Finding Jesus in the Garden: How Easter Invites Us Back to Eden

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What does a gardener have to do with Easter? Everything, as it turns out. Moving beyond the familiar imagery of empty tombs and stone rolled away, we explore how John's gospel subtly portrays the risen Christ as a gardener – a profound theological statement inviting us back into Eden, but this time with Jesus tending the garden alongside us.

Having journeyed through Lent using the Grace of Les Miserables as our guide, we reflect on the powerful garden imagery throughout scripture. From Eden's initial divine-human partnership, to Gethsemane's night of agonizing prayer, to Revelation's vision of restored paradise, gardens mark pivotal moments in our relationship with God. The Easter garden where Mary encounters the risen Christ completes this narrative arc, suggesting that resurrection isn't just about conquering death but about restoring us to our original purpose – co-creating with God.

Easter begins a fifty-day season of feasting that follows Lent's period of fasting. This isn't just about returning to chocolate or social media, but about intentionally nourishing ourselves on God's loving presence in the world. How often do we get lost in fear and frustration about our world rather than looking for where divine love is already powerfully at work? The Easter challenge is recognizing Christ in our midst, accepting his invitation to tend the garden together, and sharing its abundant harvest of love, peace, and justice with everyone we meet. Christ has conquered even the worst humanity could do, transforming death into life and inviting us to live in resurrection joy – not just today, but every day.

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Episode Transcript

Pastor Darren (00:00):
Well, you've got to love Easter.
Amen In my mind.
I really enjoy the journey ofLent, of taking this time to
focus on myself, my faith, myspirit, and just really trying
to dig in on it.
And I tell you what it can be atough journey, and so I feel

(00:24):
like, when I hit Easter and I'mfeeling that relief and that
hope and that joy, I did Lentokay, I did it all right, and
I'm feeling it today and I hopemany of you are as well.
Our journey this week or thisLent, we used Les Miserables
curriculum, or this Lent, weused Les Miserables curriculum.

(00:49):
A pastor out in Louisiana, namedPastor Matt Rall, wrote the
Grace of Les Miserables, and forsix weeks we've been reading
about how God's love, god'sgrace, god's hope was lived out
in this story that many of ushave known already.
How many of you have seen theBroadway show?
Right?
I mean a good amount of us, sothere's a few of you who need to

(01:12):
get to see that Broadway show,though One of the better ones.
As it ends, the story lands usin this chapter about gardens,
this chapter talking aboutgardens.
In our scriptures, many of youwill know about the Garden of

(01:32):
Eden, where Adam and Eve wereinitially started out in life
God trying to work with humanityto make a beautiful world, to
build God's kingdom.
Unfortunately, we weren't quiteready, evidently, or maybe we
were and it was a journey we hadto take.
Then there's another garden,kind of a darker, more somber

(01:56):
garden, the one Jesus inGethsemane, the night before
he'd give his life.
And then there's a third gardenhe mentions in Revelation.
Revelation is our passage thatlooks into a future with God and
in this particular vision, thisparticular future with God, we

(02:21):
were understanding, maybe areflection back to that Eden,
back to that place where God hadblessed us and was living with
us and was looking to livelife's journey with us.
But he forgets one particulargarden.

(02:42):
It's the one in our passagetoday, the one where Mary, who
has seen the empty tomb, goesand sits and weeping because
she's wondering where Jesus hasgone, not only with his death
but also in his absence at thispoint, only to find this
gardener, this gardener who shedoesn't quite recognize, until

(03:08):
she finally realizes it's Christ, it's Jesus.
You know, to me I wonder ifthat story, if John's gospel, is
trying to get us to understandthat we are invited back into

(03:31):
Eden.
Only now it's with Jesus as thegardener, jesus as the one who
will be with us, tending thisgarden, bringing it to its
fruition, bringing it to itsfruition, bringing it to its
love, to its peace, to its joy,to its justice.
We're back in Eden, but thistime with Christ and able to

(03:55):
live it out in more meaningfulways.
Do you guys know that a lot oftimes we think of Lent as a
season of fasting, self-denial?
Did anybody give something up?
Not a one of you.
Okay, okay.

(04:15):
Oh, maria, you gave somethingup.
Are you willing to tell us?
Did it work?
Oh, good for you.
What did you give up?
I didn't really give upanything, but I limited my
TikTok to an hour.
Oh, a limitation on TikTok.

(04:36):
All right, you got applauseback there for my sister, so
she's right with you.
She's right with you.
A limitation, yeah, it's thatidea of oh, is there something I
can work on?
Is there something I caneliminate and fill it with God?
Is there something I can add tomy life?
Right, that is kind of thejourney we're invited to take

(04:57):
over Lent.
Easter is not just a day, butit's a season, a season of 50
days, landing us on Pentecost,and they call that the season of
feasting Pentecost and theycall that the season of feasting
.
We go from fasting to feasting.

(05:22):
I think there's an invitation onEaster for us to embrace that
idea of feasting, that we arenow in the garden with Christ,
where God wants us and God isinviting us to feast on the love
that we know that we have seenexisting in this world.
It's so often we get lost in ourfear, we get lost in our
hopelessness, our frustrationsabout the world, and how often

(05:43):
do we actually pivot the otherway and look to where God is
present, where God's love isstrong, where we're being
nourished, where we're beingmotivated and inspired to do the
right thing, to do the lovingthing?
I think Easter should be aseason where we feast on the

(06:04):
presence of God amongst us.
But it begs the question willwe recognize it?
Mary's in that garden andthere's the gardener, but she
doesn't know it's Jesus yet.
She doesn't know that love isthere in her midst.

(06:26):
Will we be able to find thatlove?
Will we be intentional enoughto look for it and then maybe
even take the next step toembrace it and to share it?
I think that is our Easterinvitation, not just for today

(06:49):
but for this whole season.
And who knows what, if we do itfor 50 days and it becomes a
habit, it becomes part of who weare, these people who recognize
God's loving presence in theworld and not only own it and
embrace it, get nourished by it,but share it with the world.

(07:11):
And not only own it and embraceit, get nourished by it, but
share it with the world,building the kingdom God always
wanted us to build.
And why should we do it?
Because he has risen.
God has conquered the darknessthat our world can bring, even

(07:38):
the worst that our world can do.
God sending God's only son tobe in this world and our killing
him is something God has turnedinto an embodiment of love, has
turned into a nourishment oflife, life as a bounty.

(08:03):
I invite you to walk thatjourney this Easter season, and
let's walk it because we knowthat Jesus has risen and love is
real.
Amen.