Running on Empty

John 20:1-10
It is Sunday morning, the first day of the week. It has been a long weekend that was filled with incredible emotion for everyone that was in any way connected to Jesus. This was especially true for the disciples and everyone that was really close to Jesus.
They are running on empty because all their hopes, all their dreams, all the future was gone. Their teacher, their friend, their Messiah was nailed to a cross and was cruelly murdered in a joint effort by the Jewish leaders and the Roman government.
The streets were empty as Mary Magdalene walked to the Garden tomb where she, the "other Mary" and the women from Galilee had seen them lay the Lord. Those women are with her and I wonder if they passed the place of the crucifixion. I wonder if it still stood there, the cross, the cruel instrument of death that had held the One they had loved so much. If it was there it was empty but it would have stood there, the instrument of execution, reminding them that Jesus was dead.
Matthew 27 tells us that there is an earthquake and an angel comes and rolls away the stone. AND THE TOMB IS EMPTY! Understand, the stone was not rolled back for the benefit of Jesus, but for the witnesses to the resurrection! When Jesus arose, He was in His resurrection body, the spiritual body of the spiritual dimension which has no physical bounds. He was not weak, He did not stagger to the door. He did not need the stone rolled back to leave the tomb, because material substance has no bearing on spiritual substance. The stone was rolled away so the witnesses could get in. Mary saw the tomb was empty and so she ran.
But Mary ran on empty. She ran because the tomb was empty. But she ran with empty information. There was no body. She was expecting Jesus to be there...but Dead. She was one of the last to leave Jesus at the cross, she saw where they laid Him and she was one of the first to come to the tomb; and one who still called Him "Lord." Her belief was a belief of love. It was not a belief based upon intellect or understanding or anything else. She knew what Jesus had done for her, and she loved Him for it. Jesus was her Lord, dead or alive. And so she runs to tell Peter, John and the others. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they have taken Him.”
Now Peter and John run on empty and they run to the empty tomb. They were empty of hope, empty of knowledge and they were empty of memory...of what Jesus said. “The Son of man must die...but in three days he will rise.” The tomb is empty when they get there. There is no body. The grave clothes are empty. The grave clothes were strips of linen (John 19:40) that were wound around the body and then the spices and ointments were bound up in the strips (vs 41). It was a mixture of myrrh and aloes and both seem to have sticky properties to it. There are scholars that believe that the mixture would have hardened some what in the coolness of the tomb and what the disciples found was just an empty shell... but no body. The other disciple (John) saw the empty tomb and believed. It was empty in that it did not have the body of Jesus but it did have the linen clothes, still wrapped together. While our English translation says that the linen was folded together the Greek word means “wrapped together.” It is the word used for actually winding the linens around a body for burial. The Greek word is saying that the linens were “folded together,” wrapped just like they would be wrapped around a body—as if the body had just evaporated. This seems to indicate that they were not disheveled or disarranged. This says at least four things.
1. It would be impossible to extract a body from its wrappings and leave them in such good order.
2. The wrappings would have been taken with the body if the body had been removed.
3. The wrappings would have been disheveled and disarranged and scattered if thieves had ransacked the tomb. But what would the thieves have stolen???
4. The wrappings (under any circumstances that might be conceived in removing the body) could never be placed in the exact spot on the rock slab where the body lay. Yet, this is just how they were lying according to the Greek text.
It was this that led John to an immediate belief. It may have not lead to his understanding...but it led to his belief! Belief is not always because we understand what happened, how it happened or why it happened ...JUST THAT IT HAPPENED.
The tomb where they had laid Jesus was indeed empty but that was good. Eventually they will all come to understand that the tomb being empty was not just good but the most wonderful thing that could be. He is alive...just as He said. John goes on to tell us that Mary finds out Jesus is alive. No longer running on empty she is filled with joy as she runs to tell the disciples and the others. After that, Jesus appears to the disciples and fills their emptiness with the joy of His presence.
As John continues his account of the hours and the days after the resurrection, Peter still seems to be empty though. He has seen Jesus. He saw Jesus’ hands and side, He watched Jesus eat, listened as Jesus spoke to Thomas but there is still emptiness. It is his own unforgiveness of himself for his denial of the Lord. In emptiness Peter goes back to fishing, perhaps just trying to fill the emptiness. Jesus meets him on the shore of Galilee at Tobagha and there Jesus brings Peter to a place of forgiveness by asking Peter of his love...something I think that Jesus always knew was there...and then just giving Peter the invitation to partner with Him to “feed His sheep.”
Are you running on empty? Is it because of sin? Perhaps it is because of your betrayal of God or for having denied Him at a crucial point and the devil has convinced you that there is nothing there, no faith and no forgiveness and no hope. Perhaps you have realized that your unbelief has left you empty. Understand this, Jesus wants to fill you with His love, with Himself, with eternal life and with His spirit. How do you need Jesus to touch you? No matter why you are running on empty, the risen Savior, Jesus Christ, can and will fill you up.