BACK TO THE GARDEN

Jn.20:14-16 – TPT – Then she turned around to leave, and there was Jesus standing in front of her, but she didn’t realize that it was him!

He said to her, “Dear woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”

Mary answered, thinking he was only the gardener, “Sir, if you have taken his body somewhere else, tell me, and I will go and . . .”

“Mary,” Jesus interrupted her.

Turning to face him, she said, “Rabboni!” (Aramaic for “my teacher”)

This is one of the great stories of redemption in the Bible. There are so many things going on here; there is a woman of the night coming into the light, there is a reversal of what happened in Eden so long ago, and there is the joy of first love. Mary reminds me of Eve wandering in the Garden so many years ago, her curiosity ended in tragedy, Mary’s desperation led to redemption. Eve’s fall into temptation marked the beginning of sorrows for all of us. Here at the garden tomb we find a woman with a dark background looking desperately for the One who had loved her. In a moment of recognition her sorrow gave way to joy. It was too good to be true, Jesus was alive !!!

Here is how Barclay describes this scene.

“Her whole conversation with the person she thought to be the gardener shows her love. ‘If you are the man who has removed him, tell me where you have laid him.’ She never mentioned the name of Jesus; she thought everyone must know of whom she was thinking; her mind was so full of him that there was not anyone else for her in all the world. ‘I will take him away.’ How was her woman’s strength to do that? Where was she going to take him? She had not even thought of these problems. Her one desire was to weep her love over Jesus’ dead body. As soon as she had answered the person she took to be the gardener, she must have turned again to the tomb and so turned her back on Jesus. Then came his single word, ‘Mary!’ and her single answer, ‘Master!’”

One word from the Lord is all it takes. The beauty of this word was that Jesus called Mary again by name. That was all she needed, “My sheep know My voice”. Mary responded by falling to His feet in worship (Matthew 28:10). The nightmare that began in a garden thousands of years before was now over. Through one woman’s sin a race was held in bondage, through one woman’s faith a new day had just dawned.