The Empty Tomb

Hope, Faith, Goodness, Light

I don’t do a lot of faith based writing. It’s not for the lack of wanting to, it’s more because I feel there are others who are better at it. Today is an important day though, as our Living God should be honored. I went to the traditional service today at Immanuel Lutheran in Eden Prairie, and I really do believe God speaks to us in all sorts of ways. I don’t always have to go to church to hear His voice, but it was nice to hear it today through someone else’s perspective.

Pastor Paul asked, “WHY do you believe in Jesus?” It was a hard question for me to answer right away. Why DO I? What/who is Jesus to me?

I believe in the Living God who sacrificed Himself so that we could all have redemption BECAUSE of all the darkness in the world, there has to be Light. From child trafficking to tyrannical governments, there has to be a reason for it all. WHY?

Jesus is the One who, from the beginning, knew also His end. Jesus is God’s Living Word. He is the manifestation of God’s voice. Hard to fathom, really.

God spoke this world into existence. “³ And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Genesis 1:3

“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1

Jesus IS The Word manifested as a person. Are our words separate from us? No, just as Jesus is a part of God.

This is a concept that took me a long time to comprehend and still I struggle with wrapping my little brain around it.

WHY is this important? It is important to me, because for a very long time I struggled with who Jesus was to me. I don’t just blindly believe because someone has told me to. I had to go on my own journey and figure it out.

The beginning is the end. The end is a new beginning. For inifinity. As the sun sets each day, it rises again the next. I have always come back around to Jesus. Iesous, The Word, Yeshua, Joshua - the God of many names - but is one God nonetheless.

Today is the day He has Risen or at least the day we choose to celebrate it and pay honor to Him.

Isaiah 53:5-6 (New International Version)

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

There is so much suffering, death, and despair in this world. So much corruption. How is it that God would allow this? But that’s it, isn’t it? He allows us to be and do what we please. It is OUR choice in how to be.

Through OUR suffering we learn to be better. Just as a seed germinates under the weight of the soil, or a rough metal is put under the hottest fire to be refined, so it is our journey as well. We become new after each obstacle and struggle.

We are the seeds germinating. Our words spread more seeds, so be careful what you sow.

The empty tomb is really not so empty. When Jesus resurrected, he may have left the space empty, but the world was filled with hope. Let’s keep that hope alive as a new day is dawning. Prayers and blessing upon whoever reads this. God bless.