Saint James UCC of Hamburg, NY

Matthew 28:1-15

Preached by Rev. Bob Matlack
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An empty gas tank means that we are out of gas, and that very shortly our car will stop running. An empty wallet means that we are out of money, and that we are going to have to stop spending - right now. An empty stomach means that we haven't eaten for awhile, and that if we do not eat soon our body will protest. An empty house means that no one is there. An empty mind means that we don't think very clearly or often.

When we use the word "empty", it usually has negative connotations. It's empty, so we need to do something about it. In fact often we can hardly wait until the time when we can fill it up with whatever it needs to be filled with. Emptiness is something that we don't desire. Who wants the weight of an empty heart or the panic of an empty cupboard. No one is eagerly looking forward to being empty, or to having an empty anything. We want to live our lives to the fullest, and we want our cup of life to be full.

Yet, on Easter Sunday churches all over the world are full of people who come to celebrate because the Cross is empty. Christ is no longer on the Cross. He was, as our text says, "nailed to the Cross" on Good Friday, but now the Cross is empty, and as the women discover, the tomb is empty. Jesus is not there.

For some that was indeed a negative experience. The religious leaders of the day thought that they had God boxed in, and their theology would not allow for a Messiah to die on the cross. Oh, they admitted that there was a death. Jesus did die on the Cross, but if anything, that helped to prove in their minds that He was not the Messiah.

In fact our Scripture lesson tells us how the Jews bribed the soldiers not to tell anyone about the dramatic Easter morning events. If necessary, they were to lie and say, "that his disciples came during the night and stole his body". The chief priests and the elders sought to buy the silence of others hoping that the good news of Christ's resurrection would not be spread about. The gospel of Matthew says: "The guards took the money and did what they were told to do. And so that is the report spread around by the Jews to this very day."

The early disciples looked at the empty Cross from a different perspective. They really made no attempt to explain the resurrection. How could you explain it? They believed that the resurrection explained itself. It did not need defending. It did not need arguing over, as some might debate all sides of a question. It just was, and the reality of it was not something that needed explaining, rather it explained them.

Matthew reminds us that life is meant to be a search for God. Life is a search for meaning, a search for our meaning, a search for God, who gives us meaning. Sometimes we find God, and then we lose God for a while, and then we find God again. Sometimes God seems so near, and sometimes so far, and sometimes absent altogether. It is the rhythm of life; and the frustrating thing is that we can't seem to control our relationship to God, as we would like. We want to feel close to God all the time, without doing the things that will help us to experience God's presence with us. We want to live life however we choose, and have God bless our choice, by helping us to feel close to God. But, the reality is that there are some choices that we make that bring us closer to God, and there are other choices that we make that move us farther away - not because God has moved, but because we have.

Remember what the angel said to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary who were in the cemetery that first Easter? "Do not be afraid; I know you are looking for Jesus..." We are all looking for Jesus. However, some of us have been looking in all of the wrong places. In the gospel of Luke, the angel says to the women who came to Jesus' tomb, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" We do not have a dead God who we can anoint for burial, rather we have a living God who is at work in our lives and our world. We have a living God who is in charge!

Our text says, "He is not here; He has been raised, just as He said." Jesus kept trying to tell His disciples what would happen. He knew that he would suffer and die, and they didn't want to hear that. They couldn't even imagine what He was telling them. In the process, they also missed what He was telling them about death - that it was not an ending, but a new beginning. Because they didn't want to hear about Jesus' death, the disciples were unprepared for His Resurrection. They had misunderstood what was to happen. None of the twelve were among those who came to the tomb that Easter morning, for they were looking in the wrong places.

Easter always catches us by surprise. Not because the story is new - we've all heard it before. It doesn't change from one year to the next. We know that the tomb will be empty. But what does catch us by surprise is what that really means for us. So often we treat it as another story that doesn't really effect what we do today or feel today or who we are today. But this is God's great good news that changes everything. Life is defined differently because of Jesus Christ. Our lives are defined differently because of Jesus Christ. In Jesus, God has come to each of us and changed all of the rules. When we miss that, then we've missed the meaning and purpose of life itself.

Linus was talking to Charlie Brown in the comic strip, "Peanuts", and observed, "I guess it's wrong always to be worrying about tomorrow. Maybe we should think only about today." Charlie Brown replied, "No, that's giving up. I'm still hoping that yesterday will get better." We have a God who through forgiveness does make all of our yesterdays better, and through the Empty Cross makes all of our todays and tomorrows and forevers better, often in ways that we do not expect.

There's a delightful poem, titled, "And God Said, "No". It reminds us that God is in charge, and that God always works in our lives for good, but that we have to work at it too:

"I asked God to take away my pride, and God said, ‘No'
He said it was not for Him to take away, but for me to give up.

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole, and God said, ‘No'.
He said her spirit is whole, her body is only temporary.

I asked God to grant me patience, and God said, ‘No'.
He said that patience is a by-product of tribulation. It isn't granted, it's earned.

I asked God to give me happiness, and God said, ‘No'.
He said He gives blessings, happiness is up to me.

I asked God to spare me pain and God said ‘No'.
He said suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me.

I asked God to make my spirit grow, and God said, ‘No'.
He said I must grow on my own. But He will prune me to make me fruitful.

I asked God if He loved me, and God said, ‘Yes'.
He gave me His only son who died for me, and I will be in heaven someday because I believe.

I asked God to help me love others, as much as He loves me,
And God said, ‘Ah, finally, you have the idea.'"

When the women left the tomb to follow the angel's instructions, suddenly Jesus met them. When they obeyed God, they met God, right in their midst. It was no coincidence that as they were on their way to tell others about Easter that they met the risen Christ. The discovery that the tomb was empty was not only amazing, it was exciting. Jesus is not dead. He is alive and in our midst!

Let us go forth this Easter Sunday as people who seek to encounter the risen Christ in our lives, by living as God wants us to live. Let us go forth and live as people who celebrate this wonderful good news - today and every day, in all of the events of life that we encounter. For Christ is Risen - for you and for me. Alleluia!

Amen