Garden restored

22 July 2023 - Feast of Mary Magdalene

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to Him, “Sir, if You carried Him away, tell me where You laid Him, and I will take Him.” - John 20:15

Today is the feast day of Mary Magdalene, a very close disciple of Jesus and the first witness to His resurrection. It must have been a wonderful sight to behold witnessing the risen Christ in all His glory and majesty, right? After all, seeing Jesus dying on the cross, then being enclosed in a tomb only to find the tomb empty on an early Sunday morning then seeing Him alive again is a great spectacle and a profound miracle to witness. But no, this did not happen. Scriptures indicated there was no witnessing to Jesus’ heavenly glory.

Instead of Mary seeing Jesus as the resurrected Messiah, she mistakened Him for a gardener.

She did what? How could she mistook Jesus as a gardener? She was with Him all throughout His ministry, administering and helping Him propagate His message of the Kingdom of Heaven.

In reality, if Jesus’ actions are to be meditated on carefully, we can see that Jesus really is a gardener in His mission. The way He picked up and show delight in children is like encouraging young seedlings to grow. The way He taught people through different parables and life lessons is like tilling the soil, preparing it to become fit for planting. The way He called out Pharisees in their wrong, deceitful acts is like pulling out the weeds from the soil so that there will be room for fruitful plants to grow. The way He trained His disciples is like pruning new growths so that they will bear more fruit.

Yes, Jesus is a gardener in our lives in so many ways. He tills our hearts and digs into them, which may be painful and unbearable at times, but is needed to allow room for growth. He exposes the dark areas of our lives so that it will be exposed to the light.

The plowing and unearthing of Jesus may be essential to prepare a new heart.

The seed of His word is then sown on a newly tilled soil. Sometimes there may be times when the seeds are in a dark place, we often seem to recognize it is not there. We may think that seeds are being buried in the dark, when in truth the seeds are being planted.

He also pulls out the weeds of sin and shame to remove them completely in our lives. Those that are not necessary in our lives are being removed so that growth can continue to prosper.

He also prunes our struggles and circumstances like pruning dead parts of plants so that we can be more aligned to Him and be more fruitful into new life.

Yes, Jesus is a gardener Who introduces new life. The new life that Mary should have witnessed in the early morning of the resurrection is also being offered to us. But the said new life sometimes causes us confusion, thinking that it did not come from Jesus. We must not be mistaken but instead learn to recognize that every cultivating, every planting, every weeding, and every pruning comes from Jesus Himself.

Jesus is not contented to just achieve resurrection all by Himself. He is also preparing us for our own resurrection into new life as well.

Dear Papa,

I praise and thank You for Your patience and Your mercy. I know I was not Your child who has been faithful to You these past few days, but still You show my worth and my value as if I never strayed.

Thank You, Papa, for being the gardener of my life — for cultivating me, for sowing the seed of Your Word in my heart, for weeding away the thickets of shame and brokenness, and for pruning me to be Your child whose worth and identity is rooted in You.

Restore me to be a garden of beauty and a reflection of Your glory. Take over, Papa, and work in my life again.

All these I pray in the name of Jesus, my Lord and Saviour, together with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.

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