An empty stomach gurgling during a silent prayer at church is embarrassing. Empty milk containers left in the refrigerator are quite annoying. My wife’s game of how many miles she can drive with the “empty” light on her vehicle is quite nerve-racking for her passengers. And the cream of the crop is when you dream of going to the cupboard and having a delicious Oreo only to find the package still on the shelf, emptied of all its contents.
There’s also the empty feeling you get when looking at photos of your spouse who is no longer standing by your side or the emptiness of a home that was once filled with children.
Empty stinks.
But there is one empty that means so much more: “‘Don’t be alarmed,’ he said. ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him’” (Mark 16:6).
What is alarming you? What emptiness creeps into your thoughts when you rise in the morning or keeps you awake at night?
The empty tomb means Jesus wins, and so do we. Because Jesus emptied himself and became fully human, he is our substitute. Sin can no longer empty us of happiness because our Savior sees us as clean. Death is now a sleep, and the empty pain we feel is replaced with hope because we will see our loved ones again. This is the one empty that means and gives us everything!
