While doing chores around the house yesterday, we watched an animated version of John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress. It is free on Amazon Prime, and I highly recommend it. The original book was published in 1678, and for a long time was the second most popular book in the world, second only to the Bible. Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegory, written while Bunyan was in prison for holding an unsanctioned church meeting, that demonstrates many of the struggles faced by believers even today. I’m not going to do a full book report on this, so don’t worry. You can read or watch it for yourself.
I was busy straightening things up in the house while Janean was at the grocery store and was just listening to the movie in another room. What caught my attention was a part in the movie where Christian Pilgrim, the main character, is with the “Interpreter”, a woman who “brings light into the darkness”. She teaches him to choose patience over passion, then she shows Pilgrim a man who is “trapped” in an unlocked cage crying out in desperation. As Pilgrim takes in the situation, he sees the golden key of “hope” fall out of the open door’s lock. He then picks it up and is allowed to take it with him on his quest. Pilgrim then asks the man why he remains in the cage and his only answer is, “No hope, No Hope!”. The Interpreter tells Pilgrim to remember this encounter and to apply it in the future. Later on in his journey, Pilgrim will be in a cage of his own, and there he will remember that he has the “key of hope” that will release him from the cage of Despair. He uses it and escapes his captivity.
I was amazed as I stopped working to watch what was taking place. It struck me, hard, how well John Bunyan pictured this, but since he was in a literal prison himself, maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. I loved his picture of despair as being a cage that we imprison ourselves in. We can see in our situation, with the loss of Hannah, how easily we could “give up” and despair. Despair is a cage that isolates us, prevents us from living “freely”, and halts our Christian journey towards “The Celestial City”. It’s a very real temptation that has imprisoned many people, yet it doesn’t have to be this way. The golden “key of hope” is “a gift from the King”. It’s found in Jesus and is given to all who believe, yet it must be used! Before he leaves the Interpreter, Pilgrim is admonished to, “look and not just see, and to listen and not just hear”. If you find yourself trapped in a cage of despair in your life, hope is the golden key that will get you out. According to I Peter 3:15, the hope within us should be visible to those around us, and when it is, it will cause others to ask where it comes from. We can help others out of their “cages of despair” by using our hope to free ourselves, then sharing that hope with them, but they must use it for themselves to be free! Look, don’t just see, listen, don’t just hear, choose hope over despair, and share the hope that frees with all who will listen. Live free, free others, and trust the King!
We are blessed!
Hannah Helps 