Introduction
Our Gospel on Easter morning is always a little disorienting.
In our worship celebrations it arrives with brass, lilies, and triumphant hymns. But in each the Gospel narratives the morning begins quietly and uncertainly. The grief of Good Friday has not yet lifted. The disciples are scattered. The future of the movement Jesus began seems unclear at best.
Matthew tells us the women go to the tomb “as the first day of the week was dawning.” It is a small but important detail. Matthew does not describe a bright morning bursting with resurrection joy. Instead, resurrection arrives in the dim light between darkness and daybreak.
Resurrection does not begin as certainty. It begins as something unfolding. Something the followers of Jesus must slowly come to see and understand.
And in Matthew’s telling, when resurrection finally breaks in, it does not happen quietly. It’s earth rattling! The earth shakes. An angel descends. The stone is rolled away. The guards collapse like dead men.
This is not simply a miracle. For Matthew, the resurrection is a cosmic event that shakes the world itself.
Narrative Context
Earthquakes are not new in Matthew’s Gospel.
When Jesus dies in Matthew 27, the earth shakes, rocks split apart, and tombs open. The crucifixion itself is portrayed as a moment when creation reacts to what has happened. Something so profound has occurred that even the ground beneath humanity cannot remain still.
Now, on the third day, the earth trembles again. This time in anticipation.
Now, the angel does not roll the stone away to let Jesus out. Jesus has already been raised.
The stone is rolled away so the women, and eventually the disciples, can see that the tomb is empty.
The angel sits on the stone almost triumphantly, as if to say that the power that sealed the tomb has been overturned.
The guards, representatives of imperial authority meant to secure the grave, become “like dead men.” Meanwhile, the one who was crucified is alive.
Everything has been reversed.
Death looks powerless. The forces meant to control the story are exposed as fragile. The grave itself has lost its authority.
And yet Matthew does not linger in triumph here. The risen Jesus appears only briefly. There is no extended conversation, no long explanation of what has happened, no pronouncement of victory. Jesus simply greets the women and repeats the angel’s instruction: go and tell the disciples to meet him in Galilee. It’s surprisingly short. Almost anticlimactic.
But that’s because for Matthew, the resurrection is not the climax. It is not the end of the story.
It is the turning point.
A Great Reversal
Matthew’s resurrection narrative moves forward quickly. There is very little lingering.
The women encounter the empty tomb. They receive the message. They meet the risen Christ. And almost immediately they are sent. “Go and tell my brothers…”
Matthew’s Gospel does not linger long on resurrection appearances because the story is already moving toward its final scene: the commissioning of the disciples. The resurrection is not simply proof that Jesus lives. It is the moment that launches the mission of the church.
In Matthew’s Gospel, resurrection is not only about what God has done for Jesus. It is about what God is now doing through the community that follows him.
The earthquake signals that something fundamental has shifted in the world. The powers that seemed permanent (death, empire, violence) have been shaken loose.
A new reality has begun. And that reality sends witnesses running from the tomb.
Matthew even tells us how they run: “with fear and great joy.” Not certainty. Not perfect understanding. But a mixture of awe, wonder, and urgency.
Resurrection does not leave the disciples standing still. It sends them running into the world.
Preaching Possibilities
Propelling us Forward
It can be tempting on Easter to treat the resurrection as the conclusion of the story. The happy ending that resolves the tragedy of Good Friday.
But Matthew will not let us stop there. The resurrection is not the final chapter. It is the beginning of the church’s work.
That may be why the women leave the tomb running. The resurrection has set something in motion that cannot be contained by the grave.
This opens an interesting preaching direction for Easter: resurrection is not only something we celebrate. It is something that propels us.
The women become the first witnesses. Soon the disciples will be sent to make disciples of all nations. The movement that began with Jesus will continue through those who carry his message into the world.
For congregations, Easter can easily become a moment of celebration without movement. We rejoice that Christ is risen, sing the hymns, and proclaim the victory of life over death and then conclude with brunch.
But Matthew reminds us that resurrection is not meant to leave the church standing at the empty tomb. It sends us out. Running.
Because if the resurrection truly shakes the foundations of the world, if death does not have the final word, then the church cannot simply return to business as usual.
The resurrection means the story of Jesus is still unfolding. And the church now carries it forward.
Christ is risen. The stone has been rolled away. The world has begun to shake.
So, the question for Easter morning may not simply be “Do we believe it?”
The question Matthew’s Gospel leaves us with is this: Now that resurrection has begun… where will we go next?
Micah Krey 
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