Title: Into the Emptiness with Jesus
Text: Mark 16:1-8
Thesis: Christ is present in the empty places of our lives.
Introduction
“Astronomers have discovered a gaping hole in the Universe, nearly a billion light-years across, empty of normal matter such as stars, galaxies and gas, as well as the mysterious unseen ‘dark matter’.” (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070823164846.htm)
When we say it is nearly a billion light years across, we mean that if you struck a match on one side of the hole, it would take one billion years for it to be seen on the other side of the hole. In other words, the match would have been extinguished for a billion years before its flash is seen on the other side. The idea is that this is a massive void.
What they have discovered is what is known as a black hole.
Project Black Hole Photo
A black hole is a region of space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing, including light, can escape its pull. The black hole has a one-way surface called an event horizon into which objects can fall, but out of which nothing can come out. It is called ‘black’ because it absorbs all the light that hits it, reflecting nothing.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole)
Basically, anything that gets near a black hole gets sucked into what we might describe as a cosmic whirlpool.
My thought this morning is that a cosmic black hole is a fitting metaphor for any number of experiences in life that can suck us into empty voids of discouragement and despair.
The death of a loved one may be such a place of emptiness.
I. Death is understood to be the end of our earthly existence…
So they entered the tomb… Mark 16:5-6
• While there is life there is hope.
• When death occurs, we accept it as final.
In II Samuel 12 King David returns home to find that his infant son is gravely ill. He begged God to spare the boy. He refused to eat and laid on the bare ground all night. He was utterly broken by his son’s illness. After a week of despair, the baby died. Then David promptly got up, showered and shaved, put on clean clothes and ate.
When asked why when the baby was sick he grieved but then when the child died he pulled it together and got on with life? And David said, “I fasted and wept when the baby was alive, for I thought that perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live. But now that he is dead, I cannot bring him back again. I will go to him one day but he cannot return to me.” While there is life, there is hope but in death there is a sense of finality.
• Then, we commit the earthly remains of our loved ones their final resting place on this earth (and commend their spirits to God).
In the Matthew account of the death and burial of Christ, we understand that Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate released his body to Joseph who took the body, wrapped it in a long linen cloth and placed it in his own tomb which was newly carved out of the rock. He then rolled a great stone across the entrance to seal the grave.
In the following verse it says, “Both Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting nearby watching.” Matthew 27:61
In her book A Paradise Called Texas Janice Jordan Shefelman tells the story of a young girl named Mina, whose family immigrated from Germany to The Republic of Texas in 1845, the year Texas became a state. Their ship, The Margaretha, off-loaded the German immigrants at a beach called Indian Point, which is near the present day city of Corpus Christi. The immigrants set up something of a tent city on the beach…
It was December and many of the immigrants became ill and died of pneumonia, including Mina’s mother. In chapter 9, titled Mama Gone, the narrative picks up, At twilight Herr Kaufmann, Herr Hessler, and four other men carried Mama’s casket along the beach. Papa, Mina, and friends followed along behind. Papa was holding Mina’s hand as they walked. In her other hand Mina clutched the little wooden seagull Papa had made for her. The wind was blowing from the north as they walked up from the beach to the burial site.
The men lowered the casket into the ground. Papa held Mina tightly. Then Mina pulled the seagull out of her pocket, broke away from Papa, and laid it on top of Mama’s casket.
"Fly away, Mama, fly away from here." Then Mina ran back to Papa, and hid her face against his chest. She did not want to see Mama’s casket covered with earth. In her mind’s eye she saw her little gull fly away from the casket. (Janice Jordan Shefelman, A Paradise Called Texas, Chapter 9, Mama Gone)
Little Mina wanted the spirit of her mother to fly away to heaven but she also knew that grave marked her mother’s final resting place.
Graves are places to which we may return to remember and honor loved ones.
II. The women who went to Jesus’ tomb expected Jesus to be where he was buried.
So they entered the tomb, and there sat a young man clothed in a white robe. The women were startled, but the angel said, “Do not be surprised. You are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He has been raised from the dead!” Mark 16:5-6
Those who prefer a casket burial make take great care in securing the remains of their loved one. So they will usually select a burial vault and a casket. Two top of the line companies for vaults and caskets are the Wilbert Vault and Batesville Casket Companies.
The Wilbert Bronze Burial Vault offers premium protection with ultra high-strength concrete core; triple-reinforcement with bronze, a high-impact ABS Trilon thermoplastic interior, and an ABS Marvelon encased exterior; brilliant carapace finished with non-rusting bronze; and solid die-cast handles and personalized bronze nameplate. (http://www.hicksindustries.com/vaults_wilbert.asp)
Then you get a Batesville Classic Gold 48 oz. Polished Bronze / Mono-seal casket made of semi precious metal, with a naturally resistant to rust and corrosion interior; locking mechanism plus a one piece rubber gasket to completely seal the top; with continuous weld to completely seal the bottom; tested for resistance to outside elements; round corner urn design brushed finish; 24-karat gold plated hardware and safety seal, swing bar hardware; and adjustable bed and mattress custom cap panels.
