Message preached at Grace Church, Molokai

April 12, Easter 2009

Alleluia! Christ is risen

Empty! That's what Mary and the disciples found that Sunday morning. They went looking for something special: the body of Jesus; and all they found was emptiness.

Anyone who has raised teenagers, especially if those teens were athletes, or the specialized eating machines called teenage boys, knows that dreaded feeling of finding nothing. I can remember when we were raising Scotty's younger brother Kenny. I would cook a 5-pound box of chicken for dinner and have leftovers. The next day I wouldn't go shopping or cook because I knew that we had plenty left over. So I would open the fridge to take out the chicken and there would be a gaping hole where the left over chicken used to be. Empty!

And Kenny was just a warm up for the ultimate instrument of food destruction, Masi. I would bring 2 loaves of bread home and place them in the bread container. Then I had the absolutely crazy expectation that there would be bread for sandwiches 30 minutes later. I would open the container and only see vast nothing-ness. Then he would go around the corner to see his friend Simeon and they would empty Auntie Shari's home of anything edible. Empty!

What is even funnier in my house is that we still have Masi's first Molokai High shop project, a breadbox that can hold only one loaf of bread. And it was never used for bread because we could never keep bread around long enough to put it away!

Now Mary and her friends had every reason to believe that they would find the body of her son that morning. They had watched Him die. They witnessed His body being pried from the cross. They were there as He was dragged and carried to the cave only wrapped in a simple sheet. And because it was late in the evening Jesus' body wasn't even properly prepared to be buried as the huge rock was rolled to block the entrance. To make matters worse, there were guards posted. They weren't thinking empty; they were thinking about how or who would roll that big stone out of the way so they could wrap the body with spices and perfume.

But they didn't find Jesus. They found empty. And they didn't know what to do. So they ran and told Peter and John to come and look.

They didn't understand about the power of God so they stopped when they saw and felt empty.

Even if you didn't raise a carnivorous teen, each of us here has felt empty. The love you used to have has turned cold. The people closest to you have hurt you. The job didn't work out. The doctor said there doesn't appear to be any hope. The dreams you had for the future have disappeared. Empty is what we feel when the money runs out. Empty is a feeling that every one of us has experienced.

And empty looks even darker when someone we love has died. And it was even worse that day because the women's first thoughts were that someone had stolen the body of Jesus.

We know now that they didn't understand that the power of God was at work, raising Christ to life from the dead. When they saw empty, they didn't think, "Risen."

But it wasn't a dead emptiness in that tomb; it was the wonder of the power of God's love that filled that place. They just didn't recognize it.

When a few of us went to DJ09 a few weeks ago I went to a session taught by the Bishop of Polynesia, Winston Halapua. After he finished people surrounded him so I didn't get a chance to say hello.

Just after we had adopted Masi Winston had come to Molokai and stayed with us for a while here at the vicarage. He was a young and homesick priest who had been away in England studying. He loved our family and was taken by baby Masi. The next day as I walked up to him, he read my huge nametag and he jumped up to hug me and began to weep as he shared how our time together had impacted his life. But he hadn't even recognized me as I sat in his class. For those of you who knew me 30 years ago - I DIDN'T LOOK LIKE THIS, right? I had long blonde hair and was about 100 lbs thinner. Because he hadn't identified me, we almost missed out on the joy of a renewed relationship.

When Mary and the disciples saw the rock rolled away, they didn't recognize that God was at work. They looked for dead and found empty. But Jesus had life and was risen.

As I looked at the story of that first day of resurrection, I saw that we often have similar responses to the times we feel empty.

We can runaway. We can stand there helpless and crying. We can be like the other disciple who out ran Peter to the cave but didn't go in. We can see emptiness and not understand that the Lord is at work. Or we can just go home and try to get back into our same old, same old routines.

Empty is a lousy land to live in. It is usually accompanied by its close relative, Lonely. And we often will try do almost anything to get rid of loneliness because it makes Empty seem bigger, louder, and deeper. We will do things that we know are wrong and hang with people we know are poison just because we feel empty and lonely.

But it doesn't have to be that way. When E and L show up, we need to recognize that the life of the Risen Jesus is also close at hand. There is a song by Ron Kenoly that I just love, which says, "If you catch hell - don't hold it. If you're going through hell - DON'T STOP!" If you see empty, look for Jesus, He is close at hand.
Jesus' mission was to bring fullness to emptiness, to bring life where all we could see was death, and to bring hope when all we can see is darkness.

So here are a few practical ways to try when you find yourself living on empty.

1. Look for Jesus. He's close by. The Lord of life came to intervene in our lives especially when things seem the darkest. He came to give us life when we are surrounded by death. He came to make us holy when we are in the slime of sin. Jesus came to release the captives. If you feel bound, He is right beside you. Don't be like Mary at the tomb, standing and crying helplessly when Jesus was right next to her. And then she was so deep in her grief that she thought Jesus was the gardener. When we don't get exactly what we are looking for, even when it's bad, it is easy to just give up on ourselves, our families, and even give up on God.
2. Don't CAVE in to temptation. Did you get the pun? Don't cave in? Stop the things that magnify darkness, and bring emptiness and death. The other day I spoke with someone who's life seemed to be nothing but a long dark tunnel of death and hopelessness. He was complaining that he had no real friends and that he hated where and how he was living. Then he said, "But the pakalolo keeps drawing me back. Then I find myself in situations that are not good and with people who aren't good for me." I had a few deeply theological terms which sprang to mind, but which I didn't say at the time. And those theological terms are: "Duh! Hello!" Quit the things that drive you to emptiness! Whether it is drugs, sex, porn, self-pity, losing your temper, gossip or any of the others on you E list - nuff already. Pau. Stop. Turn away from emptiness and make positive steps towards the life and power that Jesus has for you.
3. Grab a brother or sister in Christ to walk through this time with you. One of the greatest antidotes is having a partner pray you through and pointing you to God's best for you. Jesus didn't make us to shoulder the emptiness alone. Our tendency is to try to hide and go through things alone. And we rely on our own wisdom and our own ideas that often helped get us there. Another thing another Christian sister or brother can do besides praying and listening is to remind us of God's promises, His faithful love for us. And they can help to hold us accountable, especially when we are trying to get rid of some of those things that promote emptiness.

These three things will help us live in the resurrection power of Jesus: Look for Jesus; Don't cave to temptation; and Grab a brother or sister in Christ to walk through this time with you. Often we ask God to fill our tanks while at the same time we are poking holes in the bottom and cannot figure out why our tanks are on E.

And finally, empty is not always a bad thing if it turns us to look for Jesus. It can be the land that we live in, or it can be the thing that has us turn to Him and run in to His arms of love. Don't be afraid of empty. Use it as a way to find the Risen Lord! Amen

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