C.S. Lewis’ chapter in Mere Christianity on hope is probably the shortest chapter, and so this will probably be a rather short post. Granted, a whole lot can be written on the Christian concept of hope, but maybe Lewis was pressed for time that day he sat down to compose this chapter…who knows?
Lewis’ basic point is that the future hope of Christianity, namely the renewal and salvation of all creation, is the reason why so many Christians throughout history have made such an impact on this world. As Lewis states, they “all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven.” And again, “Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.”
What that means is this: the Christian hope is not that we will be “whisked away to Heaven” one day as non-physical spirits. The Christian hope is that God will redeem this material creation. In fact, ever since the resurrection of Christ, the Church bears witness to the fact that God is redeeming this material creation—that’s why Christians who truly yearn for Heaven will realize that we can take part in God’s redemption campaign in the here and now.
That points to a “problem” that we all have to deal with: the now and the not yet. Christians proclaim that God’s Kingdom is now, but we also know that it is not yet complete. That means, no matter how great things might be here on earth in the present, they never will be fully satisfying until Christ comes again and “Heaven merges with Earth” so to speak. Given the fact that this is not yet realized, Lewis summarizes three types of people:
The Fool: This is the person who expects material pleasures to fully satisfy him, but who never is satisfied. Therefore, he lives his life thinking, “Just one more woman, just one more car, just one more trip to Europe…then I’ll be happy.” News flash: he never will. Lewis remarks, “Most of the bored, discontented rich people in the world are of this type.”
The Disilluioned Sensible Man: Or, if you want to make this person a woman, think of “Debbie Downer.” Nothing impresses her, and she always sees the black cloud and never the silver lining. Or, if you like South Park, think of the “Goth kids.” Here’s Debbie in action, just for fun…
https://screen.yahoo.com/debbie-downer-happiest-place-earth-000000872.html
The Christian Way: Lewis points out that Christians know that things of this world will never fully satisfy, but those desires we have point to an ultimate satisfaction of those desires. We desire love, and we might get married, and that marriage may be wonderful…but we know that the other will never fully complete us. The Christian says, “That’s okay. The pleasures of this world, no matter how incomplete, nevertheless point to the greater satisfaction of our ‘true country,’ so to speak.”
Lewis ends by commenting about those people who hold to the old stereotype of Heaven, namely white-robed people, floating on clouds, playing harps. Let’s face it, if that’s really Heaven, it sounds boring. (By the way, if you want to know what that is like, visit the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. There’s a room entitled “Heaven”—all it is, is mirrors, blue sky, fluffy clouds, and Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” playing. I remember visiting it in high school and thinking, “Wow…this would suck!”)
Fortunately, that’s not what Heaven will be like. Lewis comments, “There is no need to be worried by facetious people who try to make the Christian hope of ‘Heaven’ ridiculous by saying they do not want to ‘spend eternity playing harps.’ The answer to such people is that if they cannot understand books written for grown-ups, they should not talk about them. People who take these symbols literally [i.e. harps, streets of gold] might as well think that when Christ told us to be like doves, He meant that we were to lay eggs.”
I always like it when the English get cheeky…
