Easter Sunday Sermon, April 12, 1998
Hollow
Rabbits
Hollow Chocolate Easter Rabbits or an Empty Tomb, which of these describes your faith? Allow me to differentiate between the two. Like
jelly beans, Easter bonnets, new outfits, colored eggs,
and lilies the hollow chocolate rabbit has become a
symbol of Easter. To anyone who breaks off a piece, the
hollow chocolate Easter rabbit is sure to bring pleasure,
as long as you don’t eat too much Have you ever noticed how much less chocolate there seems to be when the rabbit is broken into pieces than when it was whole? It doesn’t matter how big or small the rabbit is, when it is broken into pieces it looks likes you lost some chocolate some place. The reason for that is obvious, it is hollow. Faith which resembles a hollow rabbit looks good, but it lacks substance. When daily stress and tension builds; when loss of health and life cross your life’s path; when your days are thrust into chaos, you find no help, no presence of God. Your obligatory desperate cry to God for help is like wishing on a star. You hope God will do something, but you really don’t expect that God will. Easter is a time out. A time to gather the family, a time to get to church, a time to acknowledge the resurrection of Jesus, a time to give flowers, a time to send cards. The empty tomb is also a symbol of Easter. Unlike the other symbols, the tomb is a symbol which is found not in stores but in the scripture stories of the resurrection of Jesus. While
it might appear at first to be empty, hollow like the
chocolate rabbit, we find evidence of the resurrection of
Jesus. The evidence is the linens which were wrapped
around the body of Jesus and the cloth that had been
placed on his head. To you and me, these items may seem
insignificant, but to Peter and John, it caused them to
remember the scripture that said, Jesus would die, but
Jesus would also rise again. It was these items, Faith which resembles an empty tomb has substance. Like the empty tomb, there is evidence of the presence of the risen Lord in their daily living. There are signs of not only a belief in the resurrection of Jesus, BUT a commitment and a devotion to understand the reality of His presence. Empty tomb faith is an oasis of hope which renews us daily. Recently I received an e-mail from one of the members of the congregation. It contained a story I had heard once before but had forgotten. It is an example of an empty tomb faith. The story is about a father who punished his three year old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. It seemed the child had tried to wrap a box to put under the Christmas tree. The next morning the little girl brought the box to her father. "This is for you, Daddy," she said. The father was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction. However when he opened the box and found it empty, he became angry and yelled at his three year old, "Don’t you know that when you give someone a present, there’s supposed to be a present inside of it?" The little girl looked at her Daddy with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh Daddy it’s not empty. I blew kisses into the box. All for you Daddy." You can imagine, how the father felt. Feeling crushed he put his arms around his little girl, and asked her to forgive him. The father kept that gold box by his bed for years. Whenever he was discouraged, he would open the box and take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who put it there. The empty tomb is God’s gold box given to you and me. It might appear to be empty, but there is evidence of the presence of the Risen Lord in the tomb. Feeling discouraged, alone, unloved? Are you in need of reassurance, courage, strength? Looking for direction, renewal, or hope. You
won’t find it in a hollow rabbit. You will find it
in an empty tomb. In the tomb is all the evidence you
need to know the love of God who raised Jesus from the
dead, so you might have life, abundantly and eternally. Amen
Reverend
Richard Hayes Weyer
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