Supposing Him to Be The Gardener

A Reflection on Resurrection Sunday

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

In celebration of the glorious feast of the Resurrection this day, I wanted to share some reflections. I pray that this Easter/ Pascha has been one of special significance, and that the Lord blesses you during this time of joy and new life.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

[Jn 20:1–18]

The portrait of Mary Magdalene at the tomb of Christ come Sunday morning is one of intrigue and expectation. The woman comes to the garden in her grief. She has come to mourn her Lord, but finds only angels. Rather than barring her access to the holy place, however, they simply ask her, ‘why are you weeping?’ She asks for her Lord, for any explanation of his disappearance, her grief hindering her recognition of the miracle she is witnessing. In response, the Lord himself comes to her, walking in the garden at the cool of the day, and asks her ‘why are you weeping?’. The New Adam comes to console Mary, an image of the redeemed Eve.

It is a woman who is the first to meet the risen Lord. A woman who is the first to witness the first fruits of the new life of the resurrection in Jesus Christ. But she does not recognise him! Rather, we are told that she ‘supposed he was the gardener’. Why does St John include this? What is its significance?

In a past article, I have commented on the significance of a similar story in St Luke’s gospel, wherein the apostles on the road to Emmaus do not recognise Jesus until he is revealed to them “in the breaking of the bread” (Luke 24:30-32). There are clear eucharistic connotations in that account. But what are the theological connotations of Christ as “the gardener?”

Garden Imagery in the Gospels

The imagery of Christ, the garden and paradise is not unique to St John’s gospel. Indeed, Second Temple Jewish texts attest to the expectation of the Messiah bringing about the reversal of the curse and the renewal of Eden:

“And he shall open the gates of paradise

He shall remove the sword that threatened since the time of Adam

And he will grant the saints to eat from the tree of life

The Spirit of Holiness shall be upon them

And Beliar [Satan] will be bound by him

And he shall grant his children the authority to trample on wicked spirits

And the Lord will rejoice in his children

Then Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will rejoice

And all the saints shall be clothed in righteousness.

[Testament of Levi 18:10-14]

The Christian claim that Christ has “opened the doors to paradise” in his death and resurrection, is thus deeply rooted in the Churches Jewish roots. Thus we should not be surprised when we find paradise imagery throughout the gospels, particularly in Luke and John’s accounts of the Passion.

Christ agonises in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46; John 18:1) in order to reverse the test of Adam in the Garden of Eden. Particularly, in Luke’s account, we have the addition of his sweat being like “great drops of blood” (Lk 22:44) As St Ephraim the Syrian notes:

“His sweat became like drops of blood,” the Evangelist said. He sweated to heal Adam who was sick. “It is by the sweat of your brow,” said God, “that you will eat your bread.” He remained in prayer in this garden to bring Adam back into his own garden again.

[St Ephraim the Syrian, Commentary on the Diatessaron.]

In response to the thief on his right’ plea “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom!” Christ responds “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Lk. 23:42-43). The word παράδεισος ‘paradise’ being the very one used in the LXX to translate “the garden in Eden” (Gen. 2:4).

The imagery of the garden is found within St John’s description of the burial of Jesus:

“And after these things, Joseph who was from Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (but a secret one for fear of the Jews), asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus…and Nicodemus came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about a hundred pounds.  So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in strips of linen cloth with the fragrant spices, as is the Jews’ custom to prepare for burial.  Now there was a garden at the place where he was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one was yet buried.  So there, on account of the day of preparation of the Jews, because the tomb was close by, they buried Jesus.”

[Jn. 19:38–42].

Jesus is buried in a garden. The spices Nicodemus brings were used for kingly burials. We read in Neh. 3:15-16 that David’s burial site was in a garden, carved into the rock, very similar to the description of the burial of Jesus. He is laid in a tomb, akin to the reclining of the ‘king on his couch’ in the Song of Solomon 1:12. Interestingly, we find these same fragrant spices mentioned later in Song of Solomon, in association with a garden:

nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon spice with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes with all chief spices. A garden fountain, a well of living water, flowing streams from Lebanon.

[Song 4:14–15]

These are the spices used in the anointing oil of the temple (Ex. 30:23). The body of Jesus is thus treated in kingly and priestly manner and made to represent the temple of Eden in its fragrance. Song of Solomon links the imagery of the anointing herbs and perfumes with the “fountain of life” that flows from the new temple (Ezek. 46), recalling the flowing waters from the garden in Eden (Gen. 2:10). These same waters flow from Christ’s body when he is impaled by the roman spear (Jn. 19:34). Hence, the Latin chant:

“Vidi aquam egredientem de templo, a latere dextro…”

I saw water flowing from the temple…from its right side…

Likewise, Ezekiel, in an earlier passage, speaks of the new creation and the forgiveness of sins at the restoration of Israel as a “desolate land that has become like the garden of Eden…” (Ezek. 36:35), thus revealing again the Jewish expectation of Messianic renewal and the return to paradise.

