The Easter gospel for this year is from Matthew 28.  The text brings to my mind the old 50’s Rock and Roll songs of “All Shook Up” by Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis’ song “Whole Lot a Shaking Going On.”  Now neither of the songs have anything to do with Jesus resurrection, but they do describe the events of that weekend as recorded in Matthew.

The shaking started on Friday afternoon when Jesus cried out with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.  Matthew reports that the 4 inch thick curtain that curtained off the Holy of Holies was ripped in two from top to bottom.  “And the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”

Tombs were cave like, dug into the rock.  The seismic action split the rock tombs. However, the Friday quake was a pre-shock to the major quake on Sunday morning.

The Sunday morning shaking is described as a mega – quake that accompanied the descent of the angel of the Lord who rolled back the stone and sat on it.  “Take that you chief priests and Pharisees, for trying to secure the tomb against God’s intervention in the deadly affairs of humanity.”

But it was more than the earth which was all shook up.  There was a whole lot of shaking going on, as the guards quaked in their sandals and fell like dead men.  To the women who came, the angel said, “He is not here, for he has risen.”  And when Jesus himself met them, he said, “Go and tell.”