"Empty Is Good" ~ Sermon from 3/31/2013 - Easter Sunrise Service

“Empty Is Good”

Text: Luke 24:1-12

   Let us pray…Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.

   Empty…How often do we see “empty” as a bad thing? We often hear, “Sorry, it’s empty.” An empty coffee pot…Empty glass of our favorite beverage…We go to reach for a cookie from the cookie jar, and it’s…empty. Someone took the last piece of chocolate from the candy dish. There are bills to be paid, and the bank account is empty.

   But, once again, God through Jesus turns everything upside down. God was creating a new reality. Empty is good.

   Picture the women that morning, walking to the tomb…Early, maybe it was still dark…Quiet. Then, everything changes. What they thought to be true wasn’t. The stone was rolled away. They were expecting to find a dead corpse but encountered an empty tomb. How do we feel, when we go expecting one thing and encountering something completely different? Empty is bad.

   But, once again, we see that God’s ways are not our ways. Empty is good.

   Did they have any idea what was happening? The body was stolen! Confused, perplexed, terrified…Two men in dazzling clothes appear. Typically, angels will say, “Fear not!” when they encounter people who are scared, with faces bowed in the dirt…But these men ask, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

   Are we, too, guilty of that fruitless search? What “dead things” might we be hanging onto today? Is it a former vision of ourselves? A toxic relationship? A relationship that really ended a long time ago? Do we grasp a loved one so tightly that he or she doesn’t have room to grow? A vision of how things used to be or “we’ve always done things this way”…If we cling to these things tightly enough, do we believe that they might come back to life? We may even know in our hearts that it’s dead, but we choose to stay with what we know, because it’s safe. These angelic messengers challenge the women—and us—to stop hanging onto the dead and move into new life: “He is not here, but has risen.”

   How many times do we need to hear something, to remember it? For it to be written on our hearts? The angelic visitors tell the women to remember: “Remember how he told you that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” And then the women remember Jesus’ words. The empty tomb is connected to the living Jesus, the living words he spoke. The women, and we, are invited to live as Jesus lived. The doorway to this empty tomb is the entrance to true, full life. Meals shared with enemies, offering an ear and hope to the hopeless and forgotten, providing shelter for the homeless.

   And what may seem empty is now full. Silence was broken that morning with celebration.

   Full of joy, wonder, and grace, this news of Jesus’ resurrection breaks through their sorrow, and these women become the first to proclaim the Good News! Women were seen as peons of society, but Jesus gave them a voice. How amazing and humbling is that? He rises up the lowly. Because of these first witnesses, there came more witnesses…and more…and more. We are witnesses. I, a woman, wouldn’t be standing here today if not for their testimony. Once again, God reversing fortunes, turning the world upside down. Empty is good. How are we turning the world upside down for Christ today? Do we share the news with our neighbors?

   The women rushed back to tell the others what they had experienced. Even if the disciples didn’t believe…After all, who could believe? If you find resurrection a little hard to believe, you’re in good company. The disciples didn’t believe the women. Why? I don’t know…They could’ve been so deep in grief, following this Jesus, placing all hope and confidence in him, then seeing him suffer and die in humiliating fashion? Then to be told that he’s alive? Besides, the women didn’t SEE Jesus…They saw the empty tomb and had an encounter with these two men in dazzling clothes. Was Jesus really alive?

   I would say it’s kind of like our encounter with spring this year. On Wednesday, March 20^th, the calendar said it was the first day of spring. But, it sure didn’t look nor feel like it, did it? Bitter wind chills, maybe 10-12 inches of snow on the ground…Where is spring? Unbelief, doubt…But, I wore flowers in my hair to work that day, to symbolize that even if I didn’t see spring, it was there. And with each day, we can see and feel it more, can’t we?

   Now doubt and questions aren’t the opposite of faith but rather an ingredient. Faith isn’t knowledge; it’s a gift, not being able to understand all the mystery of the resurrection but to be inspired to live in hope and believe it’s true. Like wearing flowers in your hair.

   Peter, the one disciple who got out of the boat to walk on water with Jesus, took the risk to see for himself that the tomb was empty. And, he was amazed. Empty is good. As the women and Peter took the risk, do we risk, on behalf of Christ? To go, see, and tell?

   Because there’s the other side of doubt…Do we hear the story of resurrection so often that it hardly makes us blink, no longer leaving us with wonder and surprise? With our faces bowed to the ground, in the dirt, like the women? “He is not here, but has risen.” Are we complacent? Do we take the Good News of the risen Christ for granted?

   We may live in a “Good Friday” world, but we live with an “Easter” hope. How can we best live out this wondrous news? The women knew…Remembered…And believed. Their response was to break their silence, to speak truth. Isn’t that what God wants from us? Fear had been defeated. Will we respond like that today?

   Jesus is the One Who changed everything. Empty is good. He broke social and cultural barriers, with the women being the first proclaimers of the Good News…He broke the barrier of sin and death. For each and every one of us. God loves and chose us. Today may we share that news in word and action with the people we may meet, whether in the coffee shop or at a family gathering. I had a customer on Friday pay for the coffee for the next person in line. When I told that person whose drink had been bought for her what happened, she was truly touched. She wanted to do it for the next person. Each one is loved and matters.

   I’d like to close with a poem I found, entitled “One”…“One tree can start a forest; One smile can begin a friendship; One hand can lift a soul; One word can frame the goal; One candle can wipe out darkness; One laugh can conquer gloom; One hope can raise your spirits; One touch can show we care; One life can make the difference, be that ONE today.”

   Let us pray: Lord, help us to see that just as Jesus is the One Who came once and for all, defeating death, taking our place on the cross, placing our sins upon him, that each of us is to be the one to continue to live out this story and share it, like the women at the empty tomb. In order to be full, we need to be empty…Empty us of those things that take us away from you and each other. Fill us with your spirit of peace and love. Help us to receive this life and gift others with it. In the name of the Risen Christ we pray. Amen.

Caroline Harthun

House of Prayer Lutheran Church

7am – Easter Sunrise Service

Sunday, March 31, 2013

 

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

HAPPY, BLESSED EASTER TO ALL!!!