The Woman in the Garden

All of this is assumed, I would argue, when we encounter the portrait of Mary and Jesus in the garden (Jn. 20:1-2, 11-18). The Garden setting itself calls to mind the Garden of Eden, and as I have already hinted in my first paragraph, it would seem that the image of Christ the gardener also serves as a link back to the imagery of Eden, and of God “walking in the cool of the day” (Gen 3:8). Yet, while there, the Lord appeared to pronounce the judgment of death on Adam and Eve, the gardeners of Eden, in St John’s account, the Lord, the New Adam, the gardener par excellence, comes walking in the cool of the garden to comfort the weeping Mary, a type of the cursed Eve, to bring hope - the hope of new life - of resurrection. As St Cyril of Alexandria puts it:

He asked the question [why are you weeping?], then, wishing to end her sorrow. For it was meet that the Lord should be our restorer in this way also. For by Adam's transgression, as in the first fruits of the race, the sentence went forth to the whole world: Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return [Gen 3:19]; and to the woman in special: In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children [Gen 3: 16].

To be rich in sorrow, then, as by way of a penalty, was the fate of woman. It was, therefore, necessary that by the mouth of Him That had passed sentence of condemnation, the burden of that ancient curse should be removed, our Saviour Christ now wiping away the tears from the eyes of the woman, or rather of all womankind, as in Mary the first fruits. For she, first of women, being offended at the death of the Saviour, and grieving thereat, was thought worthy to hear the voice that cut short her weeping; the power of the word, in fact, extending also to the whole race of women.

in her first----I mean in Mary----all womankind, so to speak, are crowned with a double honour. For though at first she thus lamented, and made Christ an occasion for weeping, she turned her mourning into joy when she was told to forbear from tears by Him, Who, by His own sentence of old, had made woman subject to the attacks of sorrow… but just as He once made her subject unto sorrow in Paradise, when she hearkened to the voice of the serpent, and ministered to the devil's wiles, so now again in a garden He bids her refrain from weeping. Releasing her from that curse which bound her unto sorrow, He bids her be the first messenger of tidings of great joy, and proclaim to the disciples His journey heavenward; that as the first woman, the mother of all mankind, was condemned for listening to the devil's voice, and through her the whole race of women, so also this woman, in that she had hearkened to our Saviour's words, and announced tidings fraught with life eternal, might deliver the entire race of women from the charge of old.

The Lord, therefore, grants unto Mary that, besides being delivered from tears, and from a heart ever prone to sorrow, her feet also should be beautiful. For, as the Prophet exclaims: “How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things!” [Isa 52:7]

[St Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on St John VI:660-662].

The curse is reversed in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and this revelation is given first to the weeping woman in the garden. His compassion and love shown in his tender pronouncement of her name - “Mary”, whereupon she finally recognises her Lord and Master, crying our in joy ‘Rabbouni!’, and rushing forward to embrace him.

Love Stronger than Death

I have quoted Song of Solomon a few times already, but I think it is key to our understanding this portrait set before us by John. I cannot help but notice the parallels between the image of the Lord and Mary in the garden, and the two lovers in Song of Songs. In Mary’s love and recognition for her Master, we must unmistakably recognise the love of the Church for her Lord. Her cry of ‘Rabbouni’ is akin to the Brides cry ‘My Beloved!’ (Song 6:3). It is through the love of Christ that death is broken, and the new life is granted to the world in the Church, who is his Bride. As the poet notes:

“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm;

for love is strong as death; passion is fierce as Sheol;

its flashes are flashes of fire; it is a blazing flame.”

[Song 8:6]

It was through this love, the love of God that was stronger than death, that Christ accomplished our return to the garden. And it is within this garden that we are again invited by the gardener to enjoy the feast of Eden. The first-fruits of Christ’s resurrection, and enter into the festal gathering, of the wedding supper of the Lamb.

“I have come to my garden, my sister bride,

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice,

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey,

I have drunk my wine with my milk!

Eat, O friends! Drink and become drunk with love!”

[Song. 5:1]

O you who dwell in the gardens, my companions are listening for your voice;

let me hear it.

Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of spices!

[Song 8:13–14.]

Let us then, like Mary, run to meet our Lord in the cool of the garden. And being those who dwell in the garden once more, feast on the milk and honey of the new life restored, the new wine of the festal Supper of our Lord and Bridegroom, who has ransomed us from sin, death and the grave, and given to us his everlasting Kingdom.

For his glory,

Amen.