Easter Emptiness!

Easter Sunday, 4/4/21 Mark 16:1-8 Easter Emptiness! I. So amazing! II. So powerful! There are many ways to describe life in our world over the past twelve months. Uncertain. Stressful. Depressing. Contentious. But the description I’d like you to consider for a few minutes is emptiness. Venues that once were packed with people on a regular basis now sit empty. Massive cruise ships sit empty in their berths. Some churches were empty for months. Some still are. Some have closed for good. School classrooms were empty of students and teachers. Business offices sat empty while employees worked from home. Empty places are bad enough. Empty lives are even worse. For months on end, we missed opportunities to gather with loved ones. Our basic need for human contact went unmet. We felt empty. We resorted to our devices to “see” our loved ones, but Facetime and Zoom don’t offer the option of loving embraces. We heard accounts of COVID patients dying all alone because visitors were prohibited. Imagine saying your final goodbye to your spouse over the phone. Emptiness! Our experience with emptiness over the past twelve months pales in comparison with what the women felt as they trudged to the tomb of Jesus early that Sunday morning. By the grace of God, they had come to know Jesus as the promised Messiah, their Lord and Savior. They had witnessed his miracles. Just a short time ago Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, a man who had been dead for four days. Perhaps these women had spoken with the alive-again Lazarus. How amazing! They had such high hopes for Jesus and for themselves as his devoted followers. But now Jesus was dead, and they didn’t know how they would be able to go on with their lives. The one thing they could do was to anoint his body for burial, something that hadn’t been done properly late Friday, right before the Sabbath began. Mark tells us that they discussed the fact that there was a stone in front of the entrance to the tomb, a stone which needed to be removed by someone if they were going to gain access to the tomb. But, as they approached the tomb, they quickly noticed that the stone had been rolled away. Upon further inspection, they discovered that the body of Jesus wasn’t there. Other than an angel, the tomb was empty. In spite of the angel’s words to them, that emptiness only added to their confusion and depression. But not for long! The risen Lord Jesus would soon appear to them and the disciples. And then they would realize that Easter emptiness meant everything to them: forgiveness…life…victory…heaven! The angel had declared, “He has risen! He is not here!” The tomb was forever empty. Easter emptiness! Let’s see what Easter emptiness means for you and me as we celebrate Christ’s resurrection. Part I. Late last summer an amazing story came out of the Detroit area. Timesha Beauchamp, 20 years old, was suffering serious breathing problems last August. Her family members called 911 and paramedics responded quickly. They attended her for 30 minutes, but she was unresponsive. So, one of the first responders called a doctor who pronounced her dead. Some time later, a funeral home employee arrived to collect her body. At the funeral home, he was stunned when he saw her chest moving. And then her eyes opened. She was rushed to a local hospital. Unfortunately, she never left the hospital. In October doctors declared her dead once again. On Good Friday, could these women have made the same mistake? Was there any chance Jesus had mistakenly been declared dead? Not a chance. These women had watched as the Roman soldier pierced the side of Jesus, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. Jesus was dead! The Romans gave the dead body of Jesus to Joseph and Nicodemus. They took the body of Jesus off the cross, wrapped it in linen, and placed his body in Joseph’s tomb, while the women watched. They didn’t discover later that Jesus was still breathing. His eyes didn’t open. Jesus was dead! There was no mistake about it. These women saw his dead body and they saw which tomb his body had been placed in. His life was over, tragically so. And so they made their way back to that tomb early on Easter morning with heavy hearts. They had placed all their hopes in Jesus. They were convinced that he was the One that their prophets had foretold would come and save them. But those hopes were as dead as Jesus was. They didn’t know what to think. They had trouble believing anything was true anymore. What they witnessed next was truly amazing, but they didn’t realize how amazing at first. They looked inside the tomb where the dead body of Jesus had been laid late last Friday. They looked at the exact spot where they last saw his body and it wasn’t there. The dead body of Jesus was nowhere to be found. That stone cave of death was empty. Amazing! Just as amazing is what the women heard from the angel. As far as we know, this was the first time the Easter gospel was declared. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.” Jesus is risen! Jesus is alive, not dead! In fact, he rose from the dead on the third day just as he had repeatedly promised he would do. The tomb is empty! Yes, the tomb of Jesus is empty! That’s Easter emptiness! So amazing! In my opinion we live in a confusing world. Do you agree with that assessment? I read about things and I see things happen and, I’ll be honest, I don’t know what to think. What does this mean? Where is this going? How will affect me and the people in my life? I don’t know. But Easter emptiness removes my doubts, calms my fears, and gives me confidence that only a risen and living Jesus can! Because Jesus rose from the dead, everything he said is true. He is always with me. He will make all things turn out for my good. He will always guide me as my Good Shepherd. And since he rose from the dead, everything he did is certain. He came to redeem me. I know I belong to him by faith. He came to forgive all my sins. His resurrection makes my forgiveness certain. He came to win eternal life for me. I know that my risen Savior will bring me to heaven with him. He promised to raise my body on the Last Day and glorify it. I’m certain my risen Savior will keep that promise to me. And it’s all because of Easter emptiness. The tomb is empty! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Part II. An empty container is usually useless to us, unless you want to put something in it. An empty cookie jar means my hunger persists. An empty Tylenol bottle means my pain won’t subside. An empty gas tank means I’m not going anywhere. But an empty tomb? That fills you and me with Christian hope and joy. As I just mentioned, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is our guarantee of everything Jesus said, everything that Jesus did, and everything that Jesus is and always will be. Jesus once declared, “Whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (Jn. 11:26). His resurrection from the dead means that, even if our bodies die, we live with him in heaven, in eternal bliss and glory. And our bodies await the day of his return when he will raise those bodies, join them with our souls, and glorify them. The resurrection is the great teaching of Christianity, and it rests on an empty tomb, a risen-from-the-dead Jesus. What’s more, that empty tomb gives us power in life. Decades ago Jesus made me his own dear child at my baptism, but I struggle every day to live like it. But the risen Lord Jesus through my baptism powers my life as his child. It enables me to overcome my sinful nature and follow the guidance of the new person he made me by faith in him. That’s what an empty tomb means for you. Easter emptiness! So powerful! But let’s get real here for a moment. I’m as concerned about what’s going on in our world as you are. A year ago I was concerned about politics, pandemic, and protests, and I still am. We haven’t solved much since last Easter, if anything. So, what can we hang our hats on? Easter emptiness! Easter emptiness means that even death doesn’t win. Christ conquered death by his death and resurrection. He won! And you win with him. My life hasn’t gotten much better, if at all, over the past year. I don’t want to sound like Danny Downer, but I don’t expect it to get much better soon. But I have the power of the risen Lord Jesus in me, and by faith in him, so do you. And that means that the Christian is an eternal optimist. Nothing can stop your Savior’s eternal plans for you from being fulfilled. Not even Satan himself, because Jesus crushed Satan. Because Jesus rose from the dead, everything will be OK. In fact, it will be perfect. And that’s what Easter emptiness means for you and me as redeemed children of God. Easter emptiness! So amazing! So powerful! Easter emptiness actually means Easter fulness—the fulness of every blessing your risen Lord Jesus has in store for you. Believe it! Amen.