Have you ever found an empty Easter egg? If so, it was probably a mistake. Someone was filling eggs with surprises and candy and just overlooked one. It is quite possible that the parent in charge tried to make lemonade out of their mistake by saying, “You found the prize egg!” and then reaching into their pocket to hand you a Loonie — or a five dollar bill to account for inflation.
Empty has a negative connotation. And yet, today, we gather to celebrate something that was empty.
“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” Luke 24:1–6
We celebrate an empty tomb. We might add an empty, borrowed tomb, because Jesus only needed it for the weekend…He planned to give it back, and He did in a big way!
The plan was always to fill that tomb with the most precious gift ever given and then let it be found empty by those looking for Jesus.
Can you imagine what it must have been like for God the father to watch the ladies going to the tomb? He had to know their great grief would be followed by complete confusion and then, incredible excitement! As we celebrate that empty tomb, we are given the opportunity to enjoy that incredible excitement. But, to do so, we may need to remind ourselves of how empty things are before we find the empty tomb ourselves.
The gift God gave the world on that first Christmas was just what we needed. A Savior who could understand our emptiness as humans and also brought just what we needed, grace and truth! While it was on full display in the life Jesus lived, the magnitude of that truth and grace would not be fully grasped until some faithful ladies found an empty tomb on that first Easter morning.
The emptiness we are born with eventually leads us to search for things to fill us up. Many people spend their entire lives simply seeking something to fill them up. Jesus encountered many people who were in the process of seeking to fill their empty lives with something they could find in life.
● The woman at the well sought it in relationships
● The rich young ruler sought it in possessions
● Zacchaeus sought it in status
● The Apostle Paul sought it in religion
In the end, all of them would discover the same thing we read in Ecclesiastes, it is all meaningless.
“Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 2:11
If we are experiencing maximum emptiness, then we need maximum fullness. So, the King of King (catch that double use of king)
Though life may leave us empty, Jesus said he came to fill us up. Not half-way or three-quarters. Jesus came to fill us to the full. Are you starting to experience that incredible excitement of the ladies who found the empty tomb? If not, hold on; look what Jesus did to bring about this life to fill our emptiness.
Jesus left the splendor of heaven, came to the earth as a baby, and save humanity, Jesus Christ had to empty
himself first. Had he come to earth in all his splendor, we would not be able to look upon him. If he had come to earth as a god, we would not be able to relate to him. If he had come to earth, as Revelations says he will one day as a heavenly warrior, he could not have died for our sins.
Jesus emptied himself so he could come to earth and eventually be emptied of life on a cross to save us from an empty life and an empty eternity. Therefore, offer yourselves a LIVING sacrifice as an act of worship
If we are born empty. If life leaves us empty. If Jesus emptied himself to come to earth and then emptied himself on the cross. Then what we celebrate today is this: An Empty Tomb Can Fill An Empty Life
The Apostle Peter walked with Jesus. He would run into that empty tomb on the very first easter. Of all those who knew Jesus, he would know best just how empty life can feel as he denied his Lord and best friend just hours earlier.
The resurrection of Jesus turned disciples like Peter and John into energized evangelists.
Moved a deacon like Stephen to proclaim the good news of Jesus even as he was stoned to death.
Moved a card-carrying Jewish zealot out to end Christianity to lay down his hate and spread the words of Jesus to the far reaches of his world.
