Empty
image: “Within” by Rev. Alex da Silva Souto, California, USA.
1-4 After the Sabbath, as the first of the new week dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at the tomb. Suddenly the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God’s angel came down from heaven, came right up to where they were standing. He rolled back the stone and then sat on it. Shafts of lightning blazed from him. His garments shimmered snow-white. The guards at the tomb were scared to death. They were so frightened, they couldn’t move. 5-6 The angel spoke to the women: “There is nothing to fear here. I know you’re looking for Jesus, the One they nailed to the cross. He is not here. He was raised, just as he said. Come and look at the place where he was placed. 7 “Now, get on your way quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He is risen from the dead. He is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.’ That’s the message.” 8-10 The women, deep in wonder and full of joy, lost no time in leaving the tomb. They ran to tell the disciples. Then Jesus met them, stopping them in their tracks. “Good morning!” he said. They fell to their knees, embraced his feet, and worshiped him. Jesus said, “You’re holding on to me for dear life! Don’t be frightened like that. Go tell my brothers that they are to go to Galilee, and that I’ll meet them there.”
~Matthew 28:1-10 The Message (MSG)
As I am writing this reflection, Resurrection Sunday is coming to a close. Christians around the world celebrated today in ways very different than years past, ways that perhaps will create new traditions. Churches and church communities (for the majority of worshippers) gathered in homes, huddled in groups of 10 or fewer, and all the while left buildings empty to ensure safety and abide by bureaucratic orders.
These last forty days have been a unique Lenten experience. As I reflect not only on these last forty days but the way the milieu has changed for even the most basic needs and comings-and-goings I am inclined to re-consider my Resurrection Sunday theology and what has traditionally been celebrated as the day of the ‘empty tomb’. Even as the days of Lent have lengthened, we have collectively journeyed in some ways through darkness and desolation. In other ways families, communities, and countries have been drawn closer together. Sunday morning came and I was reminded that “He is Risen” in the text of one of Charles Wesley’s famous hymns :
Christ the Lord is ris’n today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heav’ns, and earth reply, Alleluia!
Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the vict’ry won, Alleluia!
Jesus’ agony is o’er, Alleluia!
Darkness veils the earth no more, Alleluia!
Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!
I have sung this song many times and yet, as I walked the halls on this day, on more trips than I can count, I only heard the echo of my shoes click-click-click and nothing else. I was alone during most trips and halls had even been dimmed as fewer guests now fill them. Empty is lonely. Empty is quiet. Empty is sad.
This past Sunday, I realized that the empty that had been celebrated previously had to be considered differently. There can be freedom and celebration in empty: Five, ten, twenty years of sobriety; the experience of the first evangelists (the women who discovered that Jesus was no longer in the tomb); and the liberation of justice restored as corporate sin is emptied and destroyed. There too can be dying alone in empty. Disconnection in empty. Loneliness in empty.
In returning to each of the gospels as I reflected on ‘emptiness’ in none of the gospels did I find that there was complete emptiness. Either celestial beings, linens, onlookers, or evangelists occupied the tomb. Certainly, I celebrate that in the great travesty on Calvary there can be some reconciliation; however, empty is never truly empty. We are living in a strange emptiness now, there are vestiges everywhere in this hospital of love and light, morale, consideration, and community.
Though I am away from my colleagues physically, we connect more regularly through texts and calls. Empty creates another connection. There are echoes in the hallways. Empty has a sound. When the corridors fill with two or three, strangers greet one another in peace and hope for these dark days to end.
I am certain that empty is not truly empty, nevertheless it is not where I desire to exist. I lived emptiness. Emptiness was safe. As I depart from my own wilderness, I celebrate new life, new love, new friendship, and hope that the unending love that was resurrected on that first Resurrection Sunday continues to invite me in…
Kai Greer
image: “Saudosa Maloca” by Rev. Alex da Silva Souto, São Paulo, Brazil.