Empty gas tank – not good. Empty seat next to you on along plane ride – very good. Empty bank account – not good. Empty freeway – good. Empty refrigerator – not good. Empty waiting room – good. Empty gopher trap – not good. Empty hospital bed – good. Empty promises – not good. Empty tomb where Jesus was buried – Hallelujah good!
Consider the following Easter “empties” (Matthew27:57–28:15):
- The Empty Cross (Matthew 27:57-66)
They were in a hurry to take Jesus and the two criminals down from those ghastly crosses. Too disturbing. Too brutal. A sight no one needed on the eve of Passover and a weeklong celebration. It needed to be cleaned up, those naked, bloody, mangled, dying bodies needed to come down. Those crosses needed to be empty.
The empty middle cross still stood out with that sign on top reading “King of the Jews.” Every passerby was reminded that someone, Jesus, really died there. And for what? Our sins, carried and atoned for by Jesus, hung there (Colossians 2:13-15).
- The Empty Tomb (Matthew 28:1-8)
Tombs and graves are usually empty because they are new, waiting to be used. Or, they have been robbed for one reason or another, usually because it was profitable. Neither was the reason for Jesus’ empty tomb, after three days He walked out alive, resurrected by His own power (John 2:19-22). He didn’t have to wait for someone else to come along to perform a miracle, He held the power over death in His own hands. Jesus, the Creator of all things and God in flesh, has always had life within himself (Colossians 1:15-17; John 1:1-4, 10:17-18).
Jesus’ empty tomb is a reminder to you and me that only Christ has the power to overcome judgment of sin and death, only Jesus can grant forgiveness and eternal life. Without Him, your and my grave will be the most hopeless places on earth, with Him our graves have no power to hold us (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Hallelujah!
- The Empty Explanation (Matthew 28:10-15)
Those most responsible for Jesus’ death on the cross were scrambling. They knew of His prediction of rising from the dead after three days. They had made sure this couldn’t happen by sealing the tomb and posting a Roman guard. In their pride, stubbornness, and hate they had underestimated Jesus. They thought of Him as a mere mortal. They refused to believe He was the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God. As if refusing to believe can change the truth, the facts, reality. They had tried to contain The Uncontainable and failed. So, they had to come up with an alternate explanation that included bribing the guards, telling a nonsensical lie, “The grave was robbed by His disciples,” and was very expensive.
Are you settling for an empty Jesus, Easter, resurrection explanation? Something other than the truth, the facts? Something that allows you to bypass Jesus, explain Him away, reduce Him to unimportance? Something that permits you to hang on to your own beliefs, to what you’re comfortable with, your own way of dealing with God, sin, death, and judgment? Something that in the end will be very expensive, costing you eternal life and your soul (Mark 8:36).
Please! Please! Pause and think as you pass the empty cross, don’t ignore the facts of Jesus’ empty tomb, and don’t spend another Easter believing empty explanations of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Kneel at the foot of Jesus’ cross and repent and admit your sin for which Christ died. Call on Jesus to have mercy on you, to forgive you, to save you. Worship at the nail-pierced feet of Him whose tomb is empty.
“He is risen!” Love you, Pastor Hans
The German Shepherd 
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