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Gardens and deserts
“But there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid” John 19:41. Many of the defining moments in Biblical history took place in locations that seem to reflect the nature of the events.
The first such moment took place in a beautiful garden where God had placed Adam and Eve. Of course, the Garden of Eden was special because it was God's garden; there one could meet Him as he walked about in the cool of the evening. Then the serpent came into play, seeking to separate Adam and Eve from their Creator. And, as we know, they were cast out of the garden and the presence of God into a hostile world full of thorns and thistles, because they had listened to the serpent and acted against God's order.
The second great event took place in a wilderness where Jesus, the second Adam, faced Satan's temptations. It is believed that the scene of this confrontation was the wild Judean Desert, a dangerous and inhospitable place. Barclay's Bible Commentary says: “Between Jerusalem on the central plateau and the Dead Sea stretches the desert... It is an area of yellow sand, crumbling limestone and scattered gravel. One sees curved layers of rock, mountain ranges going in all directions. The hills are like heaps of dust; the blistered limestone is peeling off, the rocks are bare and jagged... It glows and shimmers with heat like a great furnace. The desert stretches to the Dead Sea and drops 360 meters in depth, a slope of limestone, pebbles and marl, traversed by cliffs and circular hollows and finally a precipitous drop down to the Dead Sea". What a fitting image for the fallen world, where the Son of Man, alone and without food, resisted all the temptations of Satan, who intended to turn him away from God. However, Jesus remained faithful.
And for the most important event, the scene changes to a stone grave carved out of bare rock. Here the body was taken by Jesus after his death. By dying he has conquered sin and death and has disempowered Satan. He is resurrected from death - and again in a garden. Mary Magdalene mistook him for the gardener until he called her by name. But now he was God, walking in the cool of morning, ready and able to lead his brothers and sisters back to the tree of life. Yes, hallelujah!
Prayer:
Redeemer, through your loving sacrifice, you have saved us from the wilderness of this world, to walk with us now, every day and forever. So we want to respond with joyful gratitude. Amen
from Hilary Buck
