Earlier this year when my husband and I pruned back our fig trees, we agonized over every cut. We had researched, read, and watched videos from several sources, determined to “measure twice, cut once,” as my daddy always says. One tree was just a few twigs and leaves, a new variety in its first growing season, a cutting from the same friend who gifted me the first. The mammoth in its fourth season was over ten feet tall. We had enjoyed three extremely fruitful seasons and the thought of ruining this tree weighed heavily on both of us.
The first fig was a housewarming gift when we moved five years ago. It’s planted in a mulch bed bordering our neighbors that used to be overgrown with ivy. While we were clearing our lot, we asked permission to clear the bed and our neighbor heartily endorsed our clearing the entire thing. Knowing that ivy runs, we were willing to take on the added expense. I’m convinced that something magical resides in that plot of ground based solely on the growth of that fig.
We chose seven healthy branches to remain before decisively chopping the rest. We hand measured and trimmed those seven as described, just above a divide, rendering the tree half its original height. We read that figs only form on new growth so when spring arrived, our fig began looking deader and deader. New shoots formed only from the ground level, none on any of the seven branches. We were heartbroken but we needn’t have worried.
By summer, the mammoth awoke. She looked like a hula dancer at one point with a large skirt and headdress. Now she has surpassed her former height and girth and is loaded with figs waiting to ripen. The extreme heat followed by days of rain have created the perfect conditions. Our harvesting baskets are washed and ready. We’re just waiting for the sun to return.
In my Bible reading, I came across an unexpected verse in an incredibly familiar passage. In the end of John’s account of Jesus’s crucifixion, I encountered an unexpected garden. Not Gethsemane. I’ve watched Jesus interact with His Father and His closest friends there many times, a voyeur, removed by space and time, observing my Savior’s prayerful preparation for the cross. His mock trial before the Sanhedrin and Pilate have passed. He’s been nailed to the cross he carried and taken down, dead. It’s here that verse forty-one caught me by surprise.
“There was a garden in the place where Jesus had been put to death, and in it there was a new tomb where no one had ever been buried.
Since it was the day before the Sabbath and because the tomb was close by, they placed Jesus’ body there.”
John 19:41-42 GNT
https://bible.com/bible/68/jhn.19.41-42.GNT
For years I’ve pictured a rocky path leading uphill toward Jerusalem. I’ve pictured harsh lines, blood-spattered dust and grime, but never a garden. There it is, plain as day, wrecking my mental image even while easing the scowl etched into my brow. There was a garden in the place where Jesus had been put to death. A garden among tombs hewn in rock. Jesus body was placed in a new tomb, borrowed for only a few short days.
“After this, Joseph, who was from the town of Arimathea, asked Pilate if he could take Jesus’ body.
(Joseph was a follower of Jesus, but in secret, because he was afraid of the Jewish authorities.)
Pilate told him he could have the body, so Joseph went and took it away.
Nicodemus, who at first had gone to see Jesus at night, went with Joseph, taking with him about one hundred pounds of spices, a mixture of myrrh and aloes.
The two men took Jesus’ body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices according to the Jewish custom of preparing a body for burial.”
John 19:38-40 GNT
https://bible.com/bible/68/jhn.19.38-40.GNT
Secret followers secreted away the broken body of Christ. They spared no expense in giving Him a proper Jewish burial. Would that Judas had lived to see this extravagant waste! I doubt if anyone kept a hundred pounds of burial spices on hand, especially on the eve of the Sabbath. How had these men rounded up enough on such short notice. Had one or both been present at the meeting of the Sanhedrin and upon learning their intent, started their quest just on the chance that the Jews had their way? Jesus spoke of His impending death often enough but obviously nobody understood, not even His closest disciples.
As they bound his limp body and applied layer after layer of ointment and spices, I wonder at their conversation? Did they work in silence, each lost in thought? Were they heavy with regret, wondering if they had perhaps been bolder about their faith, if they had not been so afraid of speaking out, maybe Jesus would still be alive? Did they recall His teachings in this moment? Could they yet see fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy in the unfolding of the day’s events?
“Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory.
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone.
But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.
Now my soul is deeply troubled.
Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’?
But this is the very reason I came!
Father, bring glory to your name.”
Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.””
John 12:23-24, 27-28 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.12.23-28.NLT
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior.”
John 3:16-17 GNT
https://bible.com/bible/68/jhn.3.16-17.GNT
“Jesus told the crowd another story.
“Here is what the kingdom of heaven is like,” he said.
“A man planted good seed in his field.
But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came.
The enemy planted weeds among the wheat and then went away.
The wheat began to grow and form grain.
At the same time, weeds appeared.
The owner’s slaves came to him.
They said, ‘Sir, didn’t you plant good seed in your field?
Then where did the weeds come from?’
‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
The slaves asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’
‘No,’ the owner answered.
‘While you are pulling up the weeds, you might pull up the wheat with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest.
At that time I will tell the workers what to do.
Here is what I will say to them.
First collect the weeds.
Tie them in bundles to be burned.
Then gather the wheat.
Bring it into my storeroom.’
Then Jesus left the crowd and went into the house.
His disciples came to him.
They said, “Explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.”
He answered, “The one who planted the good seed is the Son of Man.
The field is the world.
The good seed stands for the people who belong to the kingdom.
The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one.
The enemy who plants them is the devil.
The harvest is judgment day.
And the workers are angels.
The weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire.
That is how it will be on judgment day.
The Son of Man will send out his angels.
They will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin.
They will also get rid of all who do evil.
They will throw them into the blazing furnace.
There people will weep and grind their teeth.
Then God’s people will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom.
Whoever has ears should listen.”
Matthew 13:24-32, 36-43 NIRV
https://bible.com/bible/110/mat.13.24-43.NIRV
Like Adam and Eve, you and I are tasked with tending a garden. We are simultaneously God’s children and His servants, His stewards by faith in Jesus. All that we have is His and one day we will stand before Him and give account for how we managed all that He entrusted to us, both who and what. We will either hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” or we will hear, “Depart from me. I never knew you.” We are not accountable for what Christ has already accomplished on our behalf, as if we could save ourselves.
“The authority of the name of Jesus causes every knee to bow in reverence!
Everything and everyone will one day submit to this name—in the heavenly realm, in the earthly realm, and in the demonic realm.
And every tongue will proclaim in every language: “Jesus Christ is Lord Yahweh,” bringing glory and honor to God, his Father!”
Philippians 2:10-11 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/php.2.10-11.TPT
“The fruit of the [uncompromisingly] righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise captures human lives [for God, as a fisher of men–he gathers and receives them for eternity]. [Matt. 4:19; I Cor. 9:19; James 5:20.]”
Proverbs 11:30 AMPC
https://bible.com/bible/8/pro.11.30.AMPC
“And don’t allow yourselves to be weary in planting good seeds, for the season of reaping the wonderful harvest you’ve planted is coming!”
Galatians 6:9 TPT
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