It is a glorious Easter morning.
I imagine myself sitting under a bower of freshly bloomed spring flowers,
Basking in a golden shower of God’s graces upon me on this bright and beautiful day,
Drawing in all the goodness and beauty around me,
Allowing this beautiful day to speak to me.
The tomb is empty.
In that emptiness, we find the fullness of life that has been promised us.
Often, it is emptiness that defines us.
It makes sense.
For in the beginning, there was nothing but the void. Emptiness.
Science says there was a primeval particle.
It blew up in one big bang and the universe came to be.
There is a more radical and simpler explanation.
He said, “Let there be light!” and there was light.
He spoke the word and the word came to be.
And he created everything out of nothing, out of the emptiness.
“My word that goes out from my mouth will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Man is not defined by what he has.
Job was a rich man and he was blessed with many good things.
Then, everything was taken away from him.
It was in his bereftness of material possessions that he found the only true possession.
Stripped of his wealth and comforts, he found the spirit within him that refuses to die
Even when all possessions have been taken away.
Man is not even defined by the people he loves.
Abraham was asked to give up and sacrifice his only son, Isaac.
In faith and obedience, he was willing to give up the person he loved the most.
In that emptiness created by losing his only child,
Abraham discovered the one Father who has made us all His children.
Man is defined by the empty space he creates to allow God to work His wonders.
Christ emptied himself on the cross.
Stripped of his clothes, the only possessions he had left
Abandoned by friends and family, with only a handful left to mourn
As He hung dying on the cross.
He totally emptied himself to a shameful death as a condemned criminal.
In that utter emptiness, He allowed God to work His wonders.
He was the Word of God and through Him everything was made and made new.
He was laid in the tomb and that could have been the end on the story.
And on another Sunday morning like today, His disciples found his tomb empty.
Can I let go of the things I have to make room for Christ to come alive in me?
Can I imagine life without my loved ones to allow God room to work His wonders in me?
Can I empty myself and in that emptiness encounter my beginning and my end?
Can I allow myself to be defined by my emptiness and nothingness
So that I can be raised up to the fullness of life?
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”
John 20:1-9