Optimism is not the same as hoping for the best but not sure if it will happen. It isn’t a kind of philosophical crossing of the fingers behind our backs either. That kind of uncritical optimism mean we’re simply not being realistic. The relationship between optimism and realism is very interesting for people who take Jesus seriously enough to trust Him. For people of faith, is their trust optimism or realism?
An important insight comes from an unusual book entitled Learned Optimism. It sounds complicated, but stay with me:
“I have always prided myself on being realistic, and still value that quality. What I learned is that being realistic should be combined with feeling optimistic about creating ways to improve the realistic situation as I understand it.”
It is one of the subtle and creative techniques in John’s gospel that he sets you up, to hit you with truth, an ambush of the intellect. His gospel is about learned optimism. Repeatedly he says, if you believe in Jesus you can combine being realistic with feeling optimistic, because He will create ways to improve the realistic situation as He understands it.
For John the Evangelist (nickname for Good News Disseminator!) optimism is not only a matter of temperament. It is a worldview, a considered view of how the world is. In John’s Gospel, to believe in Jesus is to have a radically different worldview. Jesus, says John, is God’s radical intervention who redefines all other reality. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word became flesh…..in Him was life and the life was the light of all humanity…the Son came that you might have life….if the Son shall set you free you shall be free indeed”. Reality is reconfigured, the way the world looks changes forever, when Jesus’ presence, purpose and power are presupposed.
So, says John – Jesus is the life-giver, the light bringer, the liberator. And in chapter 11, Jesus’ friend Lazarus is dead, buried, locked in the grave, decomposing in the darkness, confined by embalming bandages; that, says John, is the reality. And John says to you, the reader, faith is learned optimism, faith is feeling optimistic about God improving reality, your considered view of how the world is, is about to be reconfigured.
John says, ‘Watch Jesus and learn’. ‘Take away the stone’, says the Life-giver; ‘Lazarus come out’, says the Light bringer; ‘unbind the grave clothes’ says the Liberator. And Lazarus walked out, into the light, back into life and out into the freedom Jesus both commanded and gifted.
“Learned optimism”, it’s the worldview of those who have seen Jesus at work, and who believe that he still works; that the light shines in the darkness of every death confirming, life threatening grave. But says John, the darkness can never get the better of Him, cannot comprehend Him, never but never has the last word. And that says John, is the learned optimism of resurrection faith.
I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
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The second picture is by Corrinne Vonaesch and can be seen along with a series of illustrations of John's Gospel over here. They are a form of exegesis in their own right, – simple and complex, the language of colour expounding both text and story.
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