The Dark Tomb

The Dark Tomb Luke 24:1-12 Brothers and sisters, Earth's saddest day and gladdest day were just 3 days apart. Easter is a time to rejoice and be thankful for Christ's gift of life, love, and joy. In reflecting on the life I've been given, I get to thinking why things are the way they are. Let me give you some examples of some "why" questions that pop into my head: Why is "abbreviated" such a long word? Why is the third hand on a clock called the second hand? Why is it that rain drops but snow falls? Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour? Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways? Why does Hawaii have interstate highways? Why is it called lipstick when you can still move your lips? Why is the person who invests money called a broker? Why don't you ever read the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery?" With Easter here, I have one more "why" question to share with you today. Today's Scripture says, "On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb." Why was the stone rolled away from the tomb? I mean, you would think that because Jesus could appear in rooms with locked doors after the Resurrection (John 20:19-20) that Jesus could've left that tomb without moving the stone. So why was the stone moved? Brothers and sisters, it's because seeing the emptiness of that tomb is an extremely important part of the story. In a world where people are filling their inner tombs with whatever satisfies them for the moment, the empty tomb shows us the emptiness of where momentary happiness will lead without Jesus Christ's eternal promise of everlasting life. It may sound strange, but we need to see the darkness of the tomb to know there's nothing there. When the angels asked the women, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" it's like thinking, "Why, if I just had a little bit more, I wouldn't be so sad or empty feeling." It's like thinking we can bring about our own salvation through our own strength and our own good works. It's thinking we can fix the world's problems on our own and with our own strength without God's help while the entire time saying we're doing this for God. Folks, it's not that the Resurrection frees us from all of our concerns and problems; instead, Jesus Christ was resurrected in the midst of them. Jesus said, "Don't worry about what you will eat" (Matthew 6:25), not "Don't eat anything because I am the Bread of Life." Yes, the darkness is still there, the hunger, thirst, despair, sadness, loneliness, but it's no longer the only thing we can see! Life is not all about walking through the blissful meadows. There are times when those meadows lead to mountains, and you're not sure if you'll make it to the other side. There are times when you're going through something, wondering if Jesus is even walking with you. But rest assured, He is with you throughout everything because "He is not here; He has risen!" The pains we can experience through life take time to heal, but they do heal. Mountains are not uphill only. God walks with us through the valley of the darkness (Psalm 23:4), and it's important to acknowledge the darkness and to know that the darkness will never be the end of our story. Jesus didn't want anybody questioning what's inside that tomb, so He rolled that stone away so the darkness could tell His story. The tomb has a purpose, but its purpose is only understood through its darkness and its emptiness. In other words, we neither avoid it nor linger there. Allow your emptiness to be filled with Christ's abundance. Remember that even Christ arose from the darkness; He didn't linger there. Be reminded that "In Jesus was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:4-5). The darkness tells a story, but it's not the end of the story. Sometimes, when you share your faith, like the women in today's Scripture, our words will seem like nonsense. That "The Son of Man had to be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again" (Luke 24:7). Sometimes, like Peter, we'll find ourselves "wondering what had happened" (Luke 24:12). But the Good News is that light does shine out of the darkness. Blaise Pascal once said, "In faith, there is enough light for those who want to believe, and enough darkness for those who don't." What do you believe, and why? In the darkness, we see that Christ has risen, and in Christ's light, we see ourselves as we really are. In the emptiness, people try to fill that void, and for those who know Christ, that emptiness is filled with the life of Christ, who has gone ahead and prepared a place for you (John 14:3). Jesus Christ has also prepared a table for you to "Do This In Remembrance Of Me," because the dark tomb is empty. AMEN 2