Saint Gertrude Parish - Lasne

The evangelist John draws our attention to a detail not found in the other Gospels: weeping near the empty tomb, Mary Magdalene did not immediately recognize the risen Jesus, but thought he was the gardener. Indeed, from the very account of Jesus' burial at sunset on Good Friday, the text was very precise: "Now in the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. Because of the Jewish Preparation Day, and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there." (John 19:40-41-42).

Thus ends, in the peace of the Sabbath and the beauty of a garden, the dramatic struggle between darkness and light that began with the betrayal, arrest, abandonment, condemnation, humiliation, and death of the Son, who “having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1). Cultivating and tending the garden is the original task (cf. Gen 2:15) that Jesus brought to its fulfillment. His last words on the cross—"It is finished" (Jn 19:30)—invite each of us to rediscover this same task, our own task. This is why, “bowing his head, he gave up his spirit” (v. 30).