“A Whole Lotta Shaking Goin’ On” by the Rev. Dr. Don Wahlig, April 5, 2026, Year A / Easter – Psalm 98 ¨ Matthew 28:1-14
THEME: Faith in the risen Christ shakes us up and changes the world.
I have been thinking this week about insurance. Our insurance agent happens to sing in the choir, so Jerry let me first assure you that we have not had an accident. The manse has not burned down. All is well. I was thinking back to those big storms that came through a couple weeks ago. We even had a tornado warning. It prompted me to review our insurance policy. Have you looked at your insurance lately? You are probably covered for many different kinds of losses. The odds are good, however, that you are not covered for Acts of God.
Acts of God are events outside of human control. Things like earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes. Natural events so massive and powerful that only God could possibly control them. As Matthew tells the story of Jesus’ resurrection, that is exactly what is happening. In fact, it may just be the single greatest Act of God ever.
It starts with an earthquake. As the two women approach the tomb, an angel, whose appearance is as bright as the sun, single-handedly rolls away the two-ton stone. He flips it over, plops down and sits on it. The ground shakes violently. The guards fall down, paralyzed by fear. The women look on, speechless and trembling. Matthew is reminding us that this is not the only seismic event of Holy Week. On the first day of the Passover festival, the whole city of Jerusalem shook when Jesus made his humble yet provocative entry. The earth shook again on Good Friday when he breathed his last breath on the cross.
Now, the earth shakes once more when God raises him from the grave. Jesus’ resurrection is literally a seismic event. It shakes up the whole world and life itself. As Paul says in first Corinthians, in the resurrection, God defeated death. Death no longer has the final word. There is now the promise of life after death, and the possibility of new life now. These are the present and future dimensions of eternal life, life lived in God’s constant presence. They are made possible by God’s grace through faith. Faith in what Jesus accomplished for you and me on the cross gives us hope and frees us to love as he did.
But the world in which we live, much like the world in which Jesus lived, is hostile to faith. It is an opposing system driven by self-centeredness, materialism, and pride. The world does not trust the promises that God makes to us. It denies the reality of eternal life. In fact, the world sees faith as a sign of weakness. Like the chief priests conspiring to hush up the reality of Jesus’ resurrection, the world relies on money, coercion, and fear to prop up its own distorted vision of what constitutes the good life. But in the world’s vision, hope is absent and love is scarce.
This antagonism explains why the two women were at once both joyous and fearful. On the one hand, they rejoiced! Their savior was not dead after all. He was alive. They had actually seen him and touched him! On the other hand, everything they witnessed at the tomb that morning defied the worldly reality of their experience. No doubt, they were afraid that their encounter with the risen Jesus was a dream. As they ran off to tell the disciples, we can picture them pinching themselves, trying to make sure what they had experienced was real.
Aren’t we all like that? Have you ever been given good news so incredibly good, you were afraid to believe it? Or that it wouldn’t last? We have all felt like that, haven’t we? That is why both the angel and Jesus himself tell the women “Do not be afraid.” Friends, that is his message for us, too. As people of faith, we do not have to be ruled by fear. Our trust in the reality of Jesus’ presence, now and always, is what gives us the hope and confidence to love others as he loves us.
That is the mission he gives his disciples. Love one another, and love others as I have loved you, because that is how we make more loving disciples. And everywhere you go, remember, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The risen Jesus is very much with us. Today of all days we celebrate his presence through the gift of the Holy Spirit. The question is how do we respond to that gift? Do we allow ourselves to be limited by fear, or do we live by faith? Faith and fear are opposites. When one increases, the other decreases. Yet, they are more alike than we might think. First, both faith and fear are highly contagious. They spread to those who are closest to us.
Second, both faith and fear require that we believe in something we cannot see. We are either afraid of some terrible eventuality that has yet to happen, or we have faith that what God has promised to us will happen, and is happening. And if the worst does happen, we trust that God can and will work something good from even the most painful of circumstances. And even if we cannot see the good that God is working in our lives, we trust that we are not alone. Jesus walks with us, every day, every step of the way.
This is the difference that Easter makes in our lives. It shakes us up. It shakes up how we see others. And eventually it shakes up the world itself. You can see the difference Easter makes in the way that Easter people live. People who live by faith often seem to have a strange – dare we say supernatural – abundance of two things: hope and love. Hope and love are rooted in the understanding that we are not ultimately in charge of this world. God is in charge. We are not. But we are not helpless, and we are not passive. Far from it. We have the power to shape the lives of others through loving actions of compassion, kindness and justice. This is why Christians tend to be optimists. Despite the inevitable pain and suffering that we all face in life, our ultimate trust is in God. God is good, and the risen Jesus is proof.
Those who live by fear, however, have only themselves to trust. When you only trust yourself, your relationships with God and others tend to be shallow. And sooner or later, you inevitably discover that you yourself are on very shaky ground. Living by faith is right and good, but that does not mean it’s easy. The assurance that Jesus is with us and never leaves us requires that we talk to him. It requires prayer. But we are all stressed and busy and, from time to time, all of us have a hard time praying as we know we should. I recently came across a story of a man who found a unique way to change that.
A pastor dropped in to visit a dying man named John at the request of John’s daughter, a parishioner with whom he lived. The pastor went upstairs and found John propped up in bed. Next to his bed, where a nightstand would ordinarily be, was a single empty chair. The pastor said, “I see you were expecting me.” “Actually, no, I wasn’t,” John said. “Sorry, I saw the empty chair and just assumed.” John said, “Oh yeah, the chair. Um, Pastor would you mind closing the door?” Somewhat puzzled, he did. Then John explained. “I have always had a hard time praying. Then one day a few years ago my best friend said to me, ‘John, prayer is just having a conversation with Jesus.
“Try this. Sit down in a chair and place an empty chair in front of you. In faith, see Jesus on the chair. It sounds crazy, but remember what he promised, ‘I will be with you always.’ Then just talk to him the way you’re talking to me.’” John went on to say, “So, I tried it and I liked it so much that I do it every day. I’m careful though. If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she might have me committed.” Moved by John’s story, the pastor prayed with him and left. Two nights later the daughter called to say that her father had died earlier that day. Then she said, “But there was something strange. Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside the bed. What do you make of that?” Wiping away a tear, the pastor said, “I wish we could all go like that.”
Folks, John was an Easter person and so are we. When we live by faith, Jesus’ presence is as real to us as we are to each other. The hope and love that faith in the risen Christ makes possible shakes us up. Easter people like us can shake up this world, and when it’s our turn to go, we, too, can end up in Jesus’ arms.
May it be so.
