Rebecca Inglis - April 5, 2020
Today You Will Be With Me In Paradise
During the last couple of weeks of social isolation, I’ve been getting out each day to go for a walk and some fresh air. In these times I’ve observed and smiled at lots of people in their gardens who are spending time making them look beautiful. In conversations with my parents, they regularly update me that they’ve been calling friends, watching tv, scrap-booking and gardening. I’ve spoken to a number of people who are planting winter vegetables in their veggie gardens for the first time. My kids decided we too could make a veggie garden, and then I reminded them they don’t like vegetables. They do like potatoes, but they take over 100 days to grow… That’s a lot of time in isolation before we get to frying them to make hot chips. In the lead up to Easter, considering Jesus words from the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43), it has reminded me that gardening was, in fact, the earliest profession. In the beginning, when God created the world, He did so in a perfect place called the garden of Eden. God then created Adam and Eve, and assigned them the responsibility of taking care of the garden. Not only was the garden of Eden where Adam and Eve shared their responsibility of taking care of the garden, it was also the place where they enjoyed their relationship with the Creator of the Garden. God hung out in the garden with Adam and Eve and enjoyed fellowship with them. He created the heavens and the earth, and he created humans to be with him and with each other in the garden. This Sunday we consider the words that Jesus speaks from the cross to the thief. These words echo down to us in a relevant and personal way: “Truly, I tell you, today you will be WITH ME…” Let’s be encouraged that He is the God who is with us today. We are not alone.
Scripture References: Matthew 21:1-11
From Series: "Last Words of Jesus "
Easter 2020
