Easter – Not an Empty Promise

Broken promises leave us feeling disillusioned and empty. You would think we would learn to tell the truth and keep our promises. But every day we are inundated with politicians that promise everything and say anything just to get elected. They won't take unpopular stands. The media is also complicit in that they will either misrepresent the news or deliberately leave out information that would frame a story truthfully. Advertisers al;soget inj on the act. They tell us to buy this, get that, taste this, drive this, vacation here, and your life will be so much for the better. Really?

We live in a culture where truth is suppressed and lies flourish. No doubt, you know the feeling today of being the victim of someone’s lies and broken promises. Maybe you feel like the Psalmist when he said, “In my anxiety I cried out to you, “These people are all liars!” (Ps 116:11.)

Why are do so many people succomb to the charismatic pitches of these “snake oil” salesmen? Perhaps they want to truly believe that someone will truthfully tell them something that can truly make their lives happy. Yet the evidence abounds to the contrary. Everywhere we look, we can find people that are reeling from the sting of broken promises and lies.

The death of Jesus Christ looked like just another broken and empty promise. The disciples and others saw Jesus as a promising charismatic leader – one that would deliver them from heavy taxation and Roman oppression. Was all this talk about him being the Messiah just hyperbole? It sure seemed like that, especially after Jesus announced the certainty of his death – “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead. And the disciples were filled with grief” (Matt. 17:22-23).

The disciples were “filled with grief” when they heard Jesus announce that he would die at the hands of his enemies. His enemies? How can that be? They thought his Messianic kingdom would conquer his enemies. To what end and purpose then did he perform all his miracles and teach all his parables? Now their hopes were dashed. Promising political careers were pulled up short. High-level appointments in his earthly kingdom were not going to happen. Why did they follow him for three years, if he couldn’t establish his earthly kingdom? Was he just another charlatan? How were they expected to carry on with their lives? They had left everything to follow him.

Ironically, they seemed to be completely oblivious to the promise that “on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” How did they miss those important words? Had they been so absorbed with their own opportunism that they completely missed his promise of a resurrection on the third day?

If there is one thing about God – his promises are not empty. The disciples were about to learn this undeniable fact – God delivers on his promises. Joshua pointed this out to Israel long ago. "You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed (Num. 23:14)

When Jesus uttered the words on the cross, “It is finished”, and drew his last breath, emptiness flooded the hearts of his disciples. Their dreams and aspirations for a better life were now over. When they took his body down from the cross and looked upon his lifeless and battered body, his silenced lips, and the absence of his divine qualities, they were disheartened and downcast.

Their disappointment was echoed in the words of two disciples on the road to Emmaus:

One day, after his resurrection, Jesus walked up to them and they didn’t recognize him. He asked them:

What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?” They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.” “What things?” Jesus asked. “The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago (Lk 24:17–21).

Their words, “we had hoped”, convey the deepest kind of human agony, the agony that comes from broken dreams and empty promises. Their pain was palpable.

Mary felt that same disappointment. All she wanted was to grieve her Lord’s death and prepare his body for burial; and yet, upon her arrival, his body was nowhere to be found. We read:

Early on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb while it was still dark. When she saw that the large stone had been moved away from the tomb, she ran to Simon Peter and the follower whom Jesus loved. Mary said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him” (John 20:1-2).

Can you feel her angst? Can you hear the tremor and disappointment in her voice?  This was just one more blow to an already fragile and grieving soul. How much more could she bear?

Then an angel spoke, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for, Jesus, who has been crucified. He is not here; He has risen!” What? Now Mary experiences even more shock! Can all this be possibly true? Jesus is alive! Well, the tomb was certainly empty! There was nothing there but his burial clothes. So, she runs back and tells Peter. Upon hearing the news, Peter runs to the tomb to see for himself.

John says in chapter 20:6-7, “Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings.

Sigmund Brouwer explains why the cloth that covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. In his book, The Carpenter’s Cloth, he says the following about Peter’s encounter with the empty tomb that day:

During Jesus time, there was one way a carpenter let the contractor know a job was finished. A signature so to speak. Imagine a hot afternoon in Galilee. Jesus has completed the final pieces of a job he has worked on for several days. The hair of his forearms is matted with sawdust and sweat. His face is shiny with heat. He takes a final – and welcome – drink of cool water from a leather bag. Then standing to the side of his work, he pours water over his face and chest, splashing it over his arms to clean himself before his journey home. With a nearby towel, he pats his face and arms dry.

Finally, Jesus folds the towel neatly in half, and then folds it in half again. He sets it on the finished work and walks away. Later, whoever arrives to inspect the work will see the towel and understand its simple message. The work is finished. Christ’s disciples of course knew this carpenter’s tradition.

On a Sunday of sorrow, three years after Jesus had set aside his carpenter tools, Peter will crouch to investigate an empty tomb and see only the linens that the risen Lord has left behind. A smile will cross Peter’s face as his sorrow is replaced with hope, for he will see the wrap that has covered Jesus’s face. It has been folded in half, then folded in half again and left neatly on the floor of the tomb. Peter understands. The carpenter has left a simple message. It is finished!

Finished? Yes, his work and mission were finished! The greatest event to ever occur in our world happened that day. Jesus delivered on his promises. His death and resurrection accomplished four things:

1. The Empty Cross.

All of heaven and those standing there heard Jesus utter the words, “It is finished.” Sin’s penalty was paid. The Apostle Paul said in Colossians 2:14, “He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.” On that cross Jesus shed his blood. The empty cross is our promise that sins can be forgiven. It is little wonder Paul said in Galatians 6:14, “The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is my only reason for bragging.”

2. The Empty Tomb.

The angel said, “He is not here; He has risen!” Jesus was alive! The tomb was empty! Because it was empty, we now have the promise of eternal life. The resurrection of Christ is his promise to all of us of our own resurrection and eternal life.

In Matt. 28:6, the angel beckoned a distraught Mary to, “Come and see where his body was lying”. The words, “come and see”, were words of invitation, not only to Mary, but to all of us. The angel didn’t say come and see “where his body is lying” but come and see “where his body was lying.”

The empty tomb distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. Jesus was no longer there. The tomb was empty. He had risen!  Our Savior is alive!

3. The Empty Grave Clothes.

Inside, Peter found the clothes that Jesus had been buried in. They were empty. This could only mean one thing – Jesus was alive! If someone had stolen his body, they would not have removed the burial clothes and folded them up so neatly and left them where they lay. Truly, Jesus was resurrected! The grave clothes they found that day once clothed a mortal body. But now those empty grave clothes reminded the disciples and all of us that our Saviour rose from the dead and is alive!

It was a promise to all of us of eternal things to come. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:53-54, “For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:

“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

4. The Empty Graves in Jerusalem

Matthew 27:50-53 says:

The fact that there were empty graves that day was a foreshadowing of the promise that all who have died in Christ will be resurrected to live and see the Lord again. 1 Thess. 4:16-17 says, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever”.

Christ’s death was anything but an empty promise.

No matter how devastating our disappointments are, they are only temporary. No matter what happens to you or me, no matter the depth of tragedy or pain we face, no matter how death stalks us or our loved ones, the resurrection of Jesus Christ promises us a future of immeasurable blessing. Jesus said in John 5:24, “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”

To live with Jesus after I die for all eternity – I'm up for that! Our hope is not based on an empty promise. It is one filled with hope and anticipation! It’s a promise we can bank on!

Titus 1:2, “This truth (the gospel) gives us confidence that we have eternal life, which God—who does not lie—promised to us before the world began.”

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!