This morning my thoughts turned to things being empty.
It began when I had to use a Q-tip to scrape for any remaining foundation in my makeup bottle.
And then simultaneously noticing that it’s also time to buy new facial powder. (First world problems, I know).
And then it made me think about the empty salsa bottle I threw away after dinner last night.
And the newly opened bag of dried mangoes I passed around to my family. . . that came back empty when I placed my hand inside to grab a few.
It also made me think of how I feel when I discover an empty container of milk left in the fridge.
And my thoughts when I walk past an empty, abandoned house.
Then I thought about how we tend to describe the tomb on that Easter morn.
We describe it as empty.
The Empty Tomb.
Except, it wasn’t.
The tomb was NOT empty.
No, empty is not the word the gospel writers used to describe the sepulchre that morning the stone had been rolled back from the door.
Empty would mean that the tomb contained nothing.
But that is not true!
Luke wrote that Peter “beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves” (Luke 24:12) while John emphasized “the napkin, that was about [Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself” (John 20:7).
Doesn’t sound like an empty tomb to me.
Mark wrote that, upon entering, “they saw a young man sitting on the right side” (Mark 16:5) who declared, “Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him” (Mark 16:6).
Definitely not empty!
And then when Mary, weeping outside the sepulchre, stooped down to look in, she saw “two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus has lain” (John 20:11-12).
No, Jesus did not leave the tomb empty.
He left the tomb filled.
Filled with testimony of His divine mission.
A rolled stone.
Linen.
Angels.
And a folded napkin.
So that everyone who entered into that tomb would also come out filled.
Filled with the utmost assurance that He was not there because--
He is risen.