I was sitting at my dining table this morning listening to an online sermon. The sun is shining today … and my soul was drinking in the sunshine. Winters where I live are very dark and grey, cloudy and rainy. Eventually you reach a point where everything in you feels starved for sunshine.
So, I was sitting here listening to an online sermon, filled with joy because of the sunshine. Out my window I could see the raspberry vines in the garden.
The online sermon I was listening to was from John 20:1-18 … about Mary Magdalene going to the tomb of Jesus early in the morning on the first day of the week after Jesus had just been crucified.
“Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’
“’They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
“’Woman,’ he said, ‘why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’”
“Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’
“Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’
“She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher).” – John 20:11-16
As I sat here at my table this morning, soaking up the sunshine and soaking up the account of Jesus revealing himself to Mary Magdalene after he had been resurrected … all the while gazing out the window at the raspberry vines in the garden … I was struck with how Mary had had a life which had felt very “chopped off.”
Prior to meeting Jesus, Mary Magdalene had been inhabited and possessed by 7 demons. It can only be assumed that her life had most likely been marked by trauma and severe abuse. Upon meeting Jesus Christ, Jesus drove all 7 demons out of her (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2).
I couldn’t help thinking how Mary’s life was a lot like a raspberry vine in my garden which was growing out of the garden fencing last summer. This particular vine was destined for destruction, since growing outside of the garden fencing made it vulnerable to the deer eating off all its growth and the lawn mower mowing over it as it drooped down to the ground.
A lot of people in life have lives which are a lot like this. Their life is going a wrong direction. Their life is destined for destruction. Their life is in a place where it is going to be “eaten away” and “mown over” … but they are at a loss, and don’t know what to do about it.
To save the raspberry vine in my garden, I chopped it off down near the base … thereby removing all the growth which had been going the wrong direction outside the garden fencing. In the same way, this is what Jesus did with Mary Magdalene. Jesus cast out the 7 demons. Jesus worked as a “gardener” (so to speak) on her soul, pruning off and removing that in her life which was “growing the wrong way.” In a sense, Mary was a lot like the raspberry vine in my garden which was chopped off down near the base. By pruning the raspberry vine at the base there is a chance for the vine to have new life and new growth in a new season.
So also, this is what Jesus (as a spiritual “gardener”) did with Mary … pruning her back to the base so that she could have a new life and new growth in a new season.
Sitting at my dining table this morning, it is now currently a new season. New growth and new little green leaves are starting to emerge on the raspberry plant.
As I listened to the sermon about Mary Magdalene, pondering all the new life and new growth which is currently springing out of the chopped-off vine, I just had to pause the sermon and go out to the garden to take a photo for you.
Here is the chopped-off vine from one direction. Just look at all that new growth!
Moving around to the other side, here is the chopped-off vine from the other direction. The short chopped-off section is there on the left-side of the photo … and all that new growth is coming from the chopped-off vine! Is that not amazing!
When Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early in the morning after Jesus had been crucified, she was a lot like the chopped-off raspberry vine from last summer. All the old growth (going the wrong direction) had been removed. But there wasn’t any sign of new life yet. There wasn’t any sign of hope.
For Mary, it probably felt like her life had been chopped off … and all hope was lost.
So also, in the same way, those who have suffered trauma and severe abuse probably feel a lot like Mary … they might feel like their life has been “chopped off” (so to speak) and that there is no hope. Those whose lives have gone the wrong way and who have suffered the painful consequences of wrong decisions (having their life “eaten away” or “mowed off”) … they likewise probably feel a lot like Mary, like their life has been “chopped off” and there is no hope.
As I was listening to the online sermon this morning, the pastor made a statement which really grabbed me: “When she turned from the tomb, she saw the Teacher.”
Mary had been facing the tomb. Mary had been focusing on the tomb.
Mary’s hope for the future had ended with the tomb.
But when Mary turned from the tomb … she saw Jesus! She saw her Teacher!
So also, when it comes to life we too can feel “chopped off” and feel like our life is nothing but a tomb. It can feel as if all hope for the future has ended with the “tomb” of what has happened to us … or the “tomb” of our own regrets and wrong decisions.
But just like Mary, when we turn from the tomb, we will see Jesus!
When we turn from the tomb, we will see our Teacher!
Hope was not lost! Jesus had risen from the dead! Jesus had conquered sin, Satan, death, and hell. It was a new season now!
Because of Jesus, there was hope for new life!
Because of Jesus’s resurrection and the hope of new life, Mary was a lot like the chopped-off raspberry vine in my garden which is now bursting forth with lots of new life and new growth! The raspberry vine in my garden will flourish in this new season. There will be lots of new leaves! There will be lots of new little runners! There will be lots of fruit!
So also, in the same way, this right here is what Jesus does for each one of us today!
Hope is not lost!
Because of Jesus’s resurrection and the hope of new life, we too can flourish in a new season! We can put out “new leaves” (so to speak) in our own life! We can produce lots of “new little runners” in our own life! We can have a beautiful fruitful life! Because of Jesus!
Just like Mary, when we turn from the tomb … we will see our Teacher!
Thank you Jesus for the Resurrection! Thank you Jesus for the hope of new life!
Thank you Jesus for being a “gardener” in our life and in our soul … pruning back, cutting off, and removing that in our life which will lead to destruction.
Thank you Jesus for a new season!
Thank you Jesus for being our Teacher and helping us as we grow for you!
