Healing Rays of Righteousness

Read Mark 16:1-8

Emptiness can be very frightening.  The empty house on a dark night.  The empty gas tank on a deserted road.  The empty bed when you loved one has died.  But even more frightening is the emotional and spiritual emptiness that drains us of hope, strength, and purpose in life.

For many persons, going to work is empty of fulfillment, even recreational and vacation times are empty of satisfying fun, and times of spiritual meditation and worship are empty of meaningful ecstasy.  At the inner core of their self, with its thoughts and emotions, is a dark frightening emptiness.

The good news of Easter’s resurrection story is the invitation for us to enter the emptiness we may be feeling and to explore it.  The Easter story begins with a visit to an empty tomb.

And so, imagine yourself being one of the three women who visited the tomb early in the morning after Sabbath, coming with spices to anoint the dead body of Jesus.  You are filled with uncertainty, fear, grief and emptiness.  Your whole self aches because of your great lost.  The man, Jesus, whom you have dearly loved and believed to be God’s promised savior for you is dead, having been crucified with two other criminals.

As you near the tomb you see, to your utter amazement and consternation, that the large rounded stone sealing the tomb’s entrance has been rolled away.  Entering the darkened tomb, you find it empty, except for the folded shroud and napkin.  The body of Jesus is not there. But sitting close by is a stranger dressed in white.

Being so overwhelmed with conflicting emotions, you cannot speak, but you do hear the stranger say, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazarene, who was crucified.  He has risen!  He is not here.  See the place where they laid him.  But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see him, just as he told you.’”  Shaking with much fear and bewilderment, you run from the tomb saying nothing to anyone.

There are two things that happened in this early morning event that I find helpful for my times of emptiness.  1. The women fled after they had explored the tomb and confirmed its emptiness.  2. The stranger in white pointed them outward and away from the empty tomb and toward a place where Jesus would meet them alive and in person, just as He had earlier promised, “But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”  (Mark 14:28).

The first important response in my times of emptiness is to explore the reason for my feeling and to acknowledge and confirm the emptiness.  This is followed by my going out from that darkened tomb, even though I may wish to stay and grieve my emptiness, turning my thoughts and face toward Jesus and going toward Him who promised “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)

The women explored the emptiness of a tomb and discovered that death is not life’s final act.  Exploring the emptiness of our own heart and mind requires the courage to admit emptiness.  But to all who admit to being empty – the sad, the lonely, the broken-hearted – emptiness brings opportunity to examine the empty tomb in their own experience.  It is they who discover the deeper truths of resurrection and to realize that “He (Jesus) has risen!  He is not here.”  It is they who receive the promise, “But go,…He is going ahead of you” and in your going “There you will see him, just as he told you.”

Yes, Jesus is alive and my hope in Him is not in vain.  Because I believe in the resurrection of Jesus, I believe He is not just a person to be remembered in history, but a living presence in my life and world.  I believe He is not just someone to discuss, but someone to meet in relationship.  The question I daily ask myself is – Am I awake and aware of His living presence in my personal world, and am I sincerely desiring a living, loving relationship with Him?