The Empty Tomb Opens My Eyes
Surely you’ve heard the joke about the three college students who were appearing in a national academic competition. The contest had come down to three final students. One was from Rice University, one was from Princeton University and the third was from Oklahoma State University.
The moderator told the finalists, “Our final question comes from the category of religious studies. Contestant number one, describe the Christian observation of Easter.”
Contestant number one answered, “Well, at Rice we really haven’t covered that. Isn’t that the practice where everybody hides a bunch of eggs and then children run everywhere trying to find them?”
“No, I’m afraid that’s not the Christian observation of the Easter holiday. Contestant number two?”
“Well, ma’am, at Princeton we’ve covered a lot of religious backgrounds. I think Easter is when everyone goes outside early in the morning to watch the sunrise… and to see if a big bunny named Peter Cottontail is hopping down some old dirt trail.”
“No, contestant number two, I’m afraid that’s not the Christian observation of the Easter holiday. Contestant number three, can you describe the Christian observation of the Easter holiday?”
Number three, being from Oklahoma State thought long and hard about this. Rice and Princeton are very impressive, very well respected institutions. Those students had been way off. The young lady from OSU decided to trust her instincts and began to answer. “In the Christian church, Easter is the day when people recognize and remember the death of Jesus Christ on a cross many years ago. He was buried in a tomb for three nights and three days. Then on the third day, the stone was miraculously rolled away… then I think he poked out his head and started looking for his shadow. If he sees his shadow, he runs back inside and we know we have six more weeks of winter.”
Okay, it’s an old, lame joke. But the irony of it, the struggle of the contestants seems to exemplify the times in which we live. There seems to be so much misunderstanding about the true meaning, nature and beauty of Easter.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I think the Peter Cottontail story is cute. I love watching the kids hunt for Easter Eggs. Who doesn’t love biting the ears off of a chocolate bunny – and I love those Cadbury Eggs – Bauck, Bauck, easter bunny.
But that’s not what Easter is about. And to be blunt, I think the misunderstandings are due to some spiritual misinformation. Our enemy would like nothing more than for us to live in a world where Easter is celebrated as a weekend holiday with sweet pictures of bunnies, sweet tasting chocolates and no mention of the real treasure of Easter.
Because as cute as Peter Cottontail is, he’s spiritually harmless to Satan. Satan doesn’t lose any sleep over people wearing Easter Bonnets, filling us Easter Baskets or baking their Easter Hams. But I promise you this; he trembles at the realization of the real message of Easter.
Satan is counting on our eyes being distracted, being diverted from the real Easter message.
And, honestly, those of us in the church even find ourselves treating Easter as just another day. We’ve heard the story. We reflect on it each week at communion. We know the details. Jesus died, was in the grave three days and then rose from the dead. Most Christians can’t remember the first time they heard the story; they can’t recall a time when the resurrection of Jesus was new or unknown to them; most will say they’ve always known it.
But sometimes we can become so familiar with the story that we end up having our eyes closed to the strength and majesty within it. So this morning let me try to open your eyes again. Let me take you back to that Resurrection Sunday and remind you of what the empty tomb of Jesus really means to those who trust in Jesus.
The Empty Tomb Opens My Eyes to Trust Beyond Calculation. Normally, we trust someone or something as much as we can calculate their trustworthiness. If our experiences with a neighbor add up positively, we trust them to watch our home while we’re out of town. If we’ve enjoyed a number of very positive experiences with a young student we’re more likely to calculate them as trustworthy to baby-sit our children. If we’ve had a number of difficult experiences with a co-worker, our calculations leave us a little hesitant to trust them with a project or concern in the office.
But the empty tomb brings us to trust in God clear of any calculating we might try to do. The questions we ask no longer center on whether or not God’s plans add up or work out as we might expect. Stepping into the empty tomb changes that perspective forever.
That’s exactly what the empty tomb did for the disciples. Before the resurrection of Jesus, they really didn’t understand what God was doing. They had been with Jesus for three years; they had seen the miracles, heard the teachings, listened to the explanations and warnings. But only after the empty tomb did they quit trying to figure out God’s plan for themselves.
Listen to this encounter from John’s gospel:
“The Jews replied (to Jesus), ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple (Jesus) had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.” John 2: 20-22
The disciples didn’t add everything up as they were going along with Jesus. They didn’t figure out what was going on even when Jesus told them what would take place. Image their disappointment and their disillusion as they watch Jesus being arrested in the Garden. “Where’s this going, God?” They were sure Jesus was the Messiah – but they sure didn’t understand the Messiah’s work here. The disciples didn’t put all the pieces together until after the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. They couldn’t see the whole plan until after they could see the empty tomb.
