What We Find In an Empty Tomb

At the very beginning of our service this morning, we showed a video that may have hurt more than you would want to admit.

In it, we saw scenes of emptiness - empty tanks, empty cartons, empty accounts, empty nests, and empty hearts.

The video said, “Emptiness means disappointment, misery, heartache, anxiety...”

Does that hit home with you this morning?

I know Easter is the day we are supposed to be happy and excited. You are here, right, in your Easter outfit, looking sharp for all the world to see, so you have it all together?

Perhaps the last year has brought disappointments and heartaches and emptiness that you didn’t have last year.

No one in this room may be aware of the emptiness of your heart today, but I want you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I have great news today for an empty heart.

As we will see this morning, there is something else empty this morning, and it is what gives us hope, joy, and a reason to celebrate.

If you are here with an empty heart this morning, my prayer is that you will again find joy by what we see in the empty tomb.

Turn with me in your Bible to .

Let’s set the stage. It is now the pre-dawn hours on Sunday and the women who followed Jesus are heading back to the tomb to finish the burial preparations they hadn’t been able to finish before the sun set on Friday.

The other gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, mention several women at the tomb, but John is only focusing on one: Mary Magdalene.

She was a woman Jesus had delivered by casting out seven demons, and she had followed his ministry closely.

They are coming to try to honor their deceased teacher and friend one last time. They are hurting and confused, and their hearts are empty.

What they find, however, filled them with greater joy than we can imagine.

Read with me vv 1-2.

To the women’s dismay, Jesus’ body was gone and in their minds, the tomb was empty.

However, as John tells us what happened over the course of a few hours that morning, we will will find several items in the empty tomb for those of us with an empty heart.

The first item we notice in the tomb is...

1) Hope.

If you

Read with me verses 3-9.

Read with me verses 3-9.

Although everything about this story gives us hope, we see a unique symbol of hope in these verses.

Mary had run back to the other disciples and told them that Jesus’ body was gone.

Immediately, Peter and John run to the tomb. John is content to stand at the doorway, but Peter rushes past him into the tomb.

The first thing they noticed, after seeing that his body was really gone, was that Jesus’ graveclothes were still in the tomb.

What in the world does that tell us?

That Jesus’ resurrection was going to be different than anything we had ever seen.

Other people in the Bible come back from the dead.

However, none of them are resurrected like Jesus.

Every single person that came back to life would one day die again, but not Jesus.

In fact, John seems to be painting a vivid contrast with this note.

He has told us about another person who had been raised from the dead, a man named Lazarus.

When Jesus raised Lazarus, he had been dead for days, and his body had been wrapped like Jesus’ would have been.

Here’s how Lazarus is described as coming out of the grave:

John 11:43–44 CSB

After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”

john 11:

If it wasn’t so serious, it would have been kind of a funny picture, right? Lazarus looks like a mummy as he walks out of the tomb and has to have the wrappings taken off his face and his body.

But what do we see in the empty tomb? Look back at ...

When Jesus rose from the dead, he didn’t come out of the tomb with the wrappings on. The linen cloth was lying in the tomb, and the cloth wrap that covered his face is folded neatly to the side.

I tried to think through all that would mean, but here is one of my favorite thoughts on it: he folded it up because he wouldn’t need it anymore.

You see, Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t like Lazarus coming back to life.

At some point, Lazarus died again. His body would once again be wrapped in cloths and laid back in a tomb.

However, Jesus wasn’t just raised back to the same kind of life as before; he had conquered death, never to die again.

His body would never again be subject to the pain and weakness we saw in the garden. His physical body had all the stain of sin removed, so when he was raised, he was raised in the perfected body that would never again be laid in a tomb.

For us to see why this is important, we have to understand why we die in the first place.

The Bible teaches us that man was created to live with God forever in perfect peace.

However, we were not content to stay in that relationship, so we decided to disobey God to try to become like him.

Ever since that moment, death entered the world.

We die physically because of sin has corrupted everything in the universe, but even more so, we die spiritually.

You see, the primary idea of death is separation.

Have you ever seen a mob movie where they disown someone, and they say, “He is dead to me”?

That means the person is separating them from the other, never to have contact again.

When we die physically, we are separated from our physical bodies.

However, when we die physically, we are separated from God and cannot make ourselves alive again.

That’s why these leftover grave clothes are so important: when Jesus died, he died physically and also became sin on my behalf, experiencing spiritual death.

When he came back to life, he proved that he had not only conquered physical death but spiritual death as well, and now, if I would receive his gift of life and forgiveness, I too can live spiritually now and one day be physically resurrected.

That is the single greatest source of hope in the world.

The fact that the cloth around his head was folded up neatly implies something about this victory over death.

He didn’t just barely escape death or fight his way back to life and just barely edge it out.

The cloth was folded neatly, which implies he had the time to put things in order when he came back.

In a way, it is the first sign we see that Jesus really had defeated death and was setting things right again.

Paul describes it beautifully in . Having told us that Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection are our source of hope, he describes what will be true of the resurrection that is awaiting you and me.

His description shows what happened to Jesus as well:

1 Corinthians 15:54–57 CSB

When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

1 cor 15:54-

Jesus won a full victory that was so decisive that he even had time to fold his laundry.

The cloths, lying in the tomb, give us hope this morning.

As Paul said, there is coming a time when our bodies will put on immortality, and the sting of death with be taken away forever.

For those who came to the tomb and found it empty, they didn’t yet understand what they saw.

For us, though, we see the folded grave clothes that point to the fact that Jesus defeated death once and for all and now offers us life.

