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 Some things we just don’t like empty. They are an inconvenience,
a complication we don’t need. Whether it is requires a run to the
grocery store or gas station, or juggling bills to make the money
stretch far enough, empty is annoying.
For some empty is even terrifying . . . an empty seat at the family
table, empty promises from one you should be able to trust, an empty
life that has fallen apart from depression, addiction or abuse.
Perhaps it is the despair of coming home to an empty house every
night or going every morning to a job that leaves you feeling
unfulfilled.
Sadly, empty is everywhere. Empty souls, looking to find purpose and
satisfaction in the wrong things. Empty lives, lacking relationships
and meaning. Empty minds filled with entertainment and pleasure.
There is so much empty we don’t even notice it anymore!
Yet before long we will celebrate the most amazing empty of all
time, an empty that can bring satisfaction, meaning, purpose and a
whole lot more. Very soon we will encounter the empty tomb . . . the
empty that makes all the difference.
It was an inconvenience and complication to the chief priests,
Pharisees and Pilate. It was confusing to the women who went to the
tomb and to the disciples. But to those who came to believe in the
resurrection, it turned out to be eternal salvation!
Jesus, the very Son of God, suffered and died, so that He could rise
from the dead, defeating the sin and death of all humanity.
As the disciples came to understand what the empty tomb meant, it
changed their world and it changed them. Doubt gave way to belief.
Sorrow gave way to celebration. Grief gave way to purpose. And the
early church was born!
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They didn’t just have the promise of salvation and eternal life, as
wonderful as that is. They had a mission and purpose. They had a
story to tell and good news to share. They were so full of the good
news of the empty tomb and Christ’s resurrection that it couldn’t
help but overflow in all that they did or said.
Because the empty tomb stayed empty, our empty doesn’t have to.
Well, it won’t really help the empty milk carton or gas tank, not
directly anyway. But subjected to the good news of the Gospel, the
emptiness of despair and depression, grief and hopelessness will
eventually give way to hope and joy and celebration. Our life filled
with Jesus Christ will be have purpose and meaning, rather than
emptiness and searching. All because of an empty tomb and a Savior
who lived, died and rose again for us.
There are those who would say it wasn’t real, just as the rumor the
chief priests tried to spread. There are those who would say that it
happened too long ago to be relevant to us today. There are those
who would say it is an empty promise, as empty as the tomb itself.
But to those who believe, to those who know, it is fullness,
promise, hope, future.
Haven’t we been empty long enough? Hear the Easter message one more
time, or for the first time, and remember that Christ rose that we
might rise above our own emptiness to the fullness of Salvation,
Forgiveness & Eternal Life!
Thanks be to God!
HAPPY EASTER!
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