And we, brought into the story by the gospel writers, discover that God’s plans aren’t always visible, don’t always add up as we might expect. But as we stand at the entrance of the empty tomb come to the startling revelation that God fulfills His plans. God leaves no stone unturned, no stone un-rolled-away. God was in charge the entire time. God allowed his Son to walk on the earth, to be betrayed, to be denied, to be arrested, to be beaten, to crucified – all so that the sin of humanity would be forever nailed to a cross – and so that everyone would have a clear marker in a garden tomb that can’t contain its corpse.
By allowing his son to die, letting him rest in the grave for three days and then miraculously raising him from the dead, God has proven himself to be trustworthy with any and all elements of our busy, hectic, stressed, crazy, excited and vibrant lives.
The story is told about a father and his son who were out in the country exploring and climbing on some cliffs. The father heard a voice from above me yell, "Hey Dad! Catch me!" He turned around to see his son joyfully jumping off a rock straight at him. The boy had jumped and them yelled "Hey Dad!" The father instantly turns into a circus act, catching him. They both fell to the ground.
The father gasped in exasperation: "Son! Can you give me one good reason why you did that???"
The boy responded with remarkable calmness: "Sure...because you’re my Dad." His whole assurance was based in the fact that his father was trustworthy.
In an even greater manner, our trust in God is entirely based not our ability to discern his ways or know his mind… but in our recognition that He has proven more trustworthy than we could ever estimate. God is trustworthy with the decisions you’ll make tomorrow, the challenges you’ll face this week, the mistakes you made yesterday, and every step you take today.
The empty tomb opens my eyes to trust beyond calculation. The God who can weave and work his plans through the hills of Galilee, the jealousy of the Pharisees, the stubbornness of the crowds, the struggles of the disciples, the treachery of Judas, the carelessness of Herod, the fickleness of Pilate, the torment of Garden, the torture of the Cross and the silence of the grave… the God who can navigate His will to a successful, amazing, unquestionable conclusion in an empty tomb can be trusted beyond any calculation with my family, my future and my fate.
Not only does the empty tomb open my eyes to trust beyond calculation, but also, The Empty Tomb Opens My Eyes to Power Beyond the Corporal. Now, I know, for those of you who wear the letter O and U ‘corporal’ is a difficult word. But I’ll explain it. That which is corporal is physical, fleshly, of this world. We are corporal beings. We spend our lives wrestling with this flesh, trying to strengthen it, prolong its life, and shrink its waistline.
We’ve stretched our ability to examine, study, treat and manipulate this corporal life. The strides we as humanity are making in science and technology are amazing. We know more about the human body, the human condition, the human existence and the human world than we have ever known. We as Americans live more comfortably, more leisurely and more pleasantly than the majority of the world.
Yet, we are still unsatisfied. We are still struck by moments of disappointment, frustration, fear, terror, loneliness, emptiness, helplessness and powerlessness. We long to reach out to something beyond the human sphere of understanding and capability. We long to touch the eternal.
And through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the power of the eternal reaches into human life and presents itself with boldness and audacity. The empty tomb opens our eyes to God’s power beyond the corporal limits that bind our bodies, minds and imagination.
When Peter stands up at Pentecost and preaches the first gospel sermon, he is, among other goals, trying to impress upon the people the power of God that has been manifested in the Christ event. Listen to his words from Acts 2:
“Seeing what was ahead, (David) spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” Acts 2:31-33
The resurrection of Christ demonstrates a power at work in the world of humans that cannot come from or be limited by the world of humans. God’s power knows no hesitation at the grave. God’s power knows no fear of the tomb. God’s power knows no limits or conditions, as we understand such things.
The Hebrew and Christian Scriptures are filled with story after story of a God who willingly intervenes in human affairs to display power beyond corporal limitations. God parts the waters of the Red Sea to create an escape route for the children of Israel. God crumbles the walls of Jericho when the people blast a few notes on some old out of tune trumpets. God breaks the will of a nation by defeating a giant with a small boy and a slingshot. God humbles a King by enabling three men to walk through fire without even the smell of singed hair. God specializes in bending, breaking and sometimes ignoring the rules and laws of the physical universe.
And through the empty tomb of Jesus, God forever opens my eyes to power beyond the corporal.
Thirdly, The Empty Tomb Opens My Eyes to Hope Beyond Condition. It is so easy to allow the circumstances and conditions of my life influence over my demeanor, my point of view and my confidence in the future.
You know what this is like, don’t you? You start the week on Monday morning with a positive attitude. Suddenly, some major project you’ve been working on for months comes crashing down, or your boss is suddenly upset about something you said or did two weeks ago, or you and your mate can’t seem to say two sentences without one of you blowing up, or your child’s most recent decisions are beginning to create real difficulty… Something happens that convinces you that the future isn’t going to be somewhere you want to be.
