Facing Despair to Reach Resurrection

On a recent visit to the Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, I was struck by a special exhibit on loan from the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. For eight minutes we sat motionless listening to the accounts of service men who took part in the liberation of various concentration camps. Frail, emaciated people were rescued and nourished as they were given new hope. The writings of Victor Frankl came to mind. On the eve of the Nazi holocaust, the brilliant Austrian psychologist, Viktor Frankl, had a lot going for him. Not only was he at the height of his professional powers, but he had received a coveted offer to travel to America and escape whatever horrors the Nazis had planned for him and his fellow Jews. His dilemma was that his parents did not have the proper papers to accompany him. Although they urged him to pounce on the opportunity and get out, his conscience was troubled. Was it truly the most faithful course to seek freedom for himself, but leave them behind? He asked the Lord in prayer to show him a sign. Not long after that, Frankl's father brought home a piece of marble taken from a bombed-out synagogue. It contained a fragment of Hebrew writing Frankl recognized as the fourth commandment: "Honor your father and mother." This, he concluded, was the sign he had been looking for. He decided to stay to care for his aging parents. Frankl knew full well that his decision carried an awful price. His parents eventually died in concentration camps, and he himself was sent to the infamous Auschwitz. Miraculously, he survived. Frankl did more than survive. His book, Man's Search for Meaning -- his own personal study of what had led some camp inmates to succumb to despair and others to cherish a lively and vital hope -- became a post-war best seller. Millions found meaning themselves by reading of his experiences in the death camp. Out of stark tragedy for millions came hope for others who followed. That, dear friends, is the essence of Easter. It is what we do in the face of despair that can define us. While some succumb to it, others embrace and conquer it. Our Lord embraced the despair of an arrest, the mockery of a trial, the beatings and eventual death on the Cross. It was the awful price of the Cross that ushered in hope for those who believe. The Cross, once a symbol of destruction, is now a symbol of hope. What gave hope and meaning to the descendants of the Jewish concentration camp inhabitants can also give hope to us as Christians. When we face despair directly it is possible to see hope. Easter is indeed liberation from despair through the sacrifice of God’s Son. Our participation in his death can most assuredly resulted in our own personal resurrections.