The Risen Gardener

Yesterday, I wrote about the perspective of the disciples on Good Friday.  They were in a state of grief and deep disappointment as they watched their teacher, friend and master crucified and slain to the mocking and ridicule of onlookers.  Their hopes were dashed in an instant.  Jesus was not who they expected.  We often share in that same disappointment.  Sometimes we think God is going to handle a situation a certain way and when he doesn't we're disappointed.  Perhaps its the death of a loved one or a bitter divorce.  Maybe its in the midst of raising a rebellious teenager or the loss of a job.  We become disappointed and think that Jesus isn't who we expected him to be.  We wait, just as the disciples did on that Saturday, without hope, in disbelief, and anger.  But then we slowly begin to hear the soft melody of a song.  The chorus begins to play in our hearts, "Oh death, where is your sting.  Oh Hell, where is your victory."  Its the beginning of hope as it rises within us.  Something new is happening.

That first Easter morning when Mary went to the tomb, she was startled when she found it empty.  She assumed that they had taken Jesus' body somewhere and even told the angels that appeared to her that that was the case.  Her grief over Jesus was palpable in this moment.  In the midst of her weeping she sees a man who she takes to be a gardener.  Indeed, the man is a gardener, but again not the gardener we expect.  He is the Risen Gardener.  He is the one who will make all things new.  Mary's grief and disappointment is replaced with joy and a renewed hope.  As we see Jesus interact with the rest of the apostles and disciples, we see a new hope within them.  Their old dreams of freeing Israel from Rome's tyranny are still gone.  They have been laid to rest in the empty tomb.  In their place however arises a new and greater hope.  A hope in the present and future kingdom of Jesus.  With Jesus' resurrection, he pronounces that the new kingdom has begun.  The next act in history has taken place and he comes as a risen gardener to begin the work of making all things new.

This work begins in us.  The hope of freedom is indeed alive and well in the disciples, but it is not from Rome's tyranny any longer.  It is the hope of freedom over the oppression of sin.  With Jesus' resurrection, he has become king and lord over us.  No longer does sin rule.  His resurrection proclaims that God is king and he is doing something new.  Just as Jesus put to death our sin on the cross by paying for our deserved punishment, he gives us the promise of new life.  His resurrection and identification as a gardener points back to the beginning of creation where God created the garden.  In this garden he raised plants and wildlife and there he chose to place man in his own image and to be his representative in creation.  Yet his resurrection and identification as a gardener also point towards the very end as well where we see the new Heaven and new Earth.  We are able to hear the words, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man."  We hear Jesus' words as he says, "Behold, I am making all things new."  Is there any greater news?  God is Lord over the Earth.  One day all of our disappointments will fall away for God will dwell with man once again. 

So on Good Friday we commiserate with the disciples in their disappointment and grief, but we also lay those disappointments before the cross and we wait for God to do something new.  On Easter morning we behold the risen Christ.  Our disappointments are washed away as a new greater hope fills our hearts.  One that points to the forgiveness of our sins and the binding of ourselves together with Christ.  In Christ's resurrection we are risen from the depths of our sin.  We become coheirs with Jesus as celebrate his lordship.  May our hope be made new on this Easter Sunday.  May we revel in the victory of Christ over death.  May we relish in our forgiveness and take joy in the new work that God is doing.  May we set aside the disappointments that we laid at the cross and boldly proclaim, "He is Risen!"  May we hope in the Risen Gardener.

The Disappointing Cross

Yesterday was Good Friday and it got me thinking about what it must have been like for the disciples.  The week leading up to Good Friday was filled with excitement.  Palm Sunday began with the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  His followers laid down their cloaks before him and there was a deep sense of excitement among the people.  As the week continued Jesus confronted the Pharisees and his disciples began to wonder.  As N.T. Wright points out, they figured they would have the top jobs of the very Earthly kingdom of Jesus.  Their anticipation grew throughout the week.  Jesus was about to become King and Israel was about to be free.  Then something different began to take shape.

On the evening before he was to be executed, he shared a meal with his closest disciples.  He said to them that one of them would betray him.  Everyone denied it, and why shouldn't they?  Jesus is going to become king, to betray him would not end well and Jesus confirmed that.  Soon after that, Jesus said that they will all scatter and Peter stood up and boasted that he will not.  Put yourself in Peter's shoes.  He has been one of the most intimate disciples of Jesus.  He has declared that Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ.  He and everyone else knows that when Jesus becomes King, Peter will occupy one of the top positions in the kingdom.  Jesus has tried to prepare him for what is to happen next, but they haven't truly heard.  They still do not understand, their hopes lie in the wrong things.

The night Jesus is betrayed, Peter is there.  As the guards grab Jesus, Peter draws his sword and strikes one of them and is then reprimanded by Jesus and the guard is healed.  What must have been going through Peter's mind?  Surely, he would have been completely puzzled.  The man he has followed for three years is now being handed over to those that want him killed.  All of his hopes lie in Jesus and yet Jesus willingly goes with the guards.  This can't be right.  The disciples scatter as Jesus is led to the council of priests and elders.  After following for so long Peter knows nothing else.  This time though, he follows at a distance.  He has been by Jesus' side for so long and yet now he follows in the shadows.  Perhaps he thinks Jesus is up to something.  Or maybe he just doesn't know what else to do.  So he follows... at a distance.

