04/05/26 Easter Sermon: Empty Promises: John 20:1-18
The story of the plastic easter egg: Philip was a child who attended Sunday School at a church in Michigan; one Sunday, about this time of year: his teacher gave each child a plastic Easter egg. She let them go outside and find something, told them to put something in your egg that reminds you of Easter. They came back to the classroom, and each gave their egg to the teacher. One held a flower symbolizing new life; another a butterfly symbolizing the change that Jesus brings; another held 2 twigs, twisted together to form a cross. Then came Philip’s turn; he gave his egg to his teacher, she opened it and was astounded by what she saw: what in Philip’s egg was NOTHING: and when the teacher showed the class, they all began to laugh and point and make fun: NO, CRIED, PHILIP, I DID NOT MAKE A MISTAKE; I DID UNDERSTAND, MY EGG IS EMPTY, JUST LIKE THE TOMB WAS EMPTY..... & the class grew quiet, and, according to the story, if you go to that children’s classroom in that Michigan church today, you will find Philip’s egg on a shelf, reminding each new class of children that the tomb was empty.
Normally, when we use the word EMPTY, it’s not good:
*my car is on empty
*my stomach is empty
*my bank account is empty
*that’s an empty promise
But EMPTY at Easter has a good meaning, for like Philip’s egg, Easter holds some EMPTY PROMISES that fill our lives with good.......
So, this morning, let’s use our Scripture to find 3 EMPTY PROMISES
OF EASTER......
*the empty cross
*the empty grave clothes
*the empty tomb
EMPTY CROSS (1-2)
What the women saw in the last 36 hours; they were coming to see Jesus, coming to
serve Jesus (in the only place they could/the only way they could): coming to a grave to anoint: WHY? BECAUSE JESUS HAD DIED on FRIDAY AFTERNOON. They had seen it: the stains were on the wood and on their hearts: they knew He was dead.... where have you lain him? The cross was gruesome, horrifying, cruel....all of these..... but now it was EMPTY.... BUT THAT EMPTY CROSS WAS FULL OF THE FORGIVENESS OF GOD, because Jesus had paid the debt of our sin by taking our place.... IT IS FINISHED: the account is settled. John 19:30: paid in full: the importance of forgiveness....
Rogers Cadenhead would take a domain, license it, sell it (just the way some flip houses); when a new pope was being elected in 2005 he correctly guessed the name
that would be chosen: benedictxvi.com. The Vatican said we want this: Cadenhead agreed but it will cost you...
1) 2 nights and 3 days in the Vatican
2) a real hat worn by a cardinal
3) complete and total absolution of any sins committed by me on
Spring Break 1987 (18 years); DID HE GET? He was asking the wrong people
1 John 1:9: let us rejoice that the now empty cross provides for the fullness of forgiveness (if you ask the right person)
EMPTY GRAVE CLOTHES (4-10)
What they found when they entered the tomb; the face cloth: neatly folded and put to side. This was significant, if the disciples or grave robbers came and stole the body, the disciples would not have unwrapped the desecrated body; robbers would not have taken time to neatly fold and lay it to the side...NO: it was Jesus: he did not wear grave clothes because not going to be in grave: NOT DEAD BUT ALIVE. The empty graveclothes is a promise full of LIFE: & Jesus would be seen alive at least 11 times in the next 40 days before He would ascend to Heaven from the Mount of Olives. Nnot that He was, but IS, the empty grave clothes: a promise full of life
EMPTY TOMB (11-18)
Mary Magdalene: look at all He had done for her: exorcised, befriended, taught, shown
Mary Magdalene was the last at the cross, the first at the tomb: the first to see/worship the risen Lord, the first to tell the Easter miracle.... Why did she not recognize HIM? Maybe the tears in her eyes, maybe because it was totally unexpected, maybe like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, God kept her from knowing until right time & the right time came when He spoke her name: HE KNOWS OUR NAMES.
John 14:1-3: the empty tomb: a promise filled with HOPE: of a future with Jesus
Do you know who Mr. Hooper is? Mr. Hooper was the kind owner of Hooper’s General Store on Sesame Street: one of original human characters on Sesame Street: he was played by Will Lee who died of a heart attack in 1982 & the show famously addressed his death in a 1983 episode where the characters explained to Big Bird that Mr. Hooper was gone and wasn’t coming back. That is true for us, but NOT THE GOSPEL: not the story of Easter: Jesus died and He did come back, shown by 3 empty promises that were full of FORGIVENESS and LIFE and HOPE
ALLELUIA.... HE IS RISEN