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The Gardener
A seemingly obscure, if not odd part of what is one of the most important verses in the Bible:John 20:15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
What’s with the gardener bit? Today at Gwinnett Church, Jeff Henderson had a very interesting take on it, based on the Principle of First Mention*
Genesis 2: 8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
He submits that like a gardener, Jesus works to restore what was lost: the perfect relationship between God and man back in the garden. He tills the land, plants the seeds, cultivates life. Resurrection is about bringing back to life what was once dead. Sounds like a great fit to me :)
Happy Easter!
*It is a principle in Biblical Hermeneutics (The framework for understanding and applying the Scriptures) that states that the first mention of something in the Scriptures is especially significant and sets the stage for how it is to be understood in the rest of the Word. - Source
