Oh it was a fun time. It always is. We know Jesus rose from the dead so we don’t mind celebrating Easter on Saturday. It has been a tradition of our family for many years now. We gather not on Thanksgiving or Christmas, as those holidays are busy with extended family- we hold out and have a party on Easter Saturday. It’s some of the same tradition and some new. Like, we have games and pizza usually on Friday night for whoever is there early. Saturday morning we show up. This year we had a brunch. Some years it’s an all out Easter dinner with ham, potatoes and green beans. After lunch we have the egg hunt for the kids. You do age out, so the young ones totally enjoy until they are too old. You have a colored basket and you only pick up those color of eggs. This year we had two stints since some kids had to leave early. Then we have the candy bar hunt for the old folks, and the kids who aged out of the egg hunt. This year because of the ridiculous rain in Indiana, we let that tradition die also lest we all get soggy candy. The tradition that never changes is the Resurrection Egg carton that comes out. The eggs and the papers are passed around and one by one the grandkids take turns reading and telling the story. The innocence of children is priceless. From mispronounced words to the one opening the egg (the one with the piece of rope that was to resemble the whip) and declared it’s a broken hair band which brought all hysterical giggles out. Once we composed ourselves we kept on going. It seem so easy for us to recognize the things that we know are coming. But to Adian, it did look like a broken hair band. I couldn’t agree more.
We aren’t the only one to mistake something for what it isn’t. I think about Mary coming to the tomb. Her mind was filled with lots of questions, fears, tears and probably she didn’t get much sleep since Friday night. She couldn’t wait. She had to come to see the tomb. The Sabbath laws would have probably kept her from coming on Saturday. Sunday morning she was not to be denied. You know how you think, or perhaps don’t think, when you haven’t slept well. Simple little things just kind of go right over your head. So Mary, we are giving her the benefit of the doubt. But thinking about it I’m not sure I would have recognized Jesus. Just as Adian wasn’t sure about the rope cuz it did look like a hair band, Mary probably saw the person there and made some automatic assumptions. We make assumptions well. Person in garden, people tend the gardens, mind a bit foggy from lack of sleep and a troubled heart; I can see how she would mistake Jesus for a gardener. And when I am crying, I don’t see well and I don’t probably listen well either.
“John 20: 11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13They 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.” 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15He asked her, “Woman, 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.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary.” “
We all have those “Thinking he was a gardener” moments in life. Jesus is right there and we just miss him. We in our fears and struggles look right past Jesus and see a gardener. It’s those times that Jesus just stands there. We make our speeches. We usually have our speeches all written out just waiting to give. Jesus, just stands there waiting for us to finish and then says our name.
I just need to remember that Jesus is standing waiting as I stumble through the “Thinking he was a gardener” moments and ready to call my name when I get done with my weeping and my dumb questions. Jesus is always there; sometimes it does look like he is someone else, but that’s just probably more in my eyes than in my heart. He’s just waiting for me to see Him for who He really is. Risen!
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