So you place the Batesville Classic Gold 48 oz. Polished Bronze inside the Wilbert Bronze Vault and add six ton of dirt and you have your basic secured gravesite. (http://www.perryfunerals.com/index.php/grantley_perry_sons/batesville_caskets/classic_gold_champaign_whitehall_velvet_z64_825_dh)
The religious leaders took great precautions to make sure that Jesus stayed in the grave. After Joseph of Arimathea had claimed the body of Christ and buried him, the religious leaders, remembering Jesus’ claim that he would raise from the dead after three days, also went to Pilate and asked that he seal the tomb to make sure Jesus’ disciples did not steal his body and then claim that he had raisen from the dead.
So Pilate told them to seal the tomb and place guards to protect it. Matthew 27:62-66
• The women had seen Joseph of Arimathea place Jesus in the tomb and roll a stone over the opening.
• The religious leaders had sealed the tomb…
• The Romans had placed armed guards to secure the grave.
Jesus wasn’t going anywhere…
The women came to the tomb fully expecting that Jesus’ body would be where it was supposed to be… but it wasn’t there. In the Gospel of Mark an angel sitting on the slab inside the tomb told them that Jesus was not there and that he was raised from the dead.
Despite the assurance that Jesus had been raised from the dead… all the women knew for certain was that the grave was empty.
III. The women felt the emptiness of the empty tomb
The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, saying nothing to anyone because they were too frightened to speak. Mark 16:8
Interestingly, they did not feel exuberance or joy or delight or glee. They were not giddy with excitement. They were trembling, bewildered and too frightened to speak. This was not what they have expected. They had watched as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus brought seventy-five pounds of embalming ointment made from myrrh and aloes and wrapped Jesus’ body in linen along with the spices and seal the grave. John 19:39-40
• They had expected to get some help rolling the stone away.
• They came expecting to apply more burial spices to Jesus’ body. Mark 16:1
• They had expected to lovingly wrap the body of Jesus in spices, but they could not because Jesus’ body was not where it was supposed to be.
The women were not the only ones who felt the emptiness.
In the longer ending of Mark, when Mary found the disciples, they were grieving and weeping. And even when she told them that Jesus was alive and that she had see him , they did not believe her. Mark 16:10-11
Jesus later appeared to two disciples who were walking from Jerusalem into the country. When he joined them he noted that they were in a deep discussion about something, so he asked them what they were talking about. In Luke it says that they stopped short, sadness written all over their faces. And then one of them said, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that happened there the last few days.” He went on to elaborate how they had thought that Jesus was the promised Messiah but three days ago he had been arrested and crucified. And just that morning some women had gone to the tomb and found his body missing. “Then some of the men went to the tomb and sure enough… his body was gone.” Luke 24:24
Feelings of emptiness are not unusual, and the causes of these feelings are not limited to missing bodies. After riding a commuter train outside of New York City, John Yates’ son talked about his experience. He said he was surrounded by middle-aged, pot-bellied, balding men who were worn out. Their clothes were wrinkled, their shirts heavy with perspiration as they hunched over in the seats clutching their copes of The Wall Street Journal. “Dad,” he said, “they all seemed depressed.”
Despite the stereotypical nature of his perception of those middle-aged men, who among us has not felt the emptiness of being tired, worn out and a little depressed?
The emptiness of those middle-aged men was different from that of the disciples, but emptiness non-the-less.
However, a few verses later it says of those two disciples, “Suddenly their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.” Luke 24:31
Conclusion:
This is the point I wish to have register in your hearts and minds this Easter morning.
• Just as Mary was overwhelmed at the tomb, Jesus appeared to her in the emptiness of her grief.
• As the two men walked the Emmaus Road, Jesus walked with them, had dinner with them and then appeared to them in the emptiness of their confusion.
• When the disciples were hiding from the Jewish leaders, Jesus appeared to them in the emptiness of their fear.
• When doubting Thomas refused to believe, Jesus appeared to him in the emptiness of his unbelief.
We are never alone in our emptiness.
• When you hear that dreaded diagnosis from the oncologist, Jesus is there in the emptiness of your shock.
• When you get that late night call from the police informing you that your son or daughter has been arrested, Jesus is there in the emptiness of your perceived failure as a parent.
• When you get a pink slip in your pay envelope, Jesus is there in the emptiness of unemployment.
• When you run out of money before you run out of bills, Jesus is there in the emptiness of your need.
• When your marriage unravels and reconciliation seems impossible, Jesus is there in the emptiness of your brokenness.
• When you haven’t the slightest inclination that God exists, much less cares, Jesus is there in the emptiness of your dark night of the soul.
• Jesus is always present in our emptiness… we are never alone in our black holes of despair.
And this is so because: Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
