After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 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. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 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.” So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” (Matthew 28:1-10 NRSV)
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Grace and peace to you, sisters and brothers, from our risen and triumphant Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen.
“Look! There was a great earthquake!” This is how the Matthew story of the resurrection begins today. “Look! There was a great earthquake!”
After having lived in Southern California for nearly 40 years, I can guarantee you that, if there was an earthquake--a great earthquake as our story says--the first words out of my mouth would not have been “Look!”
I remember my first earthquake. I was 19. Naive. Relatively new to the big city. We had gathered at the home of my aunt and uncle for New Year’s Day. It was beautiful and warm. One of those glorious days you get so accustomed to there. I was sitting on a chair in the corner of the living room and, all of a sudden, my chair began to sway back and forth. I did not know what was happening. All I could do was hang on. And wait. It was as if, for just a moment, time was suspended.
And then 10 seconds later (It felt like hours!), it stopped. You could sense the collective sigh of relief. And then everyone around me saying, “Did you feel that?” “That wasn’t so bad!” “I wonder where the epicenter was.” It was then, that I realized that I had experienced my first earthquake.
Over the years of my life there, I experienced many. They come in all different shapes and sizes. Some are gentle and rolling. Others are short and sharp--like if a truck hit your house. Some get stronger and stronger, while you hold your breath and wait to decide if this is the big one and you should take cover under a table or a door jam. A few, just a very few, are big and can be violent. The Northridge earthquake in 1994 literally threw me out of bed, even though I lived 45 miles away from its epicenter.
The science of earthquakes is pretty simple. Just under the surface of the earth, there are many pieces that make up the skin that cover the deeper layers, just like pieces of a puzzle. These pieces are called tectonic plates. They are continually moving and shifting. Sometimes, their edges get stuck, while the rest of the plate keeps moving. When the plate has moved far enough, the edges unstick and all of that built up energy is released. This sends waves of energy outward and causes what we call an earthquake.
Once this movement happens, there is nothing you can do. It cannot be predicted. There is no advance warning. Nowhere to go to run or hide from it. Like many other forms of natural disaster, nothing is safe. Nowhere is safe.
Once it happens, there is no going back. The plates have shifted and been displaced. The entire setting has now been altered. Rearranged.
So, it is entirely fitting that, today, our resurrection story begins with an earthquake. Because throughout scripture, it is the presence of an earthquake that signals the presence of God. A theophany, which is a manifestation of God in the Bible that is tangible and real to our human sensibility. Where God appears unexpectedly. Where everything is changed. Where the cosmic order has been interrupted. Disrupted, really. Disrupted by God.
I especially appreciate the irony in Matthew’s resurrection story. Because after this great earthquake, there is another quaking. It is that of the guards. They had been placed at the entrance to the tomb by Pilate at the request of the chief priests and the Pharisees. Afraid the disciples would steal the body of Jesus and then proclaim that Jesus had fulfilled his own prediction of his resurrection, they had sealed the tomb and posted guards.
But the empires of our world are no match for the empire of God. Our text reads that the guards were so terrified of the angel of the Lord that they literally began to quake. And they became like dead men.
This turnaround shows the ironic character of the good news. The guards are now dead men. Jesus is alive. The empire of death is dead. The empire of God’s life-giving power now rules.
This is the cosmic implication of our story today, a story that begins with an earthquake. No place on earth is safe from the risen Lord. No person is safe or can fully buffer themselves from the divine reality. No matter how we choose to ignore or resist God’s presence or simply expect things to remain the same, God breaks in. Like the release of pressure from those stuck tectonic plates. And we are forever changed.
This is what happened that first Easter. After the women heard the news of Jesus’ resurrection, as they hurried in their awe and excitement to tell the disciples, Jesus met them along the way. Once again, breaking into their lives. Sending them to tell the other disciples to meet him in Galilee. And from there, sending them out to do the mission of the church. It is clear that Jesus’ resurrection empowers and leads to the mission of the church. Contemporary theologian N.T. Wright summarizes it well: “Jesus’ resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project. Not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord’s Prayer is about.” Your kingdom come. Your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.
Do we recognize that? Do we watch for it? Do we see God at work in our world today? In the midst of a world that seems so violent and chaotic, so fearful and insecure, so hopeless and despairing and grief-stricken at times?
My former pastor in Texas, Michael Coffey, expresses this well in his poem, entitled “The Resurrection Theater of the Absurd.”
You surprised me when you
stepped on my grief and rudely interrupted
my expectations for the show to end
when I assumed we would walk out in darkness
down city streets and go for a martini and talk about
that cross and the dramatic lighting and all that emptiness after
and then we could pick up our heavy heads
and hold them lopsided as we went on our mournful way
living the grey life we always imagined.
But then you, you wizard of astonishment,
you author of unexpected epilogues
you springtime of wildflowers in greened up dead fields
you resurrected my small mind above the predictable plot formulas
and opened up the stone laid over my heart,
so heavy, and yet with you, so easily, so gracefully rolled away.
God’s life-creating work is here in our world. It is here if we look for it. It is here in the acts of love and of care and of service that, if we look for them, we can see them. And the joy that surrounds them. If only we are open enough to see them. To see the life that is breaking out all around us. And to hear the command of Jesus to the women, a command that becomes a command for all of us:
Stop being afraid! God--this wizard of astonishment, this author of unexpected epilogues, this springtime of wildflowers in greened up dead fields, this master of shakeups--has defeated death. Rejoice! Rejoice! And share the good news!
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment