The Empty Tomb
Luke: Well, friends, I think you've heard enough of my voice for a while. So this week I've asked my friend Ray Goddess, who was a Methodist minister here in South Africa for many years, Now he’s out in the UK and heads up an online ministry called Rooftop Ministries. I've asked him if I can use his Easter service from last year for our devotions, so I hope you're going to enjoy.
Ray: I wonder how many of us have spent absolutely ages looking for the correct present to buy for our child. Maybe it was his or her birthday, maybe it was a Christmas present, I don't know, but we seem to spend a lot of time trying to find the exact correct present that we want to buy for that child.
Finding the Perfect Gift
Finally, the time comes when the present is to be given to the child. I don't know who's more excited, the parents or the child! But anyway, the child gets hold of this box and starts removing the paper that the present has been wrapped up in. Maybe your child rips the paper off, sees it's a box, doesn't look at the pictures or anything, just wants to open up the box so he or she opens up the box, takes out the present, has a look at it, puts the present down and picks up the box and starts playing with the box!
I don't know about you. I'm sure many of you, like me, have had that experience with some of our children. I think that Easter Sunday is often very much the same. So many people focus on the empty tomb, which is the box! And they miss the present – the present being Jesus Christ, a gift from God.
The True Gift of Easter
Luke: I thought that was so profound. The empty tomb is just the box! Don't get obsessed with the box. It's wonderful that Jesus rose from the dead, of course, but it's Jesus Himself that is the object of our worship.
So praise Him today, as you consider not just the empty tomb, but the One who came forth from it.
