Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it.
A major earthquake once occurred specifically to open a sealed stone tomb from the outside.
Geology
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The cited passage
What current science says
Earthquakes are caused by the sudden release of energy along tectonic plate boundaries or fault lines — stress builds up over years or centuries, then snaps. They don't target specific locations like individual tombs, and they definitely don't roll stones in convenient directions. The region around Jerusalem does sit near the Dead Sea Transform fault, so earthquakes do happen there, but they're random geological events, not on-demand stone-removal services.
What the text says
This comes from Matthew 28:2. The text describes 'a great earthquake' occurring at the moment an angel descends to roll back the stone from a sealed tomb — framing a geological event as a purpose-driven supernatural act.
Three honest ways to read this passage
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As history
The text records how its authors understood the world with the knowledge they had. Read this way, a difference from modern science is a window into the ancient mind, not a failure.
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As accommodation
The text speaks to its first audience in their own terms, to make a point that isn't mainly about physics or biology. Read this way, the scientific detail is the vehicle, not the cargo.
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As contradiction
The text makes a claim about the physical world that modern findings dispute. Read this way, the difference is a genuine factual disagreement worth naming.
GEBible doesn't pick one of these for you. Each entry shows the passage, what it says, and what current science says — nothing more.