March 31, 2024

It will invariably strike me as intriguing and beautiful how Mary Magdalene mistook the risen Jesus for the gardener. Here is a woman who followed Jesus from early on, knew His face, His voice, His presence the way any close friend knows the other. She knew Him, but she did not recognize Him. It doesn’t hurt that I spent many years working in landscaping. The idea that a gardener can be a covert re-presentation of Jesus was no small part of my desire to enter seminary. I don’t think she avoided seeing Him. I don’t believe He was making it so that she could not recognize Him. I believe her sorrow, doubt, and fear made it difficult to recognize Him. This is the beauty of the Resurrection – those places of deep pain, suffering, shame; these are the places that Jesus breaks into so that He can break you out of. Now, I don’t do rollercoasters (I like my feet on the ground), but I imagine that gut-level reaction to making a quick turn is both intense and part of the fun. Imagine that kind of reaction both physically and spiritually. He was dead… now, He’s alive! The following song of praise is one of my favorite Easter songs. I invite you to listen and enjoy the twists and turns of riding along with Jesus.    

I searched the world
But it couldn’t fill me
Man’s empty praise
And treasures that fade
Are never enough

Then You came along
And put me back together
And every desire
Is now satisfied
Here in Your love

(Refrain)

Oh, there’s nothing better than You
There’s nothing better than You
Lord, there’s nothing
Nothing is better than You

Now I’m not afraid
To show You my weakness
My failures and flaws
Lord, You’ve seen ’em all
And You still call me friend

‘Cause the God of the mountain
Is the God of the valley
And there’s not a place
Your mercy and grace
Won’t find me again

(Refrain)

You turn mourning to dancing
You give beauty for ashes
You turn shame into glory
You’re the only one who can

You turn graves into gardens
You turn bones into armies
You turn seas into highways
You’re the only one who can

(Refrain)

Graves into Gardens by Elevation Worship 

He is the only one who can. The only one. That place where you need healing, where you need strength, that place that you might not even want to go – He’s already there, in the garden, ready to work.

The life of a disciple, a friend of Jesus, is a life with two seasons, seasons that cycle one after another. There is the season of letting go of anything and everything that holds us back from receiving the love of God. That season (Lent) is an opportunity to take a hard look at the graves in which we find ourselves, the places where death has taken hold. We enter this season with humility, knowing that the more we struggle, the more we suffer. The following season is a season of receiving the soft refreshing rain of new life. This is a season in which we receive by no merit of our own. This season (Easter) is a season we enter with humility, knowing that all that is good, true, and beautiful comes from the Father. We receive it with the outreached arms of the Son. Happy Easter! He is Risen, Alleluia!! 

Two Parishes, One Heart,

Fr. Adam