1 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: Life Audio. Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We're glad to 2 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:18,240 Speaker 1: have you listening with us. Today's topic is how God 3 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,600 Speaker 1: meets us in a garden and how gardens are living 4 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:26,440 Speaker 1: pictures of promise. We'll return with the devotional after a 5 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:44,840 Speaker 1: brief message from our sponsors. The Garden after the Grave 6 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: written and read by Sarah Fraser John twenty eleven. But 7 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, 8 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: she stooped to look into the tomb. Can you see her? 9 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: This is a woman broken by death, unable to keep 10 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 1: the tears inside. It was a heartbreaking scene for those 11 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: of us who know the story. It is tempting to 12 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: step into the story and just reassure Mary that Jesus 13 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: has already risen, But let's remember she did not know this. 14 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:27,760 Speaker 1: She has come to this garden looking for death. It 15 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 1: says that she looked inside the tomb expecting a body, 16 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:36,319 Speaker 1: not a miracle. Although Mary stood in a garden, she 17 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: did not expect life. Resurrection. Morning begins in a garden, 18 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:44,680 Speaker 1: but so does the first few chapters of the Bible. 19 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:48,960 Speaker 1: Genesis two eight says and the Lord planted a garden 20 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 1: in Eden in the east and there he put the 21 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: man whom he had formed. As the story of Easter begins, 22 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: we find Mary at a tomb in a garden. Do 23 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:06,320 Speaker 1: we expect to find God here? Mary didn't. She was searching, weeping, 24 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: and only able to see the darkness of death. Instead, 25 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 1: she sees an empty tomb and two angels. The weeping 26 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: does not end at the sight of the heavenly beings. Instead, 27 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: sorrow wraps itself around her and clouds her view. She 28 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:30,559 Speaker 1: doesn't see the empty tomb as hopeful but mournful. Immediately, 29 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:34,240 Speaker 1: Mary turns her grief doesn't allow her to see the 30 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: truth about the garden, the empty tomb, and then the 31 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: man standing in front of her. John twenty fourteen says 32 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did 33 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: not know that it was Jesus. The beautiful part of 34 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: this story is that Mary mistook Jesus for the gardener. 35 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:01,240 Speaker 1: She did not know that he was and is, the 36 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:05,880 Speaker 1: great gardener. Mary stood in the garden, blinded by tears 37 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:10,360 Speaker 1: and unable to see that resurrection was right in front 38 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: of her. In the winter, our gardens lay dead, devoid 39 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:20,920 Speaker 1: of any kind of color and life. As we winter 40 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: through the cold months, the ground beneath is not dead 41 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: at all, but waiting. Just like Mary, We might need 42 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: to remember that sometimes we stand in the place of 43 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: new life, even if we are surrounded by loss. Reading 44 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:40,280 Speaker 1: about this garden, Mary stood and reminds me of the 45 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: first garden. God created life in a garden, but sin 46 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: entered there and humanity was sent out. The garden of 47 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: Eden is now a symbol of what was lost, God's presence, 48 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: a sense of wholeness, and unbroken fellowship. All of these 49 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: things were lost in the first garden, but they are 50 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: soon to be recovered in this second garden. In a moment, 51 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: Mary's tears turned to wonderment. John twenty sixteen through seventeen 52 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: says Jesus said to her Mary, she turned and said 53 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:23,599 Speaker 1: to him in Aramaic raboni, which means teacher. Jesus meets 54 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 1: Mary not in a spectacle of power and glory, but 55 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 1: an intimacy, reminding her of the relationship. When Jesus says 56 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: Mary's name, she suddenly recognizes him. It is in this 57 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: moment new life begins to bud in her heart. It 58 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:48,239 Speaker 1: is not a coincidence that the resurrection happens in a garden. 59 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 1: Gardens require a burial of the seed into the ground, 60 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: awaiting and patience. Remember that a seed is not dead 61 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 1: when it is buried. The amazing things about gardens is 62 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:05,239 Speaker 1: that during the winter they look like loss, emptiness, and sorrow. 63 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 1: But in the spring God brings life from what we 64 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:13,799 Speaker 1: see as death. Every spring we are reminded that death 65 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:19,480 Speaker 1: was defeated and Jesus rose from the dead. There is 66 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:23,720 Speaker 1: a great truth here because Jesus's physical resurrection brings with 67 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 1: it a great promise. The door Jesus opened for us 68 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 1: after the idea that all things will be made new. 69 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:34,600 Speaker 1: Even now we see this happening in our life as 70 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:39,599 Speaker 1: God restores us, remembers us, and gives us rest. God 71 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: met us first in the garden as creator. Jesus met 72 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:49,160 Speaker 1: Mary in a garden as teacher friend. One day Jesus 73 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: returned as king, and he will meet us to take 74 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: us home, making all things new. And he who was 75 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 1: seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all 76 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 1: things new. Also, he said, write this down, for these 77 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 1: words are trustworthy and true Revelation twenty one five. Just 78 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: like Mary, we can rest in the truth that death 79 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:18,920 Speaker 1: does not win, loss is not permanent, and God grows 80 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:23,000 Speaker 1: new life where we least expect it. The same God 81 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:27,680 Speaker 1: who planted both gardens is still tending our story today. 82 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: Can you take the story of the gardens and believe 83 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:36,800 Speaker 1: that life happens after the grave? What in your life 84 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: feels dead and buried? How can you trust God with 85 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 1: this truth that the grave is not the final chapter 86 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:51,760 Speaker 1: of your story? Additional reading Genesis two eight through nine, 87 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:57,599 Speaker 1: Genesis three, twenty two through twenty four, Isaiah sixty one eleven, 88 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:07,039 Speaker 1: First Corinthians five seventeen, Revelation twenty two one through two. 89 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to today's devotional. If you liked what 90 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: you heard today, we want to make sure you know 91 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: about our sister podcast, Your Daily Prayer. 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