We lose hope so easily. And there is so much around us that isn’t very hope-filled. We live in a world with endless expectations, very limited resources and even less control. The situations of our lives move, change and tilt with little with any warning; we can easily feel like everyone else: our boss, our company, our mortgage, our school, our taxes, our health insurance company, our classmates, our families… everyone else in charge of our lives – leaving us frustrated, disappointed and wondering how to survive.
But the empty tomb changes all that, and not just metaphorically. Listen to this verse from First Peter:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3)
Through the resurrection of Jesus we are given a new birth into a living hope. A living hope. What is that living hope? Listen to the rest of the passage:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:3-9
What is that living hope?
“An inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade…”
“Shielding by God’s power”
“Faith that is proved genuine”
“Inexpressible and glorious joy”
“Salvation of your souls”
To make this simple, we have been given a hope that God can work through any and all circumstances to bring about glory and goodness for His people in this world and in the world to come. It doesn’t matter what life throws at you, nothing can take away God’s presence and place in your life.
A story is told about a man who approached a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy responded, “Eighteen to nothing--we’re behind.”
“Boy,” said the spectator, “I’ll bet you’re discouraged.” In his innocence the boy replied, “Why should I be discouraged? We haven’t gotten up to bat yet!”
For the believer, this child-like, innocent faith is a simple and straight-forward testimony in the face of the hopeless of all life. The world takes its nastiest and cruelest swings… and we sit in the dugout and know without hesitation… that we haven’t gotten up to bat yet. Regardless of what the world throws this way, in the greatest and highest of life, we have a hope beyond condition.
The empty tomb opens my eyes to trust beyond calculation, to power beyond the corporal and to hope beyond condition. And finally, this morning, I long for you to see how The Empty Tomb Opens My Eyes to Love Beyond Compare.
We spoke a couple weeks ago about the dramatic statement of love that the cross of Jesus Christ really is. We read John’s definition of love: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” (1 John 3:16) On the cross and now on Sunday morning God demonstrates just how far he will go to communicate his love to anyone who will listen.
Paul wrestles with this all-surpassing love. Listen to his words from Romans 8:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39
Nothing is greater, nothing is higher, nothing is deeper, nothing is stronger, nothing is more pure, nothing is more holy, nothing is more amazing than the love God has for you.
The empty tomb proves that God’s love is a love of new starts, new births, new possibilities. This is a love not bound by the betrayal or denial of Thursday night. This is a love not hurt by the fear or disillusionment of Friday night. This is a love not hindered by the loneliness and isolation of Saturday night. God’s love is a love that roars into life as the stone is rolled away Sunday morning, forever expanding, forever growing, forever reaching into the hearts of men and women.
The empty tomb of Jesus reveals God’s plan and demonstrates God’s power. But also on clear display is the passion of God – God’s passion for the redemption and return of His people.
This empty tomb is a marker for all time for anyone who would listen for the voice of the eternal. Do you hear him? The empty tomb is God’s voice begging for our attention, pleading for our trust, promising us His power, providing His hope and presenting his passion and love. It’s God’s voice speaking through a still, quiet, almost silent voice to our hearts: “Do you see? Do you finally see now just how important you are? Do you understand just how much I love you? How far I will go, how greatly I will act if you will just listen to me? Just trust me?”
The empty tomb opens my eyes to trust beyond calculation, to power beyond the corporal, to hope beyond condition and to love beyond compare.
Listen to this quotation of I Peter 1:21 from The Message:
“It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.” 1 Peter 1:21
That future is what the resurrection is all about.
Tony Campolo tells a story… “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s a-comin’”
- It’s Friday and I can’t calculate what God is doing or where He is in my life…
o But Sunday’s a-comin – and when I see that empty tomb I’ll know that I can trust Him beyond calculations.
- It’s Friday and the body of Jesus is broken, just like all of my attempts to do anything worthwhile or to tap into the world of the eternal.
o But Sunday’s a-comin – and when I see that empty tomb I’ll know that I can have access to power beyond the corporal.
- It’s Friday and everything is in my life dark, permeated with an spirit of desperation and despair.
o But Sunday’s a-comin – and when I see that empty tomb I’ll know that I can have hope beyond any conditions this world can throw my way.
- It’s Friday and I’m on a lonely, dark hillside wondering if anyone really cares about who I am – if I matter at all.
o But Sunday’s a-comin – and when I see that empty tomb I’ll know just how far, just how sure God is about a love for me beyond compare.
Easter is about a hill where love is displayed in the suffering and sacrifice for sins for all time. Easter is also about an Empty Tomb where God’s plan, God’s power, God’s hope and God’s love are made clear.
