Something's Missing: Easter

Easter kicked-off Crosspointe's current series of Sunday messages; Something's Missing. Each week, we have been going to God's Word to let Him speak to the corners of our lives where we sense that something just isn't right, the places where something seems to be missing. As we think about Easter, the theme make senses. Even people who don't believe the truth of the Easter story, know the basic facts. It was early in the morning on the first day of the week. A group of women were carrying spices and other materials that would be used to embalm the body of a dead man named Jesus. But when the women arrived at the tomb...

Did you already fill in the next set of details? The big stone that kept grave robbers out and death's stench in was rolled away and the tomb was empty. Something was missing! A few days earlier they had watched as the body of Jesus was placed in the tomb. They were at the right place. But Jesus' body was gone. But as I looked deeper into this story and especially Luke's account of the Easter weekend I began to see that maybe it was something besides Jesus' body that was actually missing.

As I dug deeper into the Bible, I found a number of similarities between the Easter story and another story that Luke records (2:41-50). When Jesus was twelve, He went to Jerusalem with His parents and extended family to celebrate the Passover Feast. On the return trip, every parents' nightmare became a reality for Mary and Joseph; they realized that Jesus was missing. He was not with any of their relatives and none of their acquaintances had seen Him. Mary and Joseph begin retracing their journey, watching the side of the road hoping not to see Jesus and checking each face on the shoulders of a young boy hoping it was Jesus. After three days! Three days of not knowing where their son was, they find Him in the temple. Consider the similarities between Luke 2:41-50 and the Easter story: Jesus cannot be found when people are searching for Him, the events are happening in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover Feast, and the time period of three days is involved in both.

But another similarity stands out. In both stories, we see that Jesus is not what is missing. When Mary and Joseph find Jesus sitting in the temple, He asks them "Why were you looking for me?" When the women arrive at the tomb, the angels asked them, "Why are you looking for Jesus here? This is where dead people can be found and Jesus is alive just as He said He would be." As we hear the words that are spoken to those searching for Jesus, we learn that in both stories Jesus is right where one would expect to find Him if they truly understood who He was. Jesus isn't missing. But an understanding of who He is and what He has said is. Jesus must be about doing His Father's business. In Luke 2 that puts Him in the temple where God's Word is being taught. In Luke 24 that means Jesus isn't dead in the tomb, He is alive and bringing a new life to Creation that will begin to restore the brokenness caused by sin. In the weeks after Easter, we will have the opportunity to take Jesus at His word and remember the words that God has spoken to us and we will see that Jesus is still at work, busy doing the Father's business. And that puts Him in your life bringing the reality of the resurrection to you in order to transform the places in your life where something is missing.