The following excerpt, originally presented and written by my father Paul L. H. Olson for a Sunday School series for Advent, appears in While Bethlehem Sleeps: A Poetic Advent Devotional.

Hope: An Anticipatory Lesson

First Sunday of Advent

Shortly after publishing While Bethlehem Sleeps, Penny posed this question to her family during an Advent season devotional series: “What is hope?”

My then-ten-year-old grandson eagerly raised his hand and said, “If I say, ‘I hope I have a good day,’ I mean‘I wish I have a good day.’” That was the way my daughter hoped he would respond. Her interpretation of the word hopecontinues.

Our English definition of hope [i]is “the belief or expectation that something wished for can or will happen.” It goes on to state “a virtuous desire for future good” with 1 Corinthians 13:13 as the Christian meaning for “hope.”

But, our English definition of hope is not quite biblical. As my ten-year-old did, we interchange the words hope and wish. Yet, those words are defined very differently in the Hebrew and Greek.

The Hebrew language of the Old Testament uses several words for hope and wish, and the Greek language of the New Testament consolidates the words for hopeinto two to four.

Most of the Hebraic words for hope include the word expectation as part of the definition.The Greek words include the word trust along with expectation. Therefore, the first part of our English definition is true. “Hope is the belief or expectation that ….” But, here the similarities end.

The words for wish in Hebrew and in Greek are defined not by expectation but by intention. One of the Hebrew words, nephesh,means “a soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite,emotion.” This particular word sounds selfish. The Greek words used in the New Testament focus on “desire,” “will,” “intent,” even “unattainable wish.” Unlike a hope with the anticipation of an expected outcome, a wish is bent on a desire that may or may not be fulfilled.So, Christmas Hope is “expectation in the intentional Advent of Jesus Christ”—historically as Messiah, presently as Redeemer in our lives, and in our future Rapture.

[i] http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hope