects of desire almost a present possession in no way prevented Him from experiencing this grace.* As regards His possessing 'all fulness' a.s the God-m:in, and so liriin,' tlmught incapable of feeling hopefuini'ss, it in.iy lie said that we cle,arly start our thouglits on a wrong line if we commence an investigation of this kind >\'ith our own o priori views of what the incarnate Son of God must have felt or not felt. AVe can in ourselves be no ade-
• West'-nti {r.:f,\ vol. i. p. 41)nTite8 in his diary: 'The fart of our 1. ra ii.\,r iii' ntioning His o«ii faith or hope is a proof of His I'l.nntv.' Thi^. liowever, can hanlly be loolied Upon as a careful >i.aeiiieiit. Imt rather as a passing thought, and it was noted down early in his life (set. 21).
quate judges of tlie limitations which Deity might set upon itself when taking our flesh. Our duty is to study the NT, and especially the Gospels, with the view of discovering what is there revealed as to the true nature of this act of Divine condescension. And such a study teaches us that in our Lord's Person we have not only a revelation of the Father, Ijut also a revelation of humanity at its highest. He loved to call Himself ' Son of Man,' because He thereby taught \ls to see in Him the ideal Man, and therefore we must expect to see in Him every truly human emotion (and hope is one of them) purified and perfected.
No teacher of mankind ever so frequently pointed to Himself in His teaching as Jesus did, and yet it is remarkable that He rarely revealed His own personal emotions. When He disclosed Himself it was as the source of all grace, so tliat men might be saved and nourished by His life. He was so absolutely selfless that He rarely sought sympathy by speaking of His heart's desires. It is not He but the Evangelists who tell us that He was Aveary, wept, exulted, marvelle<l. Thus it happens that He never definitely mentions His own hope. Indeed, strangely enough, the word eXiris does not occur in the Gospels (see art. Hope). But as hope is a necessary element of Christian character, lieing one of the 'abiding' graces (1 Co 13"), Christ, if He be true man, must have ex- perienced it. It is not said that He had faith, but must we not believe that His whole human career was sustained from the first consciousness of child- hood to Calvary by faith, perfect in its range and steadfastness ? Tlie long nights of prayer surely tell us not only of a general attitude of depend- ence, but also of a definite trustful belief in the love and presence of His Father, wliicli found its^ expression in petition. Wliat habitual strength of faith is sho>\-n in such words as ' Thinkcst thuii that I cannot beseech my Father, and lie shall even now send me more than twelve legions of angels ? ' (Mt 26^3).
No doubt His faith and hope are so raised above ours by their perfection, that they may no longer seem to be what to us are faith and hope. But He raised all human attributes to their perfection ; not thereby altering their essential character, but rather exhibiting them as they ought to be in ourselves. And if He felt no hope, never rejoiced in coming good, never was upborne when wearing the cross by anticipation of the crown, but lived His life in the cold calm of duty, then the Stoic is the ideal of our race.
Not a few evidences, more or less indirect, of Clirist's hopefulness are found in the Gospels. In one case its object wa-s of a temporal nature, namely, when being ' hungry ' He approached the fig tree, 'if haply he might find anything thereon.' (Mk IV^-)
Little reverence would be shown by interpreting this incident as feigned for the purpose of teaching a moral lesson. ' If He only pretended not to know that the tree was barren, we should expect the hunger also to have been pretended' (Mason, Conditions of our Lord's Life, p. 152). Rather liave we an example of hope in the mind of Jesus for a ilesired good, which circnmstanccs disap- pointed, and which He turned to :i moial purpose.
Evidence of His being chenrd ,ln,in- His minis- try by hope of the results of His spii itual labours may probably be seen in His wonls to the dis- ciples when the Samaritan woman had left (Jn 4=^-38)_ He had gained one soul, and with pro- phetic vision saw the land lilled with ripened .souls ready for the spiritual leapcT. His followers, too, would receive wages in tin- joy of souls won, and ultimately they, with the eailiev workers of God who had sown the seed, would rejoice together.