Filled with Emptiness

   Easter and Christmas are the two high points in the church year.
    The two high points - are all about:
            the beginning of Jesus’ life, and…
            the end of Jesus’ life.
                Jesus was born…and Jesus died…and Jesus rose.
    Those moments - are the two most important things - about Jesus.
    All the rest of Jesus’ life, his teaching, everything, is framed by the birth and the death.
        Framed by HOW he was born…and HOW he died.
    And the two events take us in opposite directions.
    At Christmas, our celebrations use the name “Emmanuel” for Jesus.
        Emmanuel means “God with us”.
        God is in the world…incarnate.
            He IS HERE….
    Matthew’s gospel reading for Easter Sunday has the OPPOSITE message:
        He is NOT here.
        That’s what the angel said to the women.
        The angel said it this way,
“Do not be afraid, I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified,
he is not here…”
    As I read the words spoken by this angel, I realized that I feel differently about these two moments in the life of Jesus. I feel good about the birth, but not so good about the death. I feel good about he is here…but not so good about he is NOT here.
The angel begins by saying, “Do not be afraid”, which suggests that the women WERE afraid… “He is not here” leaves a mysterious funny feeling in my stomach. For me it’s not so much fear…as it is loneliness. 
On the other hand, “He IS here”…seems like a good thing. I feel good when I hear it.
    God is with us.    Mmmm…  Good.
    Jesus is NOT here…  Not so good.
    The angel’s words, “He is not here…” leave me feeling…empty.
    And most of the time I don’t like to feel empty.
    An empty stomach…an empty tank of gas…
        An empty page instead of a sermon…
        An empty wallet. An empty heart.   Not so good…
    Maybe that’s why the disciples run away scared.
    Maybe that’s why the women are afraid.
    Their world is empty…and Jesus is gone.
    These women go to the tomb…feeling empty.
These women go to the tomb…expecting THE TOMB to be full.
    They expect to see Jesus body…and cry…and grieve…
    …and go home empty.
        It’s the natural thing to do.  It’s the grieving process…
But they arrive and NOTHING is natural…nothing is normal.
    And the TOMB is what is EMPTY…
                So maybe…they can go home full…instead of empty?
    The angel says that the emptiness is actually GOOD.
He is not here BECAUSE - - he is RISEN!
        The tomb is empty…but the world is NOT empty!
            Jesus is OUT THERE!
    It’s a message that goes against all of our natural instincts.
        For us death is natural. We are all mortal.
        Loss is natural. Grief is natural.
        Struggle is a part of life.
        Having a bad day is natural. It’s how it is.
    When I was younger I used to think that there was this natural state in which everything was OK. The bills were paid. No one was sick. No light bulbs needed to be changed. The laundry was done. And everything was at peace. And then from time to time, things would go wrong and need to be fixed. But basically the normal state of things was to be OK.
    I’m not so sure any more.
    Now I think that change and loss are natural…and occasionally we have these beautiful blissful moments where everything is OK and we feel full.
    So consider the possibility that what God is doing in our world and in our lives is completely unnatural…if by natural we mean a state of emptiness and struggle and loss.
    Just at the moment when these women are heading toward the tomb…
…they are pointed in the other direction.    
    Just at the moment of acknowledging the fact that life ends in death…
…the tomb turns out to be empty.
    Just as they are heading toward the tomb…the angel says, “He is not here…leave the tomb behind…go out there…go to Galilee”  Go out there…
    Don’t even go back home first. Go to Galilee.
    The emptiness of the tomb…points us out into the world.
    The emptiness has become something completely the opposite of scary and sad…it has become incredible and wonderful…because it means that something wonderful is happening somewhere ELSE!
    The emptiness there…points us to a fullness somewhere else.
    The tomb is in Jerusalem which is the city of the establishment…the government…the church bureaucracy…the conflicts…the crucifixion…
    But the angel says go somewhere ELSE!
    Don’t stay in Jerusalem at the tomb…go to Galilee.
        Go to the people.
        Go to the countryside.
        Go to the source.
            Go find Jesus…
            He is not in the tomb…he is out there!
    Leave behind your empty places…
    And receive the fullness God wants for you.
        So…they leave the tomb quickly.
        And now they have BOTH fear AND great joy!
    And the first thing that happens to them when they leave the tomb is:
        They meet Jesus.
        Jesus IS out there.
        And Jesus ways to them…keep going…
            And if you do…you WILL see me.
    So do you see what has happened?
        The original experience of emptiness - - has been transformed.
        And now it points the women to a completely different place.
    God’s angel is waiting at the very heart of the emptiness and disappointment.
        The women have to go there to meet the angel.
        But THEN the angel points them somewhere else.
            And Jesus transforms the emptiness into a pathway to fullness.
    The hope for each one of us this Easter is
that we will have the same kind of an experience.
    What are your empty places?
    What makes you afraid?
    What makes you feel lonely?
        Can those things become pathways to another place?
        Can you let yourself be filled with your own emptiness…
        And then receive the fullness that God wants for each one of us?
    I was thinking about those questions and I read the Matthew passage again.
    The beginning of the story of the women going to the tomb is an earthquake.
    I hear it so differently this year after events in Japan. The earthquake in Japan was a reminder of how fragile life is. Many people died. We people on the West coast of the USA thought about our own fragility. We confronted the risks we take because of our consumption of energy. We remembered how interconnected we are in the global marketplace.
    Can the emptiness and fear we feel at the news of an earthquake…
        …become a pathway to a different kind of world in the future?
    The riots in North Africa and the Middle East were not physical earthquakes…
        …but maybe they were earthquakes of another kind.
        The earthquake-like chaos of a mob.
        Maybe like the Palm Sunday mob…
            Can the chaos there become a pathway to a different kind of world?
    Can the emptiness we feel at the loss of a loved one…
        …become a pathway to a fuller healing, and a richer connection to others?
    Can we encounter Jesus in these things?
    Not IN the emptiness alone…
…but ON the PATHWAY that the emptiness becomes?
    Here the words of the angel…
        …do not be afraid…
        …he is not here…
        …he is risen…go…out there…and find him.