The Earth Shook
Matthew 28:1-10
Easter, March 27, 2005
First Baptist Church, Wilson, NC

What would it take to really shake you? Are you easily moved, or are you a rather stoic, unflappable individual? Once a preacher named Will Willimon was invited to a church in Alaska to be its guest speaker. Right in the middle of his message, an earthquake hit: the whole earth heaved in a moment that seemed like forever. Willimon was so shaken he ended his sermon immediately, but the Alaskans were rather nonchalant about it all. One woman said, "How about that, the light fixtures didn’t fall this time." ("Easter as an Earthquake," Duke Chapel, 4/4/1999)

What would it take to shake you? When I was a boy, one time I was shaken up when my school bus was hit by a car. Our bus ran off the road and down a short embankment that was just enough to turn the bus over on its side. I was on the downhill side, looking out my window at the ground slowly coming up at me. And then all my buddies and the seat cushions fell over on me. But we got out of the bus and dusted ourselves off and walked home. Then it was Mother’s turn to be shaken: "Guess what Mom? We got in a wreck and our bus turned over! Look, it’s on Channel Five!"

What would it take to shake you? I like to think of myself as a calm individual, yea, a veritable rock in the storms of life (Ha!). But I must confess I was deeply shaken last Thursday night at the communion service we shared with First Christian Church. I was helping Janel Dixon serve the elements. The music sounded a prayerful mixture of contemporary and ancient notes. The people came forward. It felt like all of Wilson was coming forward, from every race, from every station in life, from every part of town. I could barely hold myself together. It shook me deeply.

What would it take to shake you? On Friday, when Jesus breathed his last on the cross, not even the earth could keep its composure:

When Jesus breathed his last on Friday, the whole earth shuddered, as if the earth was breathing its last, too.

But after Friday, came Sunday. And on Sunday the Spirit of God came over that tomb, and Jesus breathed again. When Jesus breathed again, the whole earth shuddered, as if the whole earth was breathing again. The whole earth shuddered and quaked around that tomb, just as Mount Sinai had quaked when God gave Israel the Covenant. The whole earth shuddered and quaked around that tomb, for God was giving the world a New Covenant. The whole earth shook, for God was ushering in a new age. Let me recount some of the aftershocks of that day…

THE EARTH SHOOK, AND THE GUARDS SHOOK WITH IT. They had been sent to make sure Jesus stayed dead. Actually they were there because the priests had remembered Jesus’ promised that he would rise on the third day. So they were concerned that the disciples might steal the body and claim that Jesus had risen. Pilate gave the priests a squad of soldiers and told them, "Make it as secure as you can." So they guarded the tomb, to make sure the dead stayed dead.

But the earth shook, and the guards shook. The dead Jesus was alive, and the live guards became as dead men. "When the body starts to move, the funeral is over." (Mike Slaughter, Ginghamsburg Church)

I am struck by the reverence of the gospels for this moment. Each gospel lets the actual resurrection happen off stage. None of them describes Jesus opening his eyes, or standing up in the tomb, or walking out of the empty tomb. All the gospels hold the mystery of the resurrection with great reverence, which makes the resurrection all the more moving. The whole earth is shaken. The guards are shaken.

THE GOVERNMENT THAT SENT THE GUARDS IS SHAKEN TOO. When Pilate interrogated Jesus, he said, "Do you not know that I have power to release you and power to crucify you?" Jesus replied, "You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above." (John 19:10-11) The tyrannies of the world think they govern by the power of life and death. But on Easter, the earth shakes. On Easter we see who does have power of life and death. Not even the power of Rome can keep the Son of God dead.

The angel told the women, "Don’t be afraid. You’re looking for Jesus? He isn’t here." I wonder if that angel told the soldiers, "Be afraid. Everything your world is built on is being shaken." (Willimon) The earth shook, and the guards shook, and the government that sent the guards shook too.

