A Great Earthquake
Rev. Mark Schaefer
Kay Spiritual Life Center
March 26, 2005 (Easter Vigil)
Matthew 28:1-10
Matthew 28 1 ¶ After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Earthquakes are often signs of great tragedy. Whenever we hear of a great earthquake somewhere, it is almost always followed by a report of death and destruction. We have recently seen an earthquake in Iran. Sixteen years ago there was a devastating earthquake in Armenia. A year after that was a powerful earthquake that rocked the San Francisco/Oakland area. Each was followed by great destruction of property and loss of life. When we read Matthew’s Gospel account of the crucifixion this week, we read that at the moment that Jesus died there was a great earthquake that split the rock and shook the temple. Again, an earthquake as harbinger of tragedy.
Or is it?
Because there is an earthquake when the angel comes and rolls away the stone from in front of Jesus’ tomb. And while the earthquake and the angel have the effect of scaring the guards to the point that they become ‘like dead men’, it is not a tragedy that is occurring. It is quite the opposite, rather.
Earthquakes have quite a different function when they appear in Scripture:
¶ But the multitude of your foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of tyrants like flying chaff. And in an instant, suddenly, you will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire. (Is. 29:5-6)
On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley; so that one half of the Mount shall withdraw northward, and the other half southward. And you shall flee by the valley of the LORD’s mountain, for the valley between the mountains shall reach to Azal; and you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. (Zech. 14:4-5)
Earthquakes in the Bible are an eschatological symbol. “Eschatological” is just a big fancy seminary word that means “relating to the end”—that is, the end of history.
Matthew uses the earthquake in his gospel account to demonstrate that what was occurring in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus was not an impressive miracle healing, like that of Lazarus, or even an impressive display of God’s power, like the parting of the Red Sea, an event connected to the Passion narrative through the events of the Passover. Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection are a sign of the beginning of the in-breaking reign of God. It is a sign of the great reversals that accompany that reign of God.
All throughout Jesus’ teaching and ministry, he had preached about the in-breaking Kingdom. He had preached about the inversions that occur: the first shall be last and the last first; the wicked shall enter before the righteous; the meek shall inherit the earth… And here on that Sunday morning, the unjustly tried and executed, the cruelly crucified, the accursed for hanging on a tree… that one is raised to new life, eternally.
That first generation of Jewish Christians knew how to interpret this event—it was a sign that God’s reign was beginning. The long hoped for resurrection of the dead had been witnessed in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and therefore we could be confident that this resurrection would await us all. The day was coming when, in the words of St. Paul “the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised imperishable. And we will be changed.” The Empty Tomb is a sign of the fulfillment of all our hopes, the vindication of our faith and our longing.
It has been nearly two thousand years since the events of that first Easter. Long enough that we have often become complacent—the imminent sense of the kingdom’s arrival has faded somewhat. We no longer live expecting the Kingdom to arrive tomorrow as the early church did. Perhaps, we tire of waiting. And it can become easy to forget that on that Easter morning, the Kingdom did begin to break in.
Easter is our annual reminder that God’s reign is in the process of breaking into our world. It is a process that began with the death and resurrection of Jesus. God has shaken the foundations of the world with the in-breaking of the kingdom. We are called to live lives that respond to that message. Called to live lives of love and hope, of peace and forgiveness, of justice and mercy—reflecting the reality that we know is breaking into the world. God calls us to live our lives and share our faith in ways that are no less earth-shaking.
