Real people followed the real incarnation of Jesus. Jesus had a physical place at the dinner table. He sat or stood in the temple. He walked and spoke and talked and took up space. The loss of a real person leaves behind real grief. Real emptiness. We see, hear, and feel real anguish and fear in the Scriptures as the women act on Easter morning. They bring their loss and their emptiness to the tomb, for closure, yes, and for duty.
I can guarantee that those women did not travel to the tomb seeking emptiness, no more than you seek emptiness when attending a funeral, a wedding, or even a worship service.
The beautiful hymn that Paul gives us in Philippians 2:4-11 is about a Jesus who empties Jesus’ self out. The Son of God, a member of the indivisible, indescribable Trinity in whose image each of us is made, chooses to be empty.
This message is excerpted from “Holy emptiness” by Denise Rector in the April 2019 Gather magazine.
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