Empty tomb offers a cause for rejoicing
Emptiness usually is not a good thing.
An empty stomach. An empty gas tank. An empty promise.
No one wants these things.
Oh, but this weekend, emptiness is cause for celebration. This weekend we remember the blessedness of an empty tomb. It is an emptiness that meets our deepest need. It freely gives what we could never acquire on our own.
Let’s look into the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth and marvel at its emptiness.
On that first Easter Sunday, some people reacted with confusion and disappointment, not elation. The apostles Peter and John ran to the tomb after hearing from Mary Magdalene that its stone seal had been removed and Jesus’ body was missing.
“They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb,” she reported, “and we do not know where they have laid Him.” (John 20:2 – NKJV)
Jesus had predicted his resurrection many times, yet Mary was despondent at the Lord’s absence. Even when she saw Jesus outside the tomb and heard his voice, she figured he was the gardener.
We’re not so much different today. We sometimes bump along through life, caught up in its busyness and obligations and struggles. We look right past the presence of the Lord in it all, forgetting his amazing promise: “Surely, I am with you always. …” (Matthew 28:20 – NIV)
Christian friend, let us never forget, no matter how confusing life gets, no matter how busy it gets, no matter how laborious it gets – we have a friend in Jesus who died on a cross with our names on his lips. He died to pay the penalty for our sins and is alive today, with us every moment.
This is the wonder of the empty tomb. Do you believe that?
Others took news of the empty tomb defiantly.
Jewish religious leaders concocted a lie for soldiers to tell their superiors in order to explain the unexplainable: “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ ” (Matthew 28:13 – NKJV).
The soldiers were handsomely bribed for their complicity.
Today, there’s still money to be made in denying Christ’s resurrection. And there’s an eager audience for some contrived seed of doubt.
James Cameron’s tale comes to mind. The Oscar-winning director of “Titanic,” “Aliens” and “The Terminator” recently aired his documentary, “The Lost Tomb of Jesus.” The film suggests that a first-century ossuary found in a Jerusalem cave contained the remains of Jesus.
Cameron’s report, widely criticized by archeologists and historians, contradicts the biblical accounts of Christ’s resurrection and ascension to heaven.
Here is the truth, though: Hundreds of people saw the risen Christ; people touched him and spoke with him and were taught by him over 40 days between his resurrection and ascension.
Jesus “presented Himself alive after His sufferings by many infallible proofs.” (Acts 1:2 – NKJV) The resurrection may be denied through unbelief, but there always will be empirical evidence that Jesus has risen.
This, too, is the wonder of the empty tomb.
Because Christ has risen, we can be certain there is life beyond the one we’re living now. It is this hope of eternal life that sustains us even in the most trying times: “And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. …” (1 Corinthians 15:19 – NLT)
Because Christ has risen, we can believe. Believe that he loves us. Believe that his death on the cross satisfied God’s penalty for the sin that separates us from him. Believe that his resurrection has secured for us an eternity in God’s presence: “… Thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57 – NLT)
How does Easter find you this year?
Are you bewildered by your circumstances, wondering where God is in the middle of it all?
Are you defiant, insisting that man’s reason and the passage of time disprove Christ’s resurrection?
I pray you believe in him. I pray you remember his sacrifice for you. I pray you live in the joy that comes only from hope in the risen Lord.
This is the wonder of the empty tomb.