chris aho (rev. dr. christopher r aho)

So, I thought of this sermon illustration but cannot use it. It is one of those “illustrations in search of a sermon.” And actually, it could be a really nice Easter illustration. So, edit it, make it yours and then enjoy it. And preachers, if you use this, just cite me or buy me a coffee sometime.  
peace, c.a

Did you see and do you remember the film, Good Will Hunting? 

In the film, Matt Damon plays Will, a genius who is works as a janitor and eventually works construction with his buddy who is played by Ben Affleck. 

Will’s brilliance is discovered by professors at MIT but he resists their opportunities. But, at one point in the film he is finally seriously pondering what to do next with his life when Ben Affleck finally says to him something like this:

‘You are smart Will. Really smart. And with your brain, you could get out of here. You could get out of this life and be something bigger and better.   

So every morning, I pull up to your house and I honk and wait, and secretly I hope that you won’t come out. Not because I don’t want to see you but because I want you to move on to something better. I want you to move on to something else.’

At the end of the film, Affleck pulls up to Damon’s house and he is not there. He is gone.  

He has gone to California to see about a girl and a new life. 

And Affleck can only smile, because he has looked in to the tomb that is Damon’s house and seen it empty. He knows it is a good thing. A really good thing.  

That is what we come to this morning…an empty tomb. 

We come to a tomb, hoping that it will be empty and knowing that when it is empty, everything changes. Everything is better because of it.  

Edit: I changed the title before posting but did not change the ‘A’ to ‘An.’ I fixed that.