Earthquake

We live in and among a world of chaos. A world that is defined by a rat-race. A world that is defined by what it has become...

      ...instead of who created it.
      ...instead of who defined it.
      ...instead of who the One who came to distill peace into our our chaos.

Yet, as reformed people, we know that we are called to live in this world and to bring Christ's peace into the chaos, into the rat-race. We are told to be part of restoring the world into what God intended when he said, "It is Good!"

We sit, one week after Easter...
      ...after the tomb broken.
      ...after love won.
      ...after the world was shaken to its very core.

Yet.

We remember...
      ...the pounds we put on by the Easter candy.
      ...the chaos of Easter egg hunts.
      ...the record breaking church attendance.

What should we remember? What should make a lasting impression?

 On Easter morning, many of us read the familiar story and skipped over a small phrase that jolted me tonight...

"After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for the angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it." (Matthew 28:1-2)

Did you catch that? There was a violent earthquake. Again.

When Jesus died, Matthew tells us that "The earth shook and rocks split". It was on Sunday morning that the earth spoke up again, and there was an earthquake.

An earthquake.

You see, what happened that morning was something out of the ordinary. Jesus rose. And he didn't rise just for the people that day.

He rose to cause lasting damage... the rocks that shook and split on Friday were just a warning for the catastrophic love that would reign come Sunday. For then, there would be an earthquake. 

An earthquake.

The love of Christ was shouted by Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, by the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and by the rest of the friends of Jesus.

Yet, the first one to announce this miracle was the earth.


And it didn't just whisper.

It caused an earthquake.

In the chaos of this world. In the chaos of this season. In our busy lives.
      ...we often forget.
      ...we often make excuses


Yet. It begs to be remembered. It begs to be talked about. It begs to make front page news, right along side the other natural disasters.

Christ's resurrection begs to form our lives, changing them from someplace that we simply have buried our Lord, to someplace where Christ's resurrection has turned every stone.

And so friends, how long can we ignore the earthquake?

It is in this season that we are called to remember that earthquake and live out of the rubble.

     Live lives shaped by the love...

           ...Love that overturns every stone and leaves nothing untouched.

Christ has risen! He is risen, indeed!