April 12 2020 Easter Psalm 118.1-2,
14-24 * Matthew 28.1-10 “Earthquake!” Pastor Jacqueline Hines
Blessed Easter, My Friends.
Listen to this fabulous story from the gospel of Matthew 28.
Verses 1-10
28After
the Sabbath, as the first day of the
week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the
tomb. 2And 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. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white
as snow. 4For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead
men. 5But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that
you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6He is not here; for he
has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he* lay. 7Then 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.’ 8So they left the tomb
quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them
and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and
worshipped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my
brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’
++
The title of the message is “Earthquake.”
Easter is here at last, but it is not the Easter we
have known and loved. The Coronavirus is
affecting everything and everybody. Some are recovering, thankfully. Others are
passing away to their eternal home in heartbreaking numbers, too many to count.
This is not the Easter
we have known and loved, but it is the Easter that humanity has dealt with time
and time again.
It was announced this
week that People’s Light Theatre is cancelling all their 2020 shows for the entire
year. Shakespeare experienced the same cancellations in London in the
1600’s. The theatres were shut down for six months because of the bubonic
plague – an infection from rat fleas. King James, whose authorized English
translation of the Bible was completed in 1611, was scheduled for a coronation
in 1603 but it was delayed for a whole year because so many were infected.
Our world is turned
upside down, but this is not the first time. Some of us have had our
world turned upside down as individuals or families or organizations, or
countries. We may have been isolated with health challenges, family concerns,
and political problems while the rest of the world had no skin in the game.
This time, everything and everyone is shaken to its core.
Perhaps this is the
most real Easter of all.
Matthew says when the women came to Jesus’ tomb, there was an
earthquake. But there wasn’t just an earthquake. He says there was a GREAT earthquake. Or as Tony the Tiger
would say, “GRRRRRREAT! Easter is our season to remember that God pays attention to
the tiniest details of our life, but God also works to do great big things,
intense things, unbelievable things, bigger-than-life things, and
hard-to-manage-on-our-own things. Sometime God reveals Godself as a great big
God working among the great big issues.
During the pandemic, the smallest things have been blown up like a
big air balloon in the sky for the whole world to see. Now more than ever we
see broadcasts of multi-million dollar gifts from celebrities, gestures of
kindness from local businesses to the thousands risking their lives, we see grand
and creative ways to cope, support, and applaud one another. At the same time, we see hunger magnified,
homelessness on many doorsteps, a rise in domestic violence, inmates continuing
to be consigned to years of solitary confinement, families suffering from inadequate
medical care when they need it the most, persistent violence with lines longer
than ever to purchase guns.
The angel of the Lord came down from Heaven with an earthquake
that shook everything up. A
shake up prepares believers to witness a resurrection. A shakeup can mean a
wake up, a break up, a break down or a breakthrough. A shakeup is whatever God
allows it to be. It tells us that God’s resurrection power is at work.
The empty tomb is evidence of the resurrection after a shakeup. The
Gaither family said it well. “God sent His Son. They called Him
Jesus. He came to love, heal and forgive. He lived and died to buy my pardon. An
empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.
Because He lives I can face tomorrow. Because He lives all fear is
gone. Because I know He holds the future and life is worth the living just
because he lives.”
The earthquakes in life remind us that God always has a purpose
and a plan to work all things for the good. A shake up reveals the faces of the
lonely. The resurrection commits to a conversation with the lonely. A shake up
hears the hungry crying. The resurrection sets a table. A shake up points to
the street where the homeless are living. The resurrection leads them to a
house. A shakeup shows bruises on the hearts of domestic violence victims. The
resurrection calls the police. A shakeup exposes the traitors that treat inmates
like animals. The resurrection advocates for justice. A shake up counts the
number of people who lack health care. The resurrection teaches all to have faith
and trust God’s treasury of healing, hope, daily bread, and wisdom. A shake up
records the names of haters so that we can take revenge. The resurrection fills
us with love for our enemies because love is patient, or as the king James
versions says – long suffering- sometimes suffering longer than at other times.
Enough love and patience turns us into peacemakers and harmonizers instead of
troublemakers and instigators.
God sent an angel to shake up the world. I imagine the angel the
women saw at the tomb was so tall that he had to duck like some have to do when
they walk through a doorway. I imagine that angel probably had muscles as big
as the Hulk. Only he was wearing all white instead of green like the Green Giant
and he was as striking as a flash of lightening.
Pilate sent soldiers to secure Jesus’ tomb so that the disciples
couldn’t remove his body and claim he had risen. When they saw that angel, they
were terrified and they passed out cold.
God’s angel had no one blocking him when he rolled the two-ton
stone away from the tomb, breaking through the wax seal and all. Then he sat on top of that big rock, a solid
rock, no doubt praising God for the victory. The women approached the tomb, no
longer wondering who was going to roll away the stone for them.
What a sight they must have seen. Two security guards passed out,
rocks tossed around from the earthquake and of all things, God’s messenger,
waiting to speak personally to them. The angel calmed their fears, a message
the soldiers never got. The angel invited them to see the empty tomb, the
evidence that Jesus was not there. “He is risen.”
The women listened. They understood. ‘Don’t be afraid. Jesus
is risen. He’s on his way to Galilee. Tell the disciples to meet him there.’
At
times, those four words - “Don’t be afraid” seem so ridiculous and
counterintuitive. But, we need to turn them on in our minds like we turn on a
light switch, again and again because we need them to keep from stumbling in
the dark, to keep anxiety and depression at bay, to avoid blocking our
blessings, to feed our faith and not our fears.
After hearing the angel’s message, Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary left the tomb quickly with mixed feelings of fear
and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Surely God is pleased when
we run to do God’s will with great joy.
9Suddenly, verse 9 tells us that Jesus cut them off in their
path. Greeting them enthusiastically. They rushed toward him, bowed before him
and worshipped him. Jesus gave them the same message the angel gave them… ‘Do
not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to meet me in Galilee. It is wonderful
to have good messages repeated by good messengers.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary accepted the
job Jesus gave them. Jesus always has a
job for those who dare to show up for Easter. Sometimes the job seems tiny and
insignificant, but it may be as critical as the next heartbeat. Sometimes the
job is a great big Easter-size job, for the whole world to notice.
Every Sunday is a Resurrection Sunday in the
Christian tradition. Week after week we recognize the power of God to bring
life where we have killed each other with our sins. Every week we are given the
job to die daily to our will and rise to live in Christ. For we live because he
lives, even when our world has been shaken up.
Let us
pray….Life-Giving God, we thank you, bless you and praise you that it is as
well with us as it is, that in spite these days of darkness and uncertainty we
see clear evidence that you have not forsaken us nor forgotten us. You have
provided us with many blessings and many avenues to be a blessing to others. We
pray as Jesus taught us - Our father who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy
name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us
this day, our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,
for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
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