TODAY’S DECLARATION
I declare in Jesus’ name I am not alone. The Lord Jesus never leaves me nor forsakes me. He speaks life into me even when I see only death around me. He guards my heart and mind.
THE GARDENER
The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is so fascinating to me. I love it when Peter and John have a footrace to the tomb. I love it when the Angel who rolled the giant stone away so we could see in, says, “There! I said it” after waiting a millennia to deliver the message. I also love Mary Magdalene and her brokenness in not being able to find the Lord.
We’ve all been there, haven’t we? The diagnosis where the world crashes down or the sentence where the gavel does. The words that cut, the doors that slam, the silence that shouts, “You’re alone! Nobody cares. You’re too broken.” Admit it. You’ve been Mary. On your worst day, you didn’t see the Lord. But just like Mary, he was right there in front of you.
But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, 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!” – John 20:11-16
In her grief, Mary mistook Jesus for the gardener. Did you know there’s a great big prophetic word in that? You see, the first Adam was a gardener. That was literally his identity and purpose. He was created to tend the garden or “guarded place” where he met God in the cool of the day to talk.
Did Adam have a hoe or a shovel? No. He didn’t need one because, just like the Word who spoke the universe into being, Adam’s voice caused vines to spread. It caused trees to blossom and produce to grow up tall and multiply. The job of a gardener is to speak life. To guard that life from enemies breaking in to steal, kill and destroy, and keep the good things within the garden from going outside the boundaries where they were not protected. It was a fruitful place.
Everything changed when Adam fell. See, Eve was tricked, but Adam was not deceived. Knowing Eve’s fallen state, he had to make a choice. Leave the woman alone in sin and death, or commit treason and go through this thing called death and dying together with her. Unconditional love motivated the first Adam. Now only able to manage life and fend off death, Adam was driven from his rightful place as the gardener.
Well, when Jesus redeems something, he redeems it fully. Not only did he take back the keys to sin and death, he made a way for man back into the garden and Mary Magdalene saw it. She saw him as a gardener. And what did Jesus say? “Mary.” He called her by name—breathing life back into her broken heart and redeeming the curse on Eve through Mary’s belief. Unconditional love motivated the second Adam, Jesus, as well.
Are you a gardener? Do you speak life over your kids, your marriage, your money and your mission even on your worst day? Jesus has not left you. He has not forsaken you. He is right there calling your name.
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