Reading: Luke 22:39-46
Many times this week I have sat down to write this blog and each time I have experienced writer's block. I couldn't believe that here we are right in the middle of Holy Week and I couldn't think of a thing to write. Easter is my favorite holiday. I love every aspect of the season. Of course, the triumphal resurrection of our Lord and Savior is the main reason. However, I love the Spring time that surrounds it. The beautiful flowers that bring a smile to your face by just looking at the overflow of colors in which the Father has graced His creation. The joy that is seen in our children as they hunt for Easter eggs. The excitement that I see on their face as they hear about and repeat back the story of Jesus' resurrection. Such an exciting time of year. Yet, blank were my thoughts . . .Prayer over several days ended with thoughts being focused on emptiness. The feeling of emptiness brings all kinds of emotions. We sometimes get frightful, bitter, angry. We feel rejected, excluded, lost. Emptiness is not a state we want to visit very often. In Luke 22:39-46, we have the account of Jesus and His prayer of agony as He asked the Father to remove the cup He was about to bear. Many times we think of only the cross as where Jesus suffered. But here is where I see the suffering of Jesus through the feeling of emptiness. Jesus was one hundred percent Deity and one hundred percent human. I believe it was at this time that Jesus in His Deity was beginning to grieve over the sin of man and the sacrifice that had to take place. In the same, as human He was coming into reality of the suffering that had to take place. I see today the emptiness He must have felt. An interesting fact is that the angel came to minister to Jesus, yet, it was afterwards that He prayed in great anguish and sweat like drops of blood fell from His body. Did the angel not help? The angel was not there to relieve the suffering that must happen. The angel came to minister to Jesus and through this we would see that God sends His angels to be with us and minister to us during our times of suffering as well. They may help to relieve the pain, but they may not. However, God will be with us. And the angel was with Jesus yet still, the emptiness remained and His agony grew deeper.
So what drove Jesus? If He was in such agony, what made Him go forth with the mission that was planned by the Father to be endured by the Son? There are many things that drove Jesus. However, one of the answers to this is the answer to all our suffering – hope. Jesus' in His Deity knew the plans of the Father and He knew the Father would raise Him from the dead. And we have this same blessed assurance, this same hope. For if we believe in God's Son who came to die on the cross for our sins. If we believe that on the third day He arose from the dead and sits at the right hand of the Father. Then the emptiness we feel turns to hope. Because empty is redefined in our lives. Empty represents a tomb where the stone was rolled away. Empty represents a Savior who is no longer there because He has risen. Emptiness is no more, because our Savior lives and through Him we have hope!!
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for the empty tomb. Thank You for Your Son who has conquered sin. Through Him there is no more emptiness only hope. Amen and Amen!!