Then Jesus stands before the council, Peter just within earshot.  The priests bring in witnesses each bearing false testimony against Jesus.  Peter hears the testimonies and his blood begins to boil.  He was there, he knows that those things aren't true.  Why doesn't Jesus say something?  Why doesn't he reprove them like he always does?  Something inside Peter wants to shout at the false witnesses and free Jesus from his bondage.  Peter still doesn't understand who is freeing who.  Then the high priest asks Jesus a question, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?"  Jesus doesn't respond with a question like he normally does, but merely replies, "I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."  At this the high priest condemns him to death and people begin spitting on and beating him.  They mock and ridicule him.  Peter stands looking on.  What has happened?  How could this have gone so wrong?

He is in shock.  All of his hopes had been in Jesus.  His hope for a better life.  His hope for the nation of Israel.  He has invested the last three years of his life with this man, following him all around Israel and now Jesus is going to be executed.  Peter has seen Jesus calm the storm, feed thousands, heal the sick, walk on water and even bring the dead back to life.  Yet now he watches in horror as Jesus is beaten and carried away to Pilate.  Peter's excitement about the coming kingdom has come crashing down.  He is filled with fear and disappointment.  He is completely alone.  Suddenly someone accuses him of being a disciple of Jesus.  He comes back from within himself and becomes defensive.  He denies ever knowing Jesus.  Things are all a whirlwind around him, two more times he denies Jesus and after the third the rooster crows and something inside Peter breaks.  He has denied the very man he swore allegiance to.  He has denied ever knowing his teacher, his friend, his master.  He is overwhelmed with grief.  You can feel him saying, "Why God!!  Why is this happening?"

It is good Friday and Peter watches as Jesus is nailed to a cross.  He watches as his hopes are dashed.  To Peter the cross brings no hope.  Everything that he had thought about for so long is being washed away by the cross.  He has no hope left, only disappointment, only shame.  To him and the rest of the disciples, it is a disappointing cross.  It is indeed Good Friday, but to Peter and the disciples there is nothing good about it. 


When we observe Good Friday we share in the disciples' disappointments.  How often have we gotten it wrong?  How many times have we expected Jesus to do something a certain way only to be disappointed?  And how many times have we shared in Peter's struggle?  Have we traveled at a distance, while Jesus goes to take our punishment?  How many times have we stood by the fire keeping ourselves warm as Jesus is mocked and ridiculed?  Been embarrassed to stand by his side?  And how many times have we denied our savior?  The disciples didn't understand what Jesus was really up to.  The cross was a disappointment to the disciples.  You can feel the it in them on the the road to Emmaus as they converse with a stranger about Jesus being crucified.  It was a scandalous, disappointing cross and if that was all the story, then it would remain so.  But the story is not over.  When Jesus cries out, "It is finished!"  He doesn't declare the end of the story, only the end of the act, the next part is soon to begin, but until then we wait.  We wait in the disappointment of our hopes.  We wait without understanding.  We look to God and simply ask, "What are you doing?"  He gently tells us, "Come to the scandalous cross and simply wait and see."

Forgive them

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."  (Luke 23:34)

Is there any statement made by Christ that better demonstrates his deep compassion and love for the world?  Imagine the scene for a second.  He has been nailed to the cross.  The mockers and scorners continue to condemn him.  The pharisees and rulers are sneering at him while a group of people are casting lots for his clothes.  Most of his friends have abandoned him at this point, one of his closest denied even knowing him, while another was the one responsible for Jesus being apprehended.  Jesus, already weak from flogging and the carrying of the cross, struggles to breathe.  He agonizingly pushes up on his pierced feet gasping for air and cries out, "Father, forgive them!"  The innocent, righteous Son of the Living God asks the Father to forgive his enemies.

In thinking about forgiveness, I'm reminded that whenever someone comes to me for forgiveness, I'm called to forgive, yet this isn't what Jesus is doing here.  Jesus is going far beyond that.  These people who he's interceding on behalf of are the people who are torturing him.  The pharisees are even relishing it, they mock him with cruel jokes.  There is no one here looking for forgiveness and yet Jesus forgives.  Yet this still doesn't quite put a finger what Jesus is doing here, to say that he merely forgives them would be to sell Jesus short.  It is an even more earth-shattering statement than one of simple forgiveness.

The situation is rife with tension.  The Holy One of God is being crucified and the people responsible celebrate his death with a grin.  Feel that anger as you watch on and in the same moment hear Jesus say, "Forgive them."  Jesus hangs upon the cross, crying out to God and asks the Father to forgive these sinners.  The ones who drove the nails through his hands, the ones who spit upon him as he made his way to Golgotha, Jesus intercedes on their behalf in the midst of his persecution, in the midst of his torture.  What a heart of forgiveness.  To be able to be so compassionate and loving that your forgiveness goes beyond simply a personal matter, but goes even to the extent to asking others to forgive in the midst of the torture.  It is no doubt that one of the most difficult teachings of Christ is to love your enemies and here Jesus exemplifies that statement.  Can we have the same courage as Jesus in the way we forgive?  Can we forgive even when not prompted to do so?  We won't always get the apology that we are hoping for.  We won't always be asked for forgiveness, but neither should serve as a qualification for forgiveness.  Can we then ask others to forgive when they are enraged on our behalf?  May we learn to forgive like Jesus, may we develop a heart of compassion that is quick to forgive.