Easter 2016
“The fullness of the empty tomb”
The word empty itself often brings feelings of
Sadness
Despair
Fear
Disappointment
If you have ever been in the middle of nowhere
Miles from anything even resembling a town
When your gas gage hit empty- the needle on E- maybe a low fuel light blinking
You know the feeling that empty can bring
If you have watched as you’re youngest or last child still living at home
Packed up and drive away
Headed away for college or to start their own lives
Then you know the feeling of emptiness
Imagined waiting for months for Christmas or your birthday
And sitting there under the tree
Or on the table
Is a beautiful package
Just the right size to contain exactly what you had hope and wished for
Then opening the box to find nothing inside
Empty
Opening a paycheck envelope with no check
Signing your name on the final divorce papers
Ending a marriage that you thought would last forever
Getting bad news from the doctor
Losing a friend or loved one
Empty
Most of the times in our lives empty are not a good thing
Today is Easter
The day when we come together to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ
A joyous day
But it was not always joy as
Let me paint the scene for you this Morning from the eyes of a lady we all know
Her name is Mary Magdalene
She is what some would call less desirable
She has a sorted past
She had been outcast from society
The type of person who you look at but don’t see
A ghost I n society
But
Jesus
Took he in
Accepted her
And Jesus changed her life
She had been with Jesus for a while
Learning from him
Serving him
Filled with his love
But today she is empty inside
She had watched as Jesus rode in on that little donkey a few days ago
She had heard the cheers
But then she had seen the change in those who once praised and celebrated Jesus
She had seen the way Jesus was treated when he was arrested
She knew he had been betrayed
She had witnessed his torture
His trials
His crucifixion
She had been there at the foot of the cross
And had seen Jesus Christ
Her Lord
The one person in this entire world who had accepted her as she was
Die a horrible death
She had watched as they took his lifeless body down
She had followed as they took him to his tomb
She had sat across front he tomb at a distance
As the placed his body there
And she was empty
Hope was gone
Jesus was dead
Image the situations I descried earlier and then compound that empty feeling by 100
B y 1000
So Mary did the only thing she knew to do
She continued to serve Jesus
In her emptiness
She waited until after the Sabbath was over
And she went to pay tribute to her teacher
By preparing his body for the grave
Anointing his body with spices
As they did royalty
As they did a king
Please open your bibles to John 20
John 20:1-13
Early on Sunday morning,[a] while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— 9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went home.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
Mary is already empty inside
Used up
Washed out
Emotionally drained
But things are now worse
She has come to pay honor to the one person who loved her unconditionally in her life
Yes others had loved her
Some had used her
Wanted things from her
And still others had wanted to change her
But Jesus, was different
And now
On this Sunday, morning so long ago
The sun rising
Mist fading
The emptiness she felt just got emptier
His body was not there
Imagine her utter despair
Her grief
That hollow feeling in her gut
The emptiness of the tomb
Pushing her emptiness to a whole new level
But thing were about to change
On this morning so long ago
Emptiness
Would bring fullness
John 20:14-18
14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. 15 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
16 “Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
The tomb was empty
But Jesus in the fullness of his love was there
Standing right there
Calling her name
Comforting her
And
Suddenly
The emptiness left
And she was filled
This morning on this resurrection morning
It is my desire to show you how 2 x empty equals full
How an empty cross
And
An empty tomb brings fullness to our lives
And how only through the emptiness can we ever find fulfillment in our lives
First the empty tomb brings
The fullness of truth
Plate asks Jesus at his trial
Form John 18:38
What is truth?
