The Emptiness

 

The Emptiness

An empty place in heaven,
The Son has left for a while,
The absence of his laughter,
is everywhere,

An empty space in a manger,
The child has grown into a man,
The place of his arrival,
Is but a stepping stone,

An empty place on the cross,
The saviour has come to nothing,
The jeering winds of mocking tongues,
Still whistle past its wood,

An empty ache in disciples hearts,
Their world has fallen apart,
They've been woken with a start
From the sleeping where they dreamt of thrones,

An empty place within a tomb,
He is risen from the dead,
An empty claim death had on him,
He's back just like he said,

An empty sky where they stand,
And stare...

Reflection: Absence makes the Heart Grow Fonder

This poem is a series of turnings up, only just too late. Jesus has just been here.  In my mind, you can almost smell the baby scent or the aroma of pure nard.

Apologies to long term readers if I repeat this story, but when I studied art at A level (It did not last long) I was surprised in our first class when we were led into the art room and saw a plie of chairs in the middle. And when I say a pile, its not a euphemism for 'a lot'. I mean chairs were upended and heaped one on top of the other in all kinds of positions. 
The teacher, once they had handed out our drawing materials, asked us then asked us to draw what we saw, but with this one stipulation. We could not draw the chairs themselves. We had to draw the spaces in between. Draw the gaps. And, if you're any good, lo and behold, as you draw the gaps, the space where the chairs were not, the chairs themselves emerge on the paper.

It is quite a lesson in perspective. In looking from different angles. One can learn a lot. It applies, certainly, as a poet and as a follower of Christ, and, as all followers of the same must be, a student of humanity.

I remember a preachers tale where a similar principle applies, but this one is with a sculptor. He has a block of marble and  is chiselling away at it when a child wanders in and asks him 'what are you doing?'. The sculptor replies that he is 'making a horse'. The child asks how he will do that, to which he replies 'By knocking everything off that does not look like a horse. This was supposed to be an illustration of the process of refinement God uses on us, knocking off the edges of us, until we look like Jesus.

Negative spaces teach us much.

And these spaces within my verses, where he is not, teach me something of Christ. 

He left heaven and took on flesh. There is a cost to that for The Father and for him.

He left the manger. He grew up, became a man. His mission was yet to be accomplished, but he learned obedience, and grew in stature and in favour with man and God. This baby of the nativity has purpose. It's more than a sweet story with 'cattle a lowing'.

He did not stay on the cross. The cross was empty. The job was done. It was finished. His body was taken down and buried. There was a moment where the universe held it's breath. The king who created all things was dead. Had he failed? He had certainly paid. Was payment received?

The emptiness of Easter Saturday. The disciples having to live with the crushing disappointment and the devastation of the apparent failure of Jesus' mission.

The emptiness of the tomb. Jesus is not there anymore. He is no longer dead. Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is alive, He has risen! Payment received.

And the empty sky....... from where he will return. He is coming back. The question to the disciples, (the rather unfair question) 'why do you stand and stare?', tells them they have a job to get on with!


And, of course, so do we.

 ~Scripture~

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

~Acts 1:6-11~