The voice of the empty tomb

Today, many of us will connect with family and friends joining in the Easter celebration. Many traditions exist abound. Growing up in Maryland, our church always had an Easter egg hunt, as many churches do. Kids running around trying to gather as many eggs as possible. Parents watching as they wear their new Easter outfits.

Easter in the northeast can be hit or miss for Easter egg hunt. I learned that first hand last year. My wife organized an Easter egg hunt for the church and guess what happened? It snowed! Snow on Easter!?!  We almost canceled the event but we did not want to disappoint the kids waiting and wanting that classic Easter celebration. So, we had it inside, not exactly a spring type activity, but a reality in the Northeast.

You may have heard of an Easter egg hunt that was canceled recent. Because of weather? Low turn out? No. This year, the Associate Press reported that an annual egg hunt in Macon, GA – traditionally one of the largest Easter events in central Georgia – had to be canceled because of aggressive parents.  Reports from Georgia tell of parents injuring kids and other adults. Children were trampled on. Parents were too aggressive to make sure their kid wasn’t holding an empty egg.

Nobody wants to get an empty egg for Easter. After all, an empty egg is just about as good as being given an empty gift box at Christmas: just a big disappointment.

What’s so great about something empty? 

Mary & Disciples at the Empty Tomb

It is an empty tomb that we Christians celebrate today, on Easter Sunday. Mary Magdalene , as we read in John 20, was just like a sad kid getting an empty Easter egg, as she came to the tomb. Only, she was not sad to see an empty tomb, but shocked! She was so shocked that she ran and got Peter and another disciple.  Peter, of course, is the same disciple that denied Jesus three times at his trial, is now one of the first we see the empty tomb.

The other disciple out runs Peter. We don’t know who this disciple is, only that he most likely got 1^st place in the 100 yard dash at field day growing up. Why are they running? Well, they hear that Jesus’ tomb was empty. Did someone take his body? Did the High Priest have his body stolen? Had another disciple done it?

We understand that the unnamed disciple looked into the empty tomb, but Peter went in. The Gospel writer John tells us that Peter examines the wrappings of Jesus’ burial. It is amazing that Peter went in! It must have smell something fierce! A dead body left in an old, dirty, and musty tomb does not smell great!

Oddly, this is where the story of Jesus’ resurrection ends for these two disciples. They see, go in, and leave the empty tomb.

Mary stays. Why? John’s Gospel does not report what these two disciples did, but they left the tomb.  Understandable, Mary is still upset at the empty tomb.

We don’t like empty

Sometimes, emptiness is a hard concept for us to understand. We don’t like feeling “empty” or void of feelings.  Sometimes, we can get that empty feeling after the death – it’s a shock, depression, sadness, and loss of hope.

In our culture, we don’t like empty things. Like I said before, you wouldn’t give any one an empty present for their birthday. No one likes to discover that there is an empty box of Girl Scout Cookies. And, no one wants to be the one to discover that the last person was too lazy to throw away the empty box either! I’m guilty of that sometimes.

However, empty things can be good too.

The empty egg

In his Sunday school class several weeks before Easter, Phillip’s teacher introduced a special project. He gave every member a plastic “egg”– He explained that each child was to go outside, find a symbol for new life and put it into the egg. Enthusiastically, the class responded.

Then back in the classroom the eggs were opened one at a time with each child explaining the meaning of his symbol.   In the first egg was a pretty flower; in the next a beautiful butterfly, while green grass was in a third. The children “oohed” and “aahed”. In another was a rock, which prompted loud laughter.

Finally the last egg was opened – there was nothing.”That’s stupid,” said one child. Another grumbled, ”Someone didn’t do it right!   The teacher felt a tug on his shirt. It was Phillip, who said, ’That’s mine, and I did do right! It’s empty, ’cause the tomb was empty.”   Remember the assignment?  find a symbol for new life.  There was an unusual, thoughtful silence. And strangely, from that time on, Phillip was accepted as part of the group.

Phillip continued to struggle with many physical problems. That summer he picked up an infection which most children would easily have shaken off. But Philip’s weak body couldn’t and a few weeks later, he died.

At his funeral nine eight year-olds with their teacher brought their symbol of remembrance and placed it near his coffin. Their unusual gift of love to Phillip wasn’t flowers. It was an empty egg – now a symbol to them of new life and hope.  It was Phillip, the “different” child, who had helped his friends see the wonderful hope in the message of Easter.

We must embrace the empty tomb

It is the emptiness that we Christians believe in. That sounds really shallow but it is true. That little boy Philip knew it, but his friend’s in his Sunday School class didn’t realize it until his death.

For us on Easter Sunday, an empty tomb is actually an imagine of comfort and challenge.

What do I mean?

First, as Mary stood back and watched the two disciples go into the tomb, she was not willing to go in. She was not willing to enter the dark, ugly, smelly, and deathly tomb. She is still hung on the fact that the tomb was empty, which she thought it meant someone had taken Jesus.

Second, it is at the empty tomb that Mary finds comfort in the form of an angel. The angel tells her that Jesus is not here.  He has risen! At the empty tomb, it where Jesus appears to her. She thought it was the gardener, but it really Jesus.

Like Mary, we must embrace this reality of the empty tomb.  For Mary, the empty tomb was a physical reminder of pain and death.

The empty tomb calls us to…

The fact is that we all have tombs.  But our tombs are full. Our tomb is that place in our life where we hold everything bad and we are ashamed of. It’s the place where we hide our secrets and hide our sin. On this Easter, the voice of the empty tomb calls out to us to open those dead, decaying, rank, and dying things in your life and open them into life. What is in your tomb? What do you hold in your tomb that needs to be let out?

Bring to life that marriage of yours that is decaying due to selfishness or self-centeredness. Your marriage needs new life by going to counseling and facing the grim reality: you need to give attention to one of the most important people in your life.

Bright to life that friendship of yours that is dead. The person you have given up on. That person who is dead to you. That relationship needs new life by admitting past hurts and moving forward to a new friendship.

Bring to life that addiction you have the kills you each time you engage it. Your friends and family have been asking you to renew your life by getting help.

Bring to life that anger you have which forces you into deeper into darkness. You need to move beyond the people who have hurt you or disappointed you. You only allow them power over your feelings because you cannot get past your anger.

The tomb needs to be empty

The fact is, we have tombs that are full of sin, bitterness, hate, selfishness, failure, addiction, and shame and they need to be emptied!  The voice of the empty tomb reminds us that just as Mary, Peter, and the other disciple discovered, God doesn’t like dying tombs.

Mary saw an empty tomb and she was sad! But, she didn’t realize that an empty tomb was a good thing because it meant that Jesus lives and he gives us salvation. Today, on Easter Sunday, the empty tomb of Jesus calls you to roll away the stone and expose all of the things you are holding on to.

If you are afraid to open that tomb take comfort to know that just as Mary was comforted by Jesus, God comforts us when we open our tombs. He sends what we need when we need it. God sent two angels to Mary, and he will send comfort to you when you open your tomb.

Today, on this Easter Sunday, let your tomb be opened. Let your life be made new.  Let Jesus come into your tomb and say, “Today, salvation comes to you! It is finished. You are forgiven!”

The voice in the empty tomb of Jesus calls out to you.

Today, may you God forward rejoicing that God gives you the gift of an empty tomb. Embrace it. Rejoice in it. And like Mary, go forth praising God for what he can do!

“The voice of the empty tomb” Rev. Alan Rudnick. First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa, NY. Easter Sunday Sermon. April 8, 2012.