Jesus refused to answer his question
But his word has already answered tit
Jesus Christ is truth
He is the way the truth and the life
He is the only way to the Father
He alone is the name we can call on for salvation
‘He alone is true and unconditional love
He and he alone is the only one who can offer forgiveness for our sins
He is truth
And his truth sets us free
Jesus death and resurrection had been written about for hundreds of years before it happened
Jesus himself had proclaimed the truth of this death and resurrection
And now
The empty tomb was the proof of the fullness of his truth
The next fullness we find is the
Fullness of hope
When Mary walked to the tomb that morning
In her mind hope was dead
Jesus was dead
It was all over
Nothing but emptiness remained
But the emptiness of the tomb brought back hope
You see Jesus overcame death
He overcame the grave
And
Because he overcome
Because he is not in the grave
Because he lives
We can live
Because he was resurrected and because we have the truth
The empty tomb assures us that we too will rise again
To be with Christ in Glory
That though our bodies may fall
And be placed in a grave
But
When we believe the truth that is Jesus
And place our hop in him
Our souls will life forever with the resurrected king
In the emptiness of the tomb we have the fullness of truth and the fullness of hope
Next we have the fullness of forgiveness
Because
Jesus was born
Because Jesus lived as a man
Because Jesus dies
And because Jesus was resurrected
We have the fullness of forgiveness
Everything Jesus did
Everything he endured
All of the pain
All of the torment
All of the rejection
All of the abuse
He took for you
And for me
He took all of this though buy our forgiveness
Sin has a price
And that price must be paid
And Jesus Christ my Lord and savior paid that price for me and for you and for all of humanity
In the empty tomb we have the fullness of forgiveness
Our debt is paid when we are his
Our pasts are just that – past
Behind us
Forgotten by our Father God
As far as the east is from the west
Thrown into the bottom of the ocean
Never to be seen again
Forgiveness
For our wickedness
Forgiveness for our stupidity
Forgiveness for our mistakes
Forgiveness for the bad things we have done on purpose
Forgiveness free for the asking
Like the man who was hanging next to Jesus
Crying out remember me
In those words he said
I believe you Jesus
Forgive me Jesus
And Jesus said
“Today you will be with me in paradise”
Forgiven
The fullness of forgiveness
Bough t with the blood sacrifice of Jesus
And sealed with the emptiness of the tomb
Because he lives
We can be forgiven
Because he lives we have the truth
Because he lives we have hope
In the emptiness of the tomb
We have the
Fullness of his love
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God’s love
In Jesus we see God’s love in a human body
For God so loved, that he sent Jesus
A love that knows our mistakes
And our pasts
Knows us like no other
And loves us anyway
A love that understands us even when we don’t understand ourselves or understand why we do what we do
A love that knows us from before we were born
A love that saw us in the womb
A love that makes us whole
Fills us like nothing else can
Chases away the emptiness
Runoff the darkness
And satisfies our souls
God sent Jesus because he loves us
And Jesus came because he loves us
He showed his love by stretching out his arms
And accepting my nails
By accepting my lashes
By accepting the pain and the punishment that should have been mine and yours
because he loves us he took the pain
Because he loves us he took the spit
Because he loves us he took the beatings and the rejection
Because he loves us he took everything that we deserve
On fridaY
They took love off of the cross and laid him in a tomb
And Mary and the believers were empty inside
On Saturday
Mary had lost her hope
But on Sunday
Love
Got up and walked out of that grave
He overcome death
He went back to heaven to plead our case
On Friday as he died
He said
“It is finished
It is done
The emptiness of the tomb is the true fulfillment of love
Because he is not there
We are forgiven
Because he is not there
We are loved
Because he is not there
We have hope
Because he is not there
We have truth
Because Jesus is not there
Because the tomb is empty
We no longer need to fear death
It had no hold on him ‘and as believers it has no hold on us
No power
No sting
Because the tomb is empty we are filled
We are fulfilled
Prophesy is fulfilled
Truth is fulfilled
Hope is fulfilled
Forgiveness is fulfilled
And love
True love
Life changing
Souls saving love are fulfilled
Are you still empty?
Jesus can fill you
Are you still living with your mistakes?
Your past
Your hurts your disappointments
Jesus can forgive you
Id that emptiness stealing your hope
Only Jesus can restore hope
Are you struggling with truth?
Let me tell you about truth
In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and nothing was created except that was created by him
Jesus Christ is, was and always will be God
He came to earth, born of a virgin just as he said he would
Lived a sinless life
And then suffered and died for your sins and my sins
The bible says we are all sinners and that the penalty for all sin is death- separation from God- an eternity in Hell
But Jesus
While we were still sinners
Died to pay the price owed
They put him in the cold ground and 3 days later he walked out
He showed himself to many over the next 40 days
Then he went home
Back to his Father
Where he is waiting patiently
To come back for us
This is the truth
He provide a way
To heaven
And he is the only way
He by dying
He by being resurrected
Provides us with life
Full life
Abundant life
Thank God for the emptiness of the tomb
Because by that empty tomb
We can find fullness.
Close from the heart
Pray