AND SO THE WOMEN SHOOK. Unlike the priests, the women had completely forgotten anything Jesus had said about rising again. They were not coming to wait for the resurrection. They were just coming to the grave because they loved him, just like we go to the grave of someone we loved. Because they loved him, the women had followed him from Galilee. Because they loved him, they stayed with him at the cross. Because they loved him, they were there when he was laid in the tomb. Because they loved him, they came to the tomb again on Sunday. And on Sunday, because they loved him, they found themselves at the center of a life-changing event. The earth shook. And the women shook. And the angel told them what happened. The angel was like Jack Webb on Dragnet: "just the facts, ma’am. He is not here. He is risen, as he had promised. Come, take a look, and then go tell his disciples."

Note that it is the women who are commissioned as the first preachers of the resurrection. In that culture, only men were qualified to be witnesses and testify in important matters. But in this case the men were nowhere to be seen. It was the women had witnessed everything. In our courts today, no piece of evidence can be brought to a judge unless an unbroken chain of custody can be established from the crime scene to the courtroom. On Resurrection Sunday, it is the women who are the chain of custody. It was the women who watched him die. It was the women who went with the body to the tomb. If the resurrection were a hoax, then the author of that hoax would never have made women the primary witnesses, but they were. They were given the news that would shake the world.

While they were running to testify, the women were shaken once more, by Jesus himself, who met them and said, "Hello." Just hello. How simple. No flashing lights, no fanfare, no fireworks, just the common greeting "Chairete. Greetings. Hello." Jesus granted his presence to them to reassure them on the greatest mission any human being had ever received: to declare He is risen.

Have you ever been given a mission that shook you to your soul -- a mission you were not sure you were qualified to do? When I was in college I was a volunteer orderly in a hospital emergency room. I helped clean up and pick up and set up, etc. One night a nurse turned to me and ordered: "Someone’s having a heart attack in room 213. Go get the crash cart and take it there NOW." But I just stood there saying, "What? Where?" No one had ever told me what a crash cart was, or where it was. I was shaken. She had given me a mission I could not do.

Now imagine how shaken the women were. The Lord is not here. He is risen. Go tell his disiples NOW." They started running, but they must have wondered, "How in the world are we going to do this?" But Jesus appeared to them and assured them that they could.

WHEN THE WOMEN TOLD ALL TO THE DISCIPLES, THEY SHOOK TOO. They trembled when they heard that Jesus called them … brothers. They had deserted him and betrayed him, and yet despite all that they were forgiven. They were no longer his enemies anymore; they were his disciples again. Even more, now Jesus claimed them as his brothers, as his family. The world is about vengeance. But Jesus is about forgiveness. Jesus forgave, and his disciples shook. Jesus forgave, and the world shook. .

The disciples also shook when they heard that they would see him again, in Galilee. And when they did see him there in Galilee of the Gentiles, Jesus gave them the mission to go to all the nations, Jew and Gentile, and be witnesses to the resurrection, and make disciples of all nations.

On Easter morning, the soldiers shook, and the government shook, and the women shook, and the disciples shook. "On the cross, the world did all it could to Jesus. At Easter, God did all God could to the world. And the earth shook." (Willimon)

EASTER STILL COMES LIKE AN EARTHQUAKE. WATCH OUT, FOR YOU MAY BE SHAKEN ALONG WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD. Anyone who would dare draw near to the crucified and risen One risks having your life turned upside down.

Come draw near to the Risen One, and hear Him call you brother and sister, and realize that all you have ever done against Him is forgiven. Hear him call you brother and realize that God has rolled back the hindering stone of sin that had sealed us off from God. Hear him call you sister, and realize that Christ is not "shut up in our personal past, along with our sins, our youth, our wasted opportunities…" Christ "is ahead of us — in our future…" (John C. Purdy, God With a Human Face, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993. Cited in www.religion-online.org.) Draw near to the forgiveness of Christ. To receive his forgiveness is to be shaken to your very soul.

And come, draw near to the Risen One, and hear his promise that he will go before you. He goes before you in the great mission of bringing the world and God back together. He invites you to go and join him in his work. Draw near to the call of Christ. To receive his call is to be shaken to the depths of your being.

And come, draw near to the Risen One, and hear his promise that if you go on his mission, you will see him. The disciples went to Galilee of the Gentiles and there they saw him. When you go on Christ’s mission among the peoples of the earth, you will see him. As you run with the news that he is risen, you will see him, and you will hear him say to you words that will make you tremble forever: "Chairete." "Greetings." "Hello."

-- Douglas E. Murray