What Does An Earthquake Have to Do With It?

               Because it was Easter Sunday my attendance as a visitor at the a church I attended did not receive as much notice as it might have received on another Sunday as I was among the large group of visitors attending that morning. Because the sanctuary was full we were directed to the chapel, a lovely space filled with the morning's light and music produced by the organist and a small group of other musicians. Hymns, prayers, and a collection were completed before the sermon was delivered which was taken from Matthew 28. The minister focused on how the tomb where Christ had been laid was found empty on the Sunday morning following his crucifixion.

The point of the sermon that caught my ear had to do with the two earthquakes that the scripture records as having happened; the first just as Christ died (Matthew 27:51-4) and the second just before the women reached the tomb – which caused the stone to be removed from the entrance of the tomb (Matthew 28:2). The youngish minister who delivered this sermon made the comment that when earthquakes are mentioned in the bible they are often synonymous with some miraculous event. He also suggested that an earthquake is a metaphor for uncertainty - such as the disciples would have been feeling following the death of Christ.

In the first earthquake that occurred, when Jesus gave up his spirit (Matthew 27:50) and died it would almost seem like it was God’s putting punctuation around his son’s suffering and death. Those there at the time (the centurion and the others) are recorded as having recognized the significance of the moment and exclaimed “Surely he was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54).  

Two things important things happened at the time of this first earthquake. The curtain of the temple was torn in two indicating that no longer would God inhabit a place made by human (Acts 17:24) and the end of the 'old' covenant that God established through Moses (Hebrews 8:7-13). The other event was that “many holy people” came out of tombs and were raised to life (Matthew 27:52). The scripture says that after the resurrection of Jesus these people “went into the holy city’ (Jerusalem) and appeared to many. Jesus is said to be the “firstborn from among the dead” (Colossians 1:18) and these people raised from the dead were surely the first to follow him.

           The second earthquake is said to have occurred when “an angel of the Lord came down from heaven” and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the tomb where Jesus was buried. The Roman guarding the tomb at the time were “afraid and shook and became like dead men”. No doubt they were fearful for their own lives-both regarding the angel and what would become of them once it was found out by the Roman authorities that they had failed their assignment (Matthew 27:62-66). The fact that the earth shook when an angel arrived on the scene is indicative of their power and yet the task of this angel was to mostly bring good news—telling the women who came to the tomb that Jesus was risen and allowing them to look into the tomb and see for themselves the place where the body of Jesus had laid. The angle then told them that they needed to go and tell the disciples that Jesus was raised from the dead (Matthew 28:6&7).

           Earthquakes can be utterly devastating in their impact as we have frequently witnessed. No matter the level of destruction, they certainly capture the attention of everyone in the vicinity and beyond. Maybe that is the point of the earthquakes in these stories too-God used them to get the attention of those present?