Easter 2019 - The Empty Tomb

The Empty Tomb

April 21, 2019

 

When I was in Israel for work a few years ago, I visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (tomb) in Jerusalem. Tradition holds that this church was built over the site of Christ’s crucifixion and the tomb where His body was laid on Good Friday. If tradition is true, this would be the site where Mary and the disciples discovered the empty tomb on Easter morning; the very site of Christ’s resurrection. Whether this is the historical site of Christ’s resurrection or not, millions of people visit this church every year to see the empty tomb and the slab of stone believed to have held Jesus’ lifeless body for three days.

 

When I entered this church, I was joined by a few thousand of my closest friends. Well, "close" as in physically close. The church was packed with people from all over the world. There was barely any standing room as I was shoulder-to-shoulder with at least four other people at any given time. The crowd pushed and some shoved as they made their way to one of the attractions. The whole scene was incredibly disappointing as I considered my expectations of a solemn experience of my Lord’s resting place. Some people were shouting at friends on the other side of the room, while others were sobbing and emotionally touched by the experience. I thought, “Why am I here?” as I bounced between shoving, shouting, and sobbing “friends” in this hot and sticky crowd.  I knew why I was there; I had wanted to see the empty tomb where Jesus had lain. But as I shuffled about in the crowd, I wondered, why? What about this empty tomb draws so many of us to come and see it? I think all of us are drawn to see the empty tomb in one way or another because we want to understand it, we want to experience the hope and power this tomb experienced. In this Easter Sunday message we visit the empty tomb and find why an empty tomb has such a powerful draw.

 

-Kap