Five Minute Friday {Empty}

I feel like I should write something profound and holy on this Good Friday.

But if I’m being honest, I’ve had several moments this week where I’ve felt empty.

Special needs parenting will do that to you.

Wednesday morning I sat on my bed trying to catch my breath between big, ugly sobs.

I was physically and emotionally exhausted.

Moving into a new home and adjusting to a crazy new schedule had me overwhelmed.

For the next six weeks my days will be spent in the car, shuffling Jackson to therapy appointments and school.

I’ve had every intention of sitting down with my Bible this week but it’s sat unopened in my passenger seat.

Our feelings of emptiness should drive us to Jesus. 

An empty tomb sent Mary Magdalene running to find Him.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved,and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.  Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.  Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,  as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.  Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.  (John 20:1-10)

Good Friday is about suffering, emptiness and grief; but those things won’t last forever.

The empty tomb sends us running to find our Savior.

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb  and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:11-18)

Instead of allowing our emptiness to fill us with despair, let it drive us to Jesus – our one true hope.