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The Death of Jesus
(Matthew 27.45-56; Mark 15.33-41; Luke 23.44-49)
28 Jesus knew that he had now finished his work. And in order to make the Scriptures come true, he said, “I am thirsty!” 29A jar of cheap wine was there. Someone then soaked a sponge with the wine and held it up to Jesus' mouth on the stem of a hyssop plant. 30After Jesus drank the wine, he said, “Everything is done!” He bowed his head and died.
A Spear Is Stuck
31The next day would be both a Sabbath and the Passover. It was a special day for the Jewish people, and they did not want the bodies to stay on the crosses during this day. So they asked Pilate to break the men's legs and take their bodies down. 32The soldiers first broke the legs of the other two men who were nailed there. 33But when they came to Jesus, they saw he was already dead, and they did not break his legs.
34One of the soldiers stuck his spear into Jesus' side, and blood and water came out. 35We know this is true, because it was told by someone who saw it happen. Now you can have faith too. 36 All this happened so that the Scriptures would come true, which say, “No bone of his body will be broken” 37 and “They will see the one in whose side they stuck a spear.”
Jesus Is Buried
(Matthew 27.57-61; Mark 15.42-47; Luke 23.50-56)
38Joseph from Arimathea was one of Jesus' disciples. He had kept it secret though, because he was afraid of the Jewish leaders. But now he asked Pilate to let him have Jesus' body. Pilate gave him permission, and Joseph took it down from the cross.
39 Nicodemus also came with about 30 kilograms of spices made from myrrh and aloes. This was the same Nicodemus who had visited Jesus one night. 40The two men wrapped the body in a linen cloth, together with the spices, which was how the Jewish people buried their dead. 41In the place where Jesus had been nailed to a cross, there was a garden with a tomb that had never been used. 42The tomb was nearby, and since it was the time to prepare for the Sabbath, they were in a hurry to put Jesus' body there.
Reflect
After all the suffering and after his death they take Jesus down from the cross. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, and perhaps some others who aren’t mentioned, wrap the body in long sheets of linen along with 75 pounds of ointment principally consisting of a mixture of myrrh and aloes. Then they place Jesus in a new tomb that has never been used before. It is in a garden. And, considering the time of year that Passover took place and the climate of Israel, a spring garden alive with bees and birds and butterflies. And soon alive with a dead man who was the Son of God.
Do you think the fact Jesus was crucified near a garden, buried in that garden, and then rose to life again in that garden is all part of a great coincidence? That it was a random act? That humans created the site of execution and that other humans in a hurry just happened to use a grave in a nearby garden because it was handy?
Or did God want it all to happen in and around a garden?
The Bible begins with a garden. A perfect garden in a perfect world – Eden. Even though sin thrust humanity away from that garden there is the promise and hope that God will walk with his children again in another garden that is eternal and that can never be taken away.
Jesus is the promise of redemption and the promise of the new garden. And throughout his time among the Jews and Romans and Greeks, whenever he is in Jerusalem, he goes to a garden to pray. On the night of his arrest, when the promise of salvation is about to be kept, he is praying in that garden again – Gethsemane. It is there his enemies find him and it is from there they take him away to nail him to a cross. Close by is another garden. And it is in that garden that they laid his body broken for us.
So many gardens. Coincidence? God being random? I don’t think so. For Scripture tells us there will be yet another garden that is forever where a crystal stream will flow from the throne of God and on its banks will be trees and the leaves of those trees will be for the healing of the nations. It will be the new Eden that will restore the love and intimacy humans enjoyed with God in the first Eden. Jesus prayed in a garden, died near a garden, and came to life again in a garden vibrant with spring that he made even more vibrant with his resurrection.
We make our gardens everywhere – in our yards, by our schools and banks and government buildings, in empty lots that were once given over to weeds and trash. Gardens give us color and beauty and life. But when we look at them now we need to remember God began his relationship with us in a garden, restored that relationship in a garden, and will sustain that relationship eternally in a garden. A garden is more than flowers and plants and honeybees. It is the perpetual symbol of God’s promise to love us forever and never let us go.
Respond
Thank you, Lord, for the beauty of gardens and what they say to us about you and your love for us. Thank you for Eden and Gethsemane and Calvary and the garden tomb. Thank you for the garden of heaven where we will be with you forever. Whenever I look at gardens help me to remember who you are, what you’ve done for us, and how much we mean to you. Let the gardens I see become more to me than they already are. May they become a symbol of your presence. Through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
Murray Pura
Murray Pura, a native of Manitoba, is an ordained minister with Masters degrees from Acadia University and Regent College in Vancouver BC. At Regent he studied under JI Packer and also produced a thesis on William Wilberforce which was subsequently published under the title "Vital Christianity". Murray has served churches in Canada and the US. A writer in Christian theology and Christian fiction both, he currently writes full time and is represented by Steve Laube Agency in Phoenix, AZ. Murray has published with HarperCollins, Zondervan, HarperOne San Francisco, Baker, Barbour and Harvest House, to name a few. He has won the Word Guild Award for Best Historical Novel and has also been shortlisted for the Kobzar Literary Award of Toronto. His devotional writings include the books "Rooted" (Zondervan), "Streams" (Zondervan), and "Majestic & Wild" (Baker). He also wrote the study notes for Exodus and Luke in The Life With God Bible (Harper Collins).