The classic T.V. show, Seinfeld, was known as a show about nothing. They could do an entire episode about waiting to be seated in a restaurant, or trying to find a car in a parking garage. Nothing ever really happened. Could we put Easter in that category, as well? Is it a Seinfeld-esque holiday that’s all about nothing?

When they went to the place where Jesus had been buried and looked inside, there was… nothing. The tomb was empty. And if that’s the main point of the Easter story, then we might encapsulate its message by using the title of a Shakespearean play: Much Ado About Nothing. But before we do that, let’s go back and look at the story again.

First of all, it’s striking to note what the story doesn’t tell us. The resurrection is actually the only event in Jesus’ life that we aren’t privy to in any of the gospels. There were no witnesses. No one saw what happened inside the tomb and the gospel writers don’t even dare speculate about it. We read about what happened in Jesus’ life up to the point where they placed his body in the tomb and then our story resumes a couple days later. Any witnesses arrived on the scene after the fact. And, by the time they got there, they looked inside and saw … nothing.

Now, there are those who get totally hung up on this part of the story. For them, proving that the tomb truly was empty is essential. But when that becomes our focus, we really are making much ado about nothing. Because there is no way we can prove it, and it’s not even all that important.

If Jesus had hung out at the empty tomb after he was raised, there might be a reason to dwell on it. If he had waited for all his followers to come and see the evidence for themselves, then we could say that Easter is a holiday all about nothing. But, the empty tomb isn’t the point of the story. Not by a long-shot.

Take a look at how Matthew’s version of the story begins. Two women named Mary are up at the crack of dawn to do what they weren’t able to do because their observance of the Sabbath got in the way. They’re back to anoint the body of Jesus, something that was customary in the days before funeral directors took care of this sort of thing. But while they’re on their way, something happens that tells us that this is more than just a customary trip to the cemetery.

What happens? An earthquake. Now, we may need to step back a bit from the recent earthquake in Japan to see how an earthquake fits into the story of the resurrection. The purpose of the earthquake here is not destructive. On the surface it appears that it may have occurred to give the angel a hand at moving that gigantic rock from the entrance to the tomb. But, it’s more than that. The earthquake serves as a metaphor. It’s the sign of a “seismic shift”, telling us that from that moment on the earth would never be the same again.

So, the angel is sitting there waiting for the two Marys. And he tells them not to be afraid like the guards who were so terrified that they became immobilized the moment they saw the angel. He tells the women that they need to keep their wits about them because they have a mission from Jesus. He isn’t there, the angel says. If they want to see for themselves, they’re welcome to go inside. But they can’t dawdle. They’ve got to go quickly and tell the rest of Jesus’ disciples because Jesus is already on his way to Galilee, and he plans to meet up with them there.

Now, stop and think about what’s going on here. Can you imagine what this would have been like? You go to the cemetery and in the place where your loved one’s body was buried, now there’s this gaping hole. Then someone tells you something totally absurd, that he’s alive again and you need to go tell the news to everyone else. It would be both terrifying and confusing at the same time. And one thing is for sure. You’d definitely be hightailing it out of there as fast as you could and you’d be running to tell your friends what just happened. Nobody would have to tell you twice. No problem.

Now, the story might have ended right there. But while they’re on their way, Jesus himself meets them. They encounter the risen Christ for themselves and they know that it’s true. It’s not just that they go to the tomb and see nothing. It’s that they are on their way and they encounter the risen Christ.

And that’s what this day is all about. It’s not about the empty tomb. It’s about what happened after the empty tomb. There was a seismic shift in the world. A first century religious cult that should have died along with all the other religious movements that have come and gone became the major religion in the world. That’s because a group of sniveling, misguided, cowards became emboldened to speak, risking their very lives to tell other people of the one who had risen from the dead. What got into them? An empty tomb would never bring about such a radical transformation of their lives. It could only happen because they themselves had encountered the risen Christ.

Easter is more than a story about nothing. It’s not about an empty tomb. The resurrection is more than the fact that Jesus is no longer dead. It’s about the fact that he is alive. And the risen Christ is more than a character in a book whose existence can be proven or disproven. He’s someone to be encountered and experienced along the way.

Now, you may be thinking, well this is something that happened back in the early days after Jesus was resurrected, but not now. Surely people don’t encounter the risen Christ today, do they?

If you read the stories in the Bible about Jesus appearing to his disciples after the resurrection, many of those stories seem to have a common element. At first, people don’t recognize him. But then something happens to open their eyes and they see him; they realize that they’re in the presence of the risen Christ.

When we open our eyes, we recognize him today. This is something that each of us may experience differently, but let me assure you, the risen Christ is here among us, revealing himself to all who would open their eyes and see him.

He’s also given us a way to experience him when we gather as a community, an encounter with the risen Christ that we share with one another. It happens every time we come to the Lord’s Table. In the bread and wine of Holy Communion, he’s promised us that he is present. What may appear to be nothing more than a few crumbs of bread and a few drops of wine is the risen Christ meeting us on the way.

Open your eyes, open your hearts, open your hands, open your lives to receive him. You’ll find that what may first appear to be a story about nothing is, in fact, everything.

Pastor Nancy Kraft
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
Charlotte, NC