“The faint hope clause”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Saturday, March 30, 2024
Job 14:1-14 (Forward, p. 61) CEV p. 534
In Canadian criminal law, there has existed something called ‘the faint hope clause’. What this has done is to provide an inmate serving a life sentence for murder or high treason, the prospect of a gradual structured release back into society. These are individuals who have served at least fifteen years of their sentences and have made all the necessary efforts to change their lives. They are assessed as unlikely to offend and likely to safely reintegrate into society as law-abiding productive citizens. They are not ‘off the hook’ in terms of restrictions but are now free to make a new and clean start.
In a real sense, this is the impression that I got today from this passage from Job. For the most part, he has spoken of the hopelessness and futility of the human condition, of the lot of us mere mortals. To him, it is but a ‘dead-end street’. Just listen to some of his descriptions of what it is like:
“We grow and wither as quickly as flowers” (verse 2a).
“We disappear like shadows” (verse 2b).
“There is hope for a tree that has been cut down; it can come back and sprout. Even though its roots grow old, and its stump dies in the ground, with water it will sprout like a young plant. But a man dies, and that is the end of him; he dies, and where is he then?” (vs 7-10.)
“Like rivers that stop running, and lakes that go dry, people die, never
to rise. They will never wake up while the sky endures; they will
never stir from their sleep” (verses 11-12).
All this points to a no-win situation, a dismal prospect, to say that least. But then he throws in what I see as a ‘faint hope clause.’
“I wish you would hide me in the world of the dead; let me be hidden until your anger is over, and then set a time to remember me” (verse 13).
He seems to suggest that after a time in Sheol, in the world of the
dead, he will be brought back to life.
The next verse seems to continue in this vein: “If a man dies, can he come back to life? But I will wait for better times, wait till this time of trouble is ended” (verse 14).
Indeed, that seems to be his hope, to wait out this time of trouble, to
wait for better times.
Indeed, that seems to be the prospect that he alludes to in verses 15-17:
“Then you will call, and I will answer, and you will be pleased with me, yur creature. Then you will watch every step I take, but you will not keep track of my sins. You will forgive them and put them away; you will wipe out all the wrongs I have done.”
That sounds better than a ‘faint hope clause’; that sounds like a divine pardon, an erasure of our past sins and misdemeanors, and a totally new and fresh start. And is that not, indeed, what we have through the death and resurrection of Jesus: a new start for each of us who will repent or re-align our lives and seek to trust Him and follow Him with those lives.
Forward notes: “O that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!” (verse 13).
“Jesus is hidden from public shame today, laid in a tomb with the stone sealed shut. It is the Sabbath, and will all of humankind rests and avoids labour, the Living God actively works to reconstruct the whole world order. God is, in fact, remembering all of creation this day.
“In the same way God remembered Sarah, Hannah, and Mary, that all might conceive and bear sons, God remembers us in seeking to give us life and bless us in a specific way this very day. Greek tradition commemorates Christ down in Sheol, loosening the bonds of death of all the departed and setting them free so that they may experience new life with him. Our hearts prepare to rejoice with the news that every person who has ever lived has been freed by Jesus on this Holy Saturday. A new dawn awaits the entire world.”
Moving Forward: “Have you thought about the ‘behind the scenes’ work on Holy Saturday? How does that help prepare your heart for Easter Day?”
A concluding thought or two: I would say to today’s author, ‘not so fast.’ I would say that ‘every person who has ever lived has been freed by Jesus’, I would also say that not every person will necessarily know or experience that freedom, that is, the fruits or results of what Jesus has done. That is only for those who will receive Him and the free gift He offers, only those who will turn from their waywardness and place their trust and faith in Him. The freedom He ushers in, that He offers, is not automatic!