THE BIG EMPTY
MARK 16:1-8
Before movie companies were careful about Swahili translations--assuming no one in the U.S. would understand--a director needed an African messenger who was to gasp out a sentence to the big chief, collapsing as he delivered his message, since he had run for days with his vital news. A local Englishman who spoke Swahili was asked to write an urgent-sounding sentence in the language. He did, tongue in cheek. An American actor played the part beautifully. All went well until the movie was shown in Nairobi (where everyone spoke Swahili, of course). The drama of the moment was reduced to high comedy. What the messenger actually said as he threw himself, exhausted, before the chief was, "I do not think I am getting paid enough money for this part." B. and J. Leslie-Melville, Elephant Have Right of Way.
Well we have a bit of a skit we would like to share with you today we are hopeful that you will get the message and no none of our actors is getting paid enough for playing their part actually they aren’t getting paid anything.
SKIT SCENE 1
Is your family like that? You always get along, mom and dad are never grouchy, the kids are obedient and polite, they have good friends, you have money to spare and you agree on how to spend it.
Life is good.
Well let’s look back in on our family and see what happens when reality strikes.
SKIT SCENE 2
Isn’t it amazing how quickly the full life can become empty? You can perhaps relate more to the second scene than the first, but what does all this have to do with the Easter story? I want to read to you the resurrection story from the gospel of Mark. READ. The real story of Easter is the story of the empty tomb. Jesus was no longer in the tomb when the women went there early on the first day of the week. The empty tomb has different meaning to different people. Let me suggest two broad categories.
I. THERE ARE THOSE FOR WHOM THE EMPTY TOMB MEANS AN EMPTY LIFE.
A. How can this be? How can the fact that Jesus is alive bring
emptiness to a person’s life? There are people who don’t know
what to do with Jesus.
B. If Jesus is risen then He is Lord. And we need the submit to him
1. The High Priest and other leaders were in control, in power and
And position they didn’t want to submit to Jesus, they wanted
Him to stay in the tomb.
2. Many today don’t want Jesus as Lord, they want to control their own lives...leads to emptiness.
C. If Jesus is risen then Jesus is truth (he did what he said) Jesus was condemned as a liar a blasphemer but if the tomb is empty then it is proof that Jesus is true to what he said and we must believe ...believing means obeying His teaching.
1. Jesus called people to repentance....change and they did not
want to change....
2. Many people are comfortable living by their own rules but it
will lead to emptiness.
D. If Jesus is risen than he is life. This means there is more than just
this physical life, more than just the temporary. Everything we
do can have eternal consequences. If you live life for the
moment and that is all there is then your life is full, but if there
is more you are left empty
Let me suggest that there is another category of people when it comes to the empty tomb.
II. THERE ARE THOSE FOR WHOM THE EMPTY TOMB MEANS A FULFILLED LIFE.
The fact that Jesus is alive can make a tremendous, eternal impact for good in your life and mine. In fact the living Jesus can be the difference between an empty life and a full life.
A. Because the tomb is empty our lives can be filled with joy.
1. Vs 8 the women were “trembling and bewildered” and in
Matthew 28:8 “afraid yet filled with joy” Joy that isn’t
contingent on the right circumstance but instead on the right
relationship...with Jesus.
2. In the diary of a third-century man was anticipating death, he penned these last words to a friend: "It’s a bad world, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people are the Christians--and I am one of them." Today In The Word, June, 1988, p. 18.
3. We have a very special joy in Christ!. I love it when the
Church comes together to express that joy.
4.A conference at a Presbyterian church in Omaha. People were given helium filled balloons and told to release them at some point in the service when they felt like expressing the joy in their hearts. Since they were Presbyterians, they weren’t free to say "Hallelujah, Praise the Lord." All through the service balloons ascended, but when it was over 1/3 of the balloons were unreleased. Let your balloon go. Bruce Larson, Luke, p. 43.
B. Because the tomb is empty our lives can be filled with hope.
1.A man 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."
"Why should I be discouraged?" replied the little boy. "We haven’t even gotten up to bat yet!"
