HOPE LIES IN THE EMPTINESS

Prayer Journal 4/19/2019

1 Corinthians 15:14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.

Have you ever revved up your taste buds for a delicious bowl of ice cream?  You’ve dreamed about it all day and finally it’s time…time to enjoy.  You get the bowl and the spoon, open the freezer for the carton of ice cream…you can taste it already and then you open the carton to find that it is EMPTY!!! 

We’ve all experienced the LETDOWN OF EMPTINESS but what about the HOPE OF EMPTINESS!

Mary Magdalene was used to a life of emptiness.  The town knew of her reputation; they had witnessed her mental struggles and no one wanted to get close enough to be associated with such a woman.  Yes, Mary’s life was empty of friends.  Couldn’t they understand that she just wanted to experience the love they enjoyed every day?  The arms of a husband, the feel of her very own child held close to her breast; maybe just a friendly wave or a warm hello, but Mary’s life was empty. 

UNTIL…she met Jesus and He filled all the emptiness with HOPE.  Hope that she was of value.  Hope that someone could see past the façade and into the loneliness.  Hope that someday she could move beyond society’s opinion; move beyond her tarnished reputation.

BUT NOW….

She followed Him as He carried His cross up the hill.  Tears streamed down her face as she watched the soldiers pound the nails into His flesh.  And then, the only One who ever really loved her spoke His final words, “It is finished.” Now Jesus is dead and once again Mary feels empty.

The soldiers take his battered, lifeless body off the cross and lay him in the borrowed tomb.  Mary looks at the bloody, empty cross; “What now?”  How can she continue?  Where is hope?  Tomorrow she will take spices to the tomb and anoint His dead broken body just as she had anointed His feet with the precious ointment a few days earlier…Her last act of love toward the only One who had given her hope…She felt so empty.

The morning dawns and Mary gathers her jars of spices for the trip to the tomb.  Together, she and Mary the mother of James and Salome walk toward the resting place of Jesus. To their dismay the stone is rolled away and the TOMB IS EMPTY!  “Where have they taken Him?” “Where is Jesus?”

Mary, Mary, do you not understand, HOPE LIES IN THE EMPTINESS!

Matthew 28:5-6 But the angel answered and said to the woman, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here, for He is risen, as He said.  Come see the place where the Lord lay.”

Yes, Mary, HOPE LIES IN THE EMPTINESS!

Our HOPE is not in a dead Jesus hanging on a cross; THE CROSS IS EMPTY!

Our HOPE is not in a dead Jesus lying in a tomb; THE TOMB IS EMPTY!

OUR HOPE LIES IN THE EMPTINESS OF THE CROSS;  THE EMPTINESS OF THE TOMB!

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was necessary to pay the penalty for our sin, but OUR HOPE is in the RESURRECTION.  Because of the Resurrection our PREACHING IS FULL OF HOPE; Because of the Resurrection our FAITH IS FULL OF HOPE.  Because the TOMB IS EMPTY, I am filled with HOPE!

Because Jesus raised from the dead, I have hope that one day that same Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead will also quicken my mortal body. Because He lives; I have hope of life eternal. 

HOPE LIES IN THE EMPTINESS!