Reflections on empty

Yup -  Friday the 13th -  but alas and alack, no black cats or teetering ladders or broken mirrors - just reflections.  A reflection is a mirroring of something that we can’t otherwise see. For instance - unless we look in a mirror or shiny surface, or the still water of a pond, we cannot see out own faces…  They must be reflected back to us in order to be seen and known.   So when we ‘reflect’ on an idea, a word, a thought, an event, we have the opportunity to ‘see’ something that was otherwise unknown and unseen - out of sight. We are able, often, but not always, to learn something new.   And as far as I know only humans have the ability to ‘reflect’ as in to think about something and ponder it’s meaning…( animals can see themselves in still water but I don’t know if they know what they are seeing…)


There are a number of books with this title, covering everything from investments to meditation to how to do card tricks.  But I’m more interested in the meditative quality of reflection……………..particularly scripture.


 In this season of Easter our reflection(s) are (hopefully) centered on the big question: ‘What’s the resurrection got to do with me?’  But even before we tackle that, ‘What about the empty tomb?’ 


How do we reflect on something that is not there?   How do we think about something that for all intents and purposes doesn’t exist anymore? 


Well. I’m glad you asked. 


For those of us  who profess the Christian faith, Jesus does still exist, he didn’t disappear as in a puff of smoke, and this is not about funny mirrors at the summer carnival.  He showed himself to the women, several disciples, Cleopas and his companion, he ate fish,  walked and talked.  Even helped his disciples with their fishing then had breakfast with them on the beach.  Tough  to do if you don‘t exist.  Pharaoh may have had magicians, but Jesus wasn’t one of them…


Resurrected - brought from death to new life -  that’s what it’s got to do with me and you. A new way of being in the world.  A new way of being in community, fellowship, a new way of walking and talking, a new way of living because Jesus did our dying for us.  And that empty tomb?


“Have you seen Jesus my Lord? He’s here in plain view.  Take a look, open your eyes, He‘ll show it to you.”(Jesus My Lord, by John Fischer)


How does that reflect back to you when you look in the mirror?  
(I took this photo of a doorway to a cave that is still in use, carved in a hillside, on a small island in Greece.)