EMPTY EASTER

EMPTY  EASTER

 

Strangely silent are all the old sites,

Where He would teach, sharing Heaven’s light.

Empty are the spots, where we sat to listen.

“Oh, dear God, the Teacher is missing!”

 

Gone is the laughter; the joy is forgotten.

Anxiety and alarm – I’m feeling forsaken?!

Empty is my heart, as I trudge this path,

Carrying these spices for their object of wrath.

 

We all thought Him to be “the hope of Israel.”

But, now He is gone, down to death’s dark vale.

Empty are our hopes, meaningless and vain.

The kingdom’s former glory, never to attain?

 

Their taunts and their sneers, I yet feel the sting.

Their curses and unbelief, in my ears still ring.

“Empty promises…” the thief moaned in pain;

But, the other whispered “… in paradise…” again and again?!

 

The Romans will be there; I hope they’re not rude.

But moving that stone without them is simply no good.

Empty are their stations; the guards are all gone?

We’ve wasted a trip; the anointing will go undone.

 

I do not know how, but the stone’s rolled back;

Over there, off by itself, completely off track!

Empty is the rut, down which it rolled,

When they sealed Him in, lifeless and cold.

 

“Why seek ye the living among the dead?”

That’s what the angel surely has said!

Empty-headed women!  Too long in the sun?

Let’s run down there now and see what’s been done.

 

Do you see what I see?  Shrunken and collapsed?

The grave clothes are there!  How can this be grasped?

Empty are the clothes, the napkin neatly alone,

Like an empty cocoon, from which the butterfly has flown?!

 

“Tear it down, and in three days it will be back…”

You can count on it; write it down; that’s a fact!

Empty is the ledger; zeroed out my account!

“It is finished” – paid in full – on Calvary’s mount!

 

No man-made idols of gold in the Temple ever did sit.

Only the shekinah glory would properly fit.

An empty tomb filled only with His glory!

That is the truth; now, that is my story!


"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"


to this I'd add -- "O tomb, where is thy trophy?!"