Our empty hearts can have hope that no matter what happens, Jesus has overcome death and has the power to walk us through anything.

We have hope that those who have been saved by Christ who have passed away are spiritually alive with him now and we will see them again.

We have hope that we are spiritually alive with Christ and will one day enjoy a resurrected body like his, and nothing can stop that from happening!

The empty tomb didn’t have Jesus’ body, but it did have his grave clothes that he would never need again.

That wasn’t all that they found in the empty tomb that day, though. Notice also that they discovered...

2) God’s plan.

Pick up in verse 11-13.

Peter and John leave Mary at the tomb where she discovers something else in the empty tomb: two angels.

The other gospel writers give us more details about the angels and what they said, but for John, it is simply enough to remind us that they were there.

It seems that they appeared after the disciples left but while Mary and the others were still at the tomb trying to figure out what was going one.

Their presence in the tomb is important, even if we don’t see much about them in this passage.

Why?

Because it showed that everything that happened, from Jesus’ arrest through this very moment, was a part of God’s plan.

If you look hard at the cross, you might be tempted to imagine that God had somehow lost control of his world.

After all, Jesus was supposed to be God in the flesh, and here he is being carried off by an angry mob to be executed, even though he was the only innocent man on earth.

Where was the king who was supposed to set up God’s rule and reign on earth? What about all those miracles and things?

Did God just doze off for a few hours and lose control?

The presence of the angels here shows us that God knew exactly what he was doing and never lost control.

He was able to take the most unjust, terrible act in history and use it to accomplish his plan and purpose.

In fact, the angels even highlighted that!

Luke gives us more detail about the women and their encounter with the angels. From his account, we see that there were more women there than just Mary Magdalene. When they saw the angels, this is how they reacted:

Luke 24:5–7 CSB

So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men. “He is not here, but he has risen! Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’

These messengers, sent from God, reminded the women that this was all part of God’s plan.

Jesus had told them this was going to happen, but it seemed so far-fetched that they couldn’t wrap their minds around it.

So, how does that help our empty hearts this morning?

Because that means that no situation, no matter how bleak or how hard, is ever beyond his control.

When he died in our place, he became sin on our behalf so that we might be made righteous before God.

If God was in complete control, working through the most unjust act in human history, then can’t I have hope that he is working in my life today?

By sending angels to the tomb that morning, he showed that the sacrifice had been paid and

Can’t I trust that he knows what is going on with my school, with my job, with my relationships, with my family, with my kids, with my money, with my health?

The angels reminded the empty-hearted women at the tomb that this was all part of what God was doing.

Can we look back at this moment and trust that the God who was able to take this unbelievable injustice and bring about the greatest victory in history is able to do what I need him to do?

Can I rest in his wisdom and his plan for the world?

Mary didn’t understand at first who they were or what these angels meant.

She was completely distraught and confused, but we have a clarity that comes from distance.

We can see that these angels were God’s messengers, simply telling her that God was still working all along.

As great as it was to find the grave clothes, and as amazing as it was to encounter the angels, it still wasn’t enough to settle Mary’s heart.

This is where is gets so beautiful.

In her frustration, Mary turns from the angels and finds one more person there at the tomb:

3) Jesus himself.

Read verses 14-18...

Isn’t this beautiful?

Through her tears, she still can’t see clearly what is going on.

Jesus asks her the same question the angels did: “Why are you crying?”

Still not expecting to see Jesus standing there, she figures he must be the gardener. Maybe he had taken Jesus’ body and put it somewhere.

She is still brokenhearted, still confused, still empty, so she begs the gardener to tell her where Jesus’ body is.

In a word, Mary’s world changed.

Suddenly, this man who seemed like a stranger calls her by name.

It is no longer the formal way of addressing a woman you don’t know.

We don’t know exactly what clicked that let her know it was Jesus.

Perhaps it was his tone of voice, or it was all of the pieces coming together in her heart, but in an instant, she knows who is calling her name.

She falls at his feet, calling him, “Teacher,” and her heart is filled with joy once again.

She came to the tomb that morning expecting to find a body.

She came wanting to pay her last respects and honor the man who had delivered and saved her from her sin and a tortuous life.

Her heart had been broken anew by the fact that he wasn’t there, so she couldn’t even have given him the proper burial he deserved.

Now, all the pain and all the confusion is gone.

She didn’t find Jesus’ lifeless body, because the tomb was empty.

Instead, she found the living Jesus who called her by name.

That is what we want you to find this morning.

You aren’t going to find something to fill the hole in your heart apart from turning and surrendering to Christ.

You can do whatever you want, achieve as much success as you desire, but you will never find peace until you have peace with God.

In fact, the Bible says it this way:

Proverbs 14:12 CSB

There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.

You may think you are chasing what you really need, but if it is anything outside of a relationship with Christ, you are simply chasing a different way to die.

Instead of trying to fill your heart today with things that will only disappoint, why not give up?

In the book of Psalms, God instructs his people:

Psalm 46:10 CSB

“Stop your fighting, and know that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.”

Maybe that is what the empty tomb is calling you do do today: stop fighting and acknowledge God for who he is.

If you were there that day, you could look in the tomb and find that the grave clothes were there, but the body wasn’t. He folded his laundry because he would never need it again.

If you were to see the angels, they could confirm to you that all of this is a part of the intricate, challenging plan that God has been weaving throughout time, and that he is able to redeem every ounce of pain and heartache and make it beautiful.

If you come to the empty tomb, you will find the living Savior himself, ready to welcome you with open arms.

Why not trust him today?