Matthew 28:1-10
The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! In Matthew’s Gospel, this
revelation of the resurrection comes with a great earthquake. If
you’ve lived where earthquakes occur, you know that people can miss
smaller ones. “Did you feel that?” someone texts. “Feel what?” you
respond. But when an angel rolls back the stone sealed by Roman
soldiers, a great big earthquake leaves, well, no stone unturned. This
is no small earthquake that someone might miss. It is obvious.
Details of the actual resurrection are not narrated in the Bible.
We cannot point to exactly what it looked like at that moment, or
how or when it happened. God raises Jesus up at some mystery-laden
time when no one notices. Not even the most observant person
sensed God’s mighty work and asked, “Did you feel that?”
It’s the revealing of Christ’s resurrection that we notice. When
the stone rolls away, the earth quakes and the empire-obedient
soldiers faint in fear. But the angel tells the grieving, faithful women
that Jesus has been raised from the dead. They go, running on the
still quaking ground, to tell Jesus’ followers that the worst is over,
that forgiveness is given, that hope still stands. When the women
breathlessly meet Jesus on the way, they stop to steady themselves at
his feet. But Jesus sends them on, because this is no time to stop the
reordering of creation.
As you worship this Easter Sunday, if you’re going to proclaim
Jesus is alive and Lord over every empire, expect there to be some
shaking of what was in order to make way for what will be. It’s when
the resurrection is proclaimed, when the good news starts to go out,
that the unmistakable reverberations begin.
Consider
What change are you yearning for that Christ’s resurrection might bring? What change are you resisting that the resurrection might cause?
Pray
Risen Lord, does your resurrection still change everything? Let it be so, in your world, in your church, and in me. Amen.