Back in the early 90’s our family lived in Brooklyn Park. We had a large garden in the back corner of a half acre lot with plenty of soft topsoil. One May day I was out tilling the garden and my youngest son Andy, who was about six at the time, wanted to help so I gave him a shovel to turn over some soil. He was so enamored with digging holes that he wanted to continue even after I was done cultivating. I left him to play with his older brother Matt who also got a shovel to dig around in the garden. I was pleased that they were so diligent about breaking up the remaining clumps of dirt.

I went back out to check on them a while later, and as I walked toward the garden, they were no where to be seen – just a huge mound of dirt in the center of the garden. I ran over to the mound of dirt and stared down into a gaping rectangular hole about four feet deep. And there they were still persistently digging away. At that point, play time was over and the “Tide commercial” started. But the boys were resistant to leaving the garden; they were quite content to stay in what looked like a self-made grave!

Mary Magdalene dug herself a huge hole in the garden on Easter morning. She was quite content wallowing in her own grave of despair and anger and futility. In John’s version of the Easter story, we read that Mary approached the garden “while it was still dark”, an outward reflection of the shadows filling her mind and heart. When she finds the tomb empty, Mary panics and runs to tell the other disciples about the possible grave robbery, hoping that they will help her find Jesus’ body. What she wanted most in that garden, was one more opportunity to mourn at the side of a corpse. Her spirit was already entombed. We read that Mary was so entrenched in this figurative grave of hers that she didn’t even recognize Jesus when he appeared to her. I can only imagine what a letdown it must be to rise from the dead and have your best friends not even pay attention to you!

To Mary, stuck in the rut she’d dug for herself, Jesus asked, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Then John writes, “supposing him to be the gardener, she said…” It’s intriguing, that line, “supposing him to be the gardener.” It’s a loaded statement. Biblical writers often included multiple layers of meaning in their poetry and narratives. To emphasize a theme, literary techniques were used like repetition, word play, rhythm, meter, alliteration. Another is called the principle of first mention. Writers would intentionally use a word to connect that new story to an old story where the key word was first used.

So when Mary mistakes Jesus for a gardener, where is the first mention of a garden in the Bible? Well, in the first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter 2, the story of God placing Adam and Eve in a garden. What happens to these first people in this first garden? They chose to live differently than God created them to live and consequently, they lost their place in the garden. Death entered the picture and paradise was lost.

From the creation story we look all the way forward to the Easter story. Jesus is buried in a garden tomb on a Friday afternoon and on Sunday morning he’s mistaken for a gardener. Do you catch what’s going on? The gospel writer wants us to see the connection between the Garden of Eden and Jesus rising from a garden. In the Garden of Eden, paradise gave way to death and in the Easter Garden, death gave way to paradise! A new Adam comes on the scene and removes the fear and finality of death by conquering it. How powerful that it happened in a garden, a fertile place for growth – reclaiming it, restoring it, renewing it and refusing to give up on God’s dreams of life for the world! Through that encounter in the garden, Mary recognized Jesus’ presence in her life and exclaimed, “I have seen the Lord!”

Are you sitting in a hole, or are you enjoying the view on Easter morning? Are you clinging to graves or are you searching for signs of new life? Are you fixated on your problems, or can you recognize where Christ is helping to navigate a way through? Or perhaps you know a Mary Magdalene by some other name, who by their attitudes and actions seems to be digging their own grave.

Robert Schachner and John Whited compiled a book entitled, Lost Words of the English Language (Holbrook, Mass.: Orion Press, 1989). Somewhat tongue-in-cheek, they seek to rescue English words nearing extinction like the word “fossarian.” It refers to a minister who sidelines as a grave-digger. Easter calls us all to such a dual role, to caringly minister to the hurts and heartaches of people around us; and to assertively dig people out of graves, people who have been buried alive in their despair, their bitterness, their resignation. The world needs more fossarians who dig with the enthusiasm and persistence – of a couple grade school boys in a backyard garden!

Paul Stuckey, a United Methodist pastor in Ohio, tells the story of an eye-catching ad in a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, newspaper’s classified section. Big, bold letters advertised “Used Tombstone.” The ad’s text reads, “Used tombstone for sale. Real bargain for someone named ‘Dingo.’ For more information call ...”

An ad for a used tombstone may at first seem like a new low. But think again: a “Used Tombstone” means that its previous owner no longer has any use for it. It’s become a castoff, an unnecessary item. The good news of Christ’s resurrection conveys exactly the same message: the tombstone is no longer needed! The tomb is empty! Because Christ is lifted up, we are lifted up! And to think it all happened in a garden!