Whether literal or metaphorical, there are experiences in life that shake our foundations. That force us to think about our humanity and what it means to live on this planet, to exist in communities, and to believe in God. While it wasn’t an earthquake, I think I’ve shared before that one of the foundation shaking events in my life was witnessing the 35W Bridge collapse in Minnesota when I was in middle school. As I watched the news footage of the collapse and later heard the stories of those connected to our community who experienced the collapse themselves, I felt my desire to become a civil engineer crumble inside of me. It was a moment that shook my experience with faith, ultimately leading me to experience my first call to ministry. I may not have listened to the call at that point, but, regardless, I came to think about my life and my role in the community in a different way after that experience.
Our story from Acts today features a literal earthquake, that shook the foundation of the jail that was holding Paul and Silas, and shook the prison guard’s understanding of God and the world so much that he and his family were baptized after this experience (Acts 16: 26-34). While this story focuses on the conversion of the prison guard, I think that often overshadows the other ways in which God is shaking the foundation of society in a way that is working towards God’s understanding of peace and justice. To look at some of the other important ways, I want to jump back to the beginning of this Acts story.
It begins with an enslaved woman who is being used by her owners to bring them wealth through her divination (Acts 16: 16). We begin with a woman who is being used by her owners, seen only as a means to make them wealth, so much so that we are told they are angry with Paul for casting out the spirit which allowed her to say these things (Acts 16: 19). I want to take a moment to say that even when Paul casts away the spirit, he does so because he is annoyed that it is speaking out against him, he doesn’t do it for the woman’s sake. This is a frustrating thing to see in our story, as this woman is still dismissed and seen only for the value, or lack thereof, that she brings to her owners. I wish our Scripture went deeper into what this freedom means for the woman herself, but anything else I can say on that would just be speculation at this point.
Not wanting to forget this woman, the story then moves to the anger of her owners, directed toward Paul and Silas. They only bring these charges against them because Paul and Silas have caused them to lose out on their money-making scheme, but the claims they bring against them resides in their identity as Jewish people, noting that “[Paul and Silas] are disturbing the city…” (Acts 16: 20b). Their religious identity becomes the scapegoat by which they are accused, tortured, and placed in prison. This, unfortunately, is a reality that has frequented our history, and continues into our present. When other religious or cultural identities are blamed and feared simply because we feel that we need to blame someone when we don’t have everything that we want in life.
When the earthquake happens, breaking forth the chains that literally bound the prisoners, I can’t help but see this as a recognition of the way that God is shaking the foundation of society in order to rebuild it. It is a critique of the abuse of other humans, both for one’s own gain, as well as for the sake of having someone to blame for our frustrations and fears. Just this part of the story alone could be a whole other sermon, but that’s for another time.
This also isn’t the first time that an earthquake has been used to describe the shaking and reshaping of a foundation. While it comes from Matthew’s Gospel instead of Luke’s, the Gospel of Matthew describes a great earthquake that occurred at the crucifixion of Jesus (Matthew 27: 51-54), as well as at his Resurrection (Matthew 28:2). Those were the two events that solidified Jesus’ identity as the Son of God, and captured the attention of the people gathered, forcing them to realize that something profound was happening within their midst.
As I mentioned, I know that those stories come from a different Gospel, but I wanted to help us continue to see the ways in which nature affirms Jesus’ identity as the Son of God, and how that identity coupled with what he is doing in the world is a metaphorical shaking of societal foundations echoed in these examples of literal foundation shaking events. His identity always plays an important role in the work that he is doing, and this too is again emphasized in our Gospel reading from John.
While John’s phrasing can be a bit complicated to follow, it can be summarized by reaffirming Christ’s identity as a Person of the Trinity, this divine relationship with the Person he calls “Father,” while inviting those who believe in him to also be a part of this divine relationship (John 17: 20-26). I’ll avoid going into a heavy theological conversation around this, but it is important for us to hear Jesus say, “because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17: 24b), because it recalls for us that all three Persons of the Trinity were present and active at creation, and that through Jesus’ Incarnation, God is inviting us into the life of the Trinity.
This in itself shakes up an understanding of faith, especially when we look at the context of Greek and Roman society in which they had a different understanding of how their gods interacted with humans and the world. It establishes for the fledgling community that our foundation of the world, of our communities, our lives, is God. There will be so many other things or people in life that will try to replace that, but these stories serve to remind us of the ways that those things are not in fact as stable as we believe they are. It is a call to move beyond what we believe to be “traditional” structures of society, those that cause harm and take advantage of people, those which give the false sense of security as long as we are better than someone else. This is what God is quite literally shaking up when Christ enters into our midst and comes proclaiming a new way forward, with an emphasis on mutual care and the flourishing of all life.
This is offensive to many people, especially those who stand to lose from those systems crumbling. It’s why we see the response against Paul and Silas in the reading from Acts today (Acts 16: 20-21), and why we see the backlash of people, including Christians, today arguing that the ways of Jesus are “woke” or that empathy is a sin. When the teachings threaten someone’s foundation that they have based their worldview and view of self upon, there are lot of ways that they will try to hold onto their sense of stability, including shunning or twisting the words of Scripture and the teachings of Jesus so that they are no longer challenged by them.
While I don’t want to dismiss the real-life tragedies associated with earthquakes by expounding on this language too much, I do to think there are things in life that shake our faith and our understanding of the world. While I do not wish those experiences upon anyone and I do not want to just look for the silver lining, I do think that questioning our faith, having doubts, pushing back and reassessing is part of the relationship that we are invited into when Jesus asks that we be brought into the love that exists between the Persons of the Trinity. Because in love, it isn’t always easy and love doesn’t mean we always agree with what the other person is saying and doing, but love invites us into a relationship in which we are allowed to learn and grow, to better one another and experience life from another point of view. This is the love that we are being invited it; it isn’t this static, passive love, but one that will change our lives should we choose to accept the invitation because it is a love that will shake the foundation of our understanding, as we are called to help live out God’s vision of justice and peace.
Previous
Sunday May 25th, 2025 Worship