While looking through my library of the pictures I have used for Catches, I couldn’t help but spot three titles that stood out in the list. They were:
empty cross
empty sandbox
empty tomb
in that order. Being a person who is always looking for the deeper significance of things, I wondered if there was something in this. Not that there is something mystical or inspired about this, but in seeking to place significance in something, it becomes a means of discovering some new insight – some new way of seeing things previously undiscovered. It is the way I think, write and create. I find significance in the insignificant. And the more I thought about this, the more I knew I would come up with something. So here goes…
The empty cross signifies the end of our condemnation and punishment. In the words of an old hymn: “Jesus Paid It All.” That means He paid it all not just for a select few, but for everyone.
The empty sandbox is the world waiting for you and me. Who are we 
going to put there, just our friends? Just those who believe as we do? Just people who are safe? Just a select few, or everyone?
I love what Cheryl sent me yesterday after Friday’s Catch about children playing in the sandbox: “We love this experience in our small town that is 85% Mexican, and many of us do not speak each other’s language. It is great fun to talk and connect with strangers and feel that connection – together in the human race – together with God, our King! We end up holding hands with ex-cons, sober addicts, illegal aliens, homeless, dirt poor, the walking and wounded… but it is often a bit of heaven.
Yes it is, Cheryl. And Christ dying on the cross for everybody kind of puts us all in the same sandbox doesn’t it?
But of course none of this would mean anything without the empty tomb. The empty tomb authenticates everything about Christ. He is who He said He is. He vacated both the cross and the tomb and now He sits at the right hand of God making intercession for us. The empty tomb has put an end to our despair, sealed our forgiveness and crystallized our hope.
Three pictures; three insights; three very big conclusions.
John Fischer The Catch 
An article on emptiness. Thanks, John! That made my Monday! 🙂 How about a followup article on fullness and their accompanying pictures – full of Holy Spirit (illustrate that one!), a full communion cup, a face full of joy – or something. Don’t leave us empty!
I like the “empty” metaphor. And I also like Waitsel’s suggestion to add the “flip side” (I know you’re old enough to remember what a flip side is, John!) of fullness. We are filled with all the fullness of God! Our cups are so full, they run over! And of course, the irony is there would be no fullness in us, without the emptiness of the tomb. The empty and the full – now that will preach! Hmmm……
The Empty Cross + the Empty Tomb = Eternity Full-filled.