2.I am not a connoisseur of great art, but from time to time a painting or picture will really speak a clear, strong message to me. Some time ago I saw a picture of an old burned-out mountain shack. All that remained was the chimney...the charred debris of what had been that family’s sole possession. In front of this destroyed home stood an old grandfather-looking man dressed only in his underclothes with a small boy clutching a pair of patched overalls. It was evident that the child was crying. Beneath the picture were the words which the artist felt the old man was speaking to the boy. They were simple words, yet they presented a profound theology and philosophy of life. Those words were, "Hush child, God ain’t dead!"
That vivid picture of that burned-out mountain shack, that old man, the weeping child, and those words "God ain’t dead" keep returning to my mind. Instead of it being a reminder of the despair of life, it has come to be a reminder of hope! I need reminders that there is hope in this world. In the midst of all of life’s troubles and failures, I need mental pictures to remind me that all is not lost as long as God is alive and in control of His world.
James DeLoach, associate pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Houston, quoted in When God Was Taken Captive, W. Aldrich, Multnomah, 1989, p. 24.
C. Because the tomb is empty our lives can be filled with purpose.
1. A cowering little band of disciples changed the world with the
Purpose Christ gave them. Jesus gives us that same purpose.
2. Henry Martyn, a distinguished scholar, as an example. Martyn, a Cambridge University student, was honored at only 20 years of age for his achievements in mathematics. In fact, he was given the highest recognition possible in that field. And yet he felt an emptiness inside. He said that instead of finding fulfillment in his achievements, he had "only grasped a shadow." After evaluating his life’s goals, Martyn sailed to India as a missionary at the age of 24. When he arrived, he prayed, "Lord, let me burn out for You." In the next 7 years that preceded his death, he translated the New Testament into three difficult Eastern languages. These notable achievements were certainly not passing "shadows."
Oct. 6 [1812] Last written words
No horses being to be had, I had an unexpected repose. I sat in the orchard, and thought, with sweet comfort and peace, of my God; in solitude my company, my friend and comforter
3. Do you have a purpose in life that brings you fulfillment.
CONCLUSION
It was Friday, Jesus was crucified on the cross, the hopes of his friends were dashed, they huddled in fear and prayed.
It as Friday March 23, 2003 and the news reached us that a detachment of the 507th Maintenance Company had been ambushed
near Nasiriyah. This group of soldiers had the job to provide support bringing gasoline, water, and ammunition to the troops on the front lines. They didn’t expect to be in combat but they got lost and found themselves in a fire fight. A number of their detachment were killed but later in the day 5 were pictured being interviewed of Iraqi TV. On that Friday the families of the 5 were notified and their hearts were filled with fear for their loved ones. Among the prisoners was Shoshona Johnson, it a later interview her mother Eunice when asked what you do when your daughter is a POW replied, “I prayed,“I’ve never prayed so hard, ’cause we’ve been praying all of our lives. But I really, really, I mean, I prayed,””.
And I just know that my daughter is coming home alive.”
It was on a Sunday when the women went to the tomb, we have shared their story this morning, they found the tomb was empty and Jesus was alive delivered from the prison of death.
It was on a Sunday last Sunday in fact when some of you saw the news coverage CNN Sunday of the rescued POWs? When Kenneth Krueger pulled his big rig in front of former POW Shoshana Johnson’s home and began whooping and blowing on the horn, expressing the joy and relief that she was alive and would be home soon. As Mr. Krueger gave Shoshana’s mom a huge bear hug, he summed up the situation perfectly when he shouted "Thank You Jesus
When the prison door was opened 7 POWs walked out to freedom. I can’t imagine them staying in prison, it wouldn’t have made sence.
Jesus came did on the cross and rose from the tomb to give us the opportunity to be free from the prison of sin and death. He invites us to leave the emptiness of that life and live the fulfillment of a live with Him as our Lord...Will you walk away from the prison of sin and death, will you walk into freedom and fulfillment with Christ?
Will you cry out with me “Thank You Jesus?”
