When Jesus comes, we will leave behind our empty graves-never to be filled again. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus” (1 Thess. With the empty tomb came not only Jesus’ resurrection, but the promise of Mary’s own resurrection, and the best part-an eternity with the One she loved most. Mary believes and rushes to tell the disciples. When we recognize our emptiness, Jesus doesn’t merely fill us, He utterly changes us. Lewis put it, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. 2 But Jesus patiently explains that He can’t fit an ocean into a cup, and that we must get rid of our notion of the cup altogether in order to fully receive what He longs to give us-an ocean of love.Īs the English author C. We come to Jesus with our cup half empty/half full, asking Him to fill it so we can say with the psalmist, “My cup runs over” (Ps. Like the widow whom Elisha instructed to borrow many jars. Sometimes emptiness is required for a miracle to happen. The tomb is empty because Jesus is standing before her. Then she remembers what Jesus had promised earlier, what the angels had told her. She runs toward Jesus, leaving the emptiness behind. Instead of death and decay, life is found. Imagine if Mary got what she expected-Jesus dead and lying in a tomb.īut then Jesus calls her name, as He calls our names. We almost miss it because it’s not what we wanted.
Our eyes are blurred by disappointment, even when we’re looking directly at what we were looking for. In a neighbor, a song, a friend, a mountaintop, a warm hug. She doesn’t recognize Him instead, through her tears she begs Him to help her find Jesus!Īs Elijah can tell us, we don’t always find God in the earthquake or thunder. So Mary Magdalene turns away from the tomb and out of the garden, then a voice speaks to her. When there’s a dead end in front of us, we’re forced to look up. While those are great places to find Jesus, what happens if we don’t find Him there? Well, the God who created the entire universe is not limited to one building or one book, no matter how inspired and holy.
We sit in church and open the Bible, but we’re drawing up a blank. Perhaps we’ve hit rock bottom in our relationship with Jesus. But the tomb is empty, and the body is missing. It’s the most logical place to find Jesus. That leads us to begin our search for Him. But if we have everything we want, we wouldn’t realize how desperately we need Jesus. We despair at what feels like Jesus’ silence when it may be a step to something greater. Or we’ve slowly lost purpose and meaning in our lives. Sometimes we feel like Jesus has abandoned us. Mary Magdalene is desolate as she takes spices to His tomb. When emptiness creeps into our lives we look for a way to fill that void, little knowing Jesus has an entirely different solution, as Mary Magdalene found out that Resurrection morning. What does emptiness look like? Can you touch it? How do you measure it? “Why does the feeling of emptiness occupy so much space?” 1