Part 1 – Jesus The Gardner

The words you are about to read were the revelation that drew me to my computer — pen to paper — as the Lord began revealing something to me that I couldn’t keep to myself. This was the first time I thought, Wait, I think I could write a book on this…

So enjoy a sneak peek of what Jesus has been showing me. I hope you’ll join this community as we dive deeper to know the Lord. Welcome to the journey of Jesus the Gardener. I hope you learn to know and love the Gardener of your soul.

“At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.”
— John 19:41

Some of the simplest words in Scripture can end up being the most profound.

Over the past couple of months, Jesus has been revealing something fresh to me in John 20. It’s a detail I’ve read past many times. But this time, it hit different.

Jesus had been crucified — humiliated at the hands of Rome and the religious court. And now in John 20, we’re on the other side of that brutal cross, waiting to see what happens next.

Mary comes to the tomb early, while it’s still dark. She notices the stone is rolled away and runs to get Peter and John. John outruns Peter (classic younger sibling energy), and they find the tomb empty — the grave clothes folded to the side.
(Like when you stay in someone’s guest room and try to make the bed look like you didn’t just sleep there.)

Peter and John see the scene and believe. But Scripture says they still didn’t understand that Jesus had to rise from the grave.

They leave with information.
But Mary stays. She lingers.
And she receives more than she asked for.

She didn’t just receive information — she received revelation.

Now 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. He 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.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). — John 20:11–16

Mary encounters Jesus — but at first, she doesn’t realize it’s Him.
She thought He was the gardener.

Wait… she thought He was the gardener?

To be fair, they were in a garden.
But after seeing two angels in dazzling white, this is what Mary thinks?

I don’t know what gardeners looked like back then.
Was Jesus hedging the bushes? Cranking the Holy Lawnmower? Priming the leaf blower for Resurrection Sunday? (Those pesky leaves…)

Think about it. It’s such a small detail — just five words. But I’ve blown past them more times than I can count.

After all, the point is the resurrection, right?
The victory over death. Jesus is alive!
So why linger on Mary mistaking Him for a gardener?

Let’s move on, right?

But… we can’t.

Because the Gospels — especially John — aren’t careless with their words.

John, one of Jesus’ inner three, often gives us details the other Gospel writers leave out.
And he makes sure to mention: “She thought he was the gardener.”

And John wasn’t even there.
He had already left with Peter to return to the others.

Which means when Mary shared her encounter with the risen Lord, she didn’t just say, “Jesus is alive!”
She also made sure to say, “I thought He was the gardener.”

Small details may not seem significant to us.
But to Mary, this was monumental.

So it begs the question: Why did she think He was the gardener?

What if she saw Jesus not just for who He was in that moment — but for who He’s always been?

The Original Gardener.
The one who walked in Eden.
The one who got His hands in the dirt.
The one who created the soil and the soul.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… Through him all things were made.”

Colossians 1 echoes this:

“All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

And in John 9, Jesus heals a blind man with spit and dirt — an unconventional miracle.
He’s not afraid to get in the dust.

Why?
Because He’s been there before.

He doesn’t just heal broken things — He recreates them.
He didn’t just give the man sight — He gave him new eyes.

Aren’t you glad we serve a God who’s not just familiar with a throne room — but with the dust?

So maybe Mary didn’t miss it.
Maybe she saw it more clearly than anyone.

Jesus wasn’t just back from the dead.
He was back in the garden.

Sin had separated the creation from the Creator.
But now, the creation stands in a garden once again — face to face with the One who formed her.

The Creator stands in the garden with His creation.
But this time, it’s different.

What was lost in the first garden — on a tree — was restored by the tree our Savior hung on.

Back to where we’ve always belonged.
Back to the garden.

Mary thought He was the gardener.
And maybe — just maybe — she was right.