Whenever one reads any of the canonical Gospels, and especially John, one must ask, “What is being expressed here? What is the evangelist saying? Is there perhaps more than one meaning intended?” John alone presents Mary Magdalene outside the tomb where Jesus had been buried. She is weeping, displaying grief at her sense of loss, and also revealing her devoted love for Jesus, whom she thinks is dead: “Woman, why are you weeping?” “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” In Mary’s darkened understanding, her “lord” has become a lifeless corpse. She is speaking to a man whom, John writes, “Mary supposed was the gardener.” This stranger speaks her name —“Mary”—and “she turns around” (from unbelief) and says, “Master!” Heart meets heart in a single word that penetrated the darkness of her grief-stricken mind. And so Mary Magdalene encounters Jesus in a new way—not only as a man, but as the Risen LORD, as the divine Presence to her here and now. But nothing is wasted in John’s Gospel—not a single crumb of bread, not a word. For in truth, the Christ whom Mary meets is the true Gardener of human souls, human hearts—if we co-operate with his divine work in us.
Do you like to garden? I surely do. At this time of year, it is a matter of preparing the soil for our planting or transplanting, and pulling up numerous unwanted volunteers (“weeds”) before they take over. Because I have always gardened organically, I do not add any poisons to the garden—better for those who eat the produce, and far less dangerous for animals who may nibble or steal a delectable tomato. In any case, our outside gardens are good images of the gardens of our souls. The garden you plant on the outside is an image of the garden within. The gardens of our souls, of our minds, need tending, too. They need nourishing, and that is why we read Scripture and other spiritual writings, meditate, and pray. It is evident that many Americans today follow the way of Western Europeans: we neglect the gardens of our souls, we do not nourish ourselves with spiritual reading or prayer, we do not meditate in silence, we do not pull up the weeds of unbelief, hatred, delusions. Many of us are too busy making money, or entertaining ourselves, to cultivate the gardens of our souls. Christ the Gardener requires our loving cooperation every step of the way. God works in us, but not without us. If we do not make the effort, we produce no good fruits. And if we poison our souls, our fruits are poisonous to other creatures. Hallelujah! Praise the LORD!
