The story of Easter contains all the details of the TV reality shows we love to watch, the story of the builder, the gardener and the cook. Together they give us a portrait of Jesus, the master craftsman who has come to rebuild God’s temple, the gardener who comes to replant God’s creation and, and the cook who gathers us together around his table in a new community.
Jesus the builder: John’s gospel reminds us that the resurrection took place on the first day of the week, the day in which the creation story tells us that the 'Word' went out into the chaos of space and built a universe.
Today we shout ‘Alleluia, Christ is risen’ to celebrate his victory over darkness and destruction. We celebrate the rebuilding of God’s world.
‘Destroy this temple and in three days I will rebuild it’ Jesus said to the High Priest. He said this,' notes John, ‘not referring to the temple but his own body’. John 2: 19.
Today we share in the work of rebuilding creation!
Jesus, the gardener. John’s account tells us of Mary Magdalene who comes across a man she takes to be the gardener. It is, but not the gardener she imagines, instead the master gardener! The one who walked in the garden with Adam and Eve, and so like the first Eve she is to be the mother of the new people of God.
It is Mary, the penitent and broken woman who is invited to be part of the replanting and repopulation of the world. Just as it is the penitent and broken of the world who are to be God's new family.
Restored and forgiven, they know they are much loved.
Today we shout 'Alleluia, Christ is risen' to celebrate the new life that springs up in us and around us in God’s new world.
Jesus, the cook. Many of the stories of the resurrection centre around the meals the risen Jesus shared with his disciples, reminding us of the new community he has come to gather together around his table. Jesus is not just the cook but the host of this meal. Indeed he is the one who feeds us with his own body and blood in the sacrament for the work to be done.
Today we shout ‘Alleluia, Christ is risen’ to celebrate the restoration of communion with God and man through the broken body of Christ.
The reality of Easter: the Easter message is sometimes understood to be a bit like the ‘make over’ on reality TV. We throw out the old and bring in the new. In fact it's more like the 'Repair shop' The message of Easter is more like the restoration of a beloved old clock. God comes, in Jesus Christ, to restore His broken creation, not to destroy it but to restore it to its former glory.
Today we shout ‘Alleluia, Christ is risen’ because he invites us to share in recreating his world. We are to be his builders, his gardeners, his cooks, to share in the work of rebuilding, replanting and restoring 'community' in his world.
The good news is that we do not have to throw away the old and start again, instead we work together with Christ, the one through whom the universe was created to make it new again. The people of God are reborn, and the creation restored to a renewed communion with our maker.