The groves were
God's first temples. ~William Cullen Bryant, "A Forest Hymn"
Who is there who does not love a garden?
Who among us could find fault with the beauty that God has provided in the form
of trees, plants, and flowers? In His eternal wisdom, He knew of the power that
plants have to distract us from the world's evil. And He knew that, of all
places, a garden would be the ideal setting in which to place the first human
beings and from which He would chart their journey toward redemption and
eventual reunification with him in Paradise. (Genesis 2:8)
It's important to note that, despite the
fact that those first humans made the wrong choice in their first interactions
with their Creator, God has not entirely deprived us of the pleasures that he
originally bestowed upon them in a garden. Yes, they disappointed Him by
choosing to partake of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
(Genesis 2:9) While they earned a lifetime of toil and hardship for their
transgression, God left them the ability to grow and tend gardens, a privilege
that remains with us all to this day.
It's silly to wonder if God wasn't aware
of the joy and the comfort that a garden is capable of providing. Of course He
was! For God is all-knowing and all-loving. In spite of all our failings and of
how often we disappoint Him, He cannot help but continue to prove His abundant
love for us any way He can. (Song of Solomon 5:1) And because of that, He left
us with something to offset the sufferings we would surely incur for ourselves
as a result of the first sin. And it is no accident that, when we look closely
at a flower or take the time to appreciate a particular tree, walk in a garden
or hike through the woods, we can't help but feel His presence there still,
reminding us that, because of His only Son's sacrifice on the cross, all is not
lost. Gardens are yet one more visible example of the fact that the Lord is not
finished with us yet! (Isaiah 58:11)
During the six days of Creation, God adorned
the earth with plants before he introduced humans to the scene. It was part of
his plan to design a beautiful place for us to live and thrive, a place where
the first humans had direct contact with God and where they were reminded daily
of the interconnectedness of all living things. (Genesis 2:15-16) The Garden
was his first gift to humans and it provided all they would ever need in the
form of sustenance and security.
The spot in which God placed the first
humans comprised in a startlingly magnificent way His first message to us: that
all of life’s basic tenets are to be found in the simplicity and orderliness of
a garden. Therefore, it’s no surprise that much of what constituted Jesus’
teachings to us while He was on earth had its roots in truths and motifs taken
from nature and from the world around us. All that grows and thrives in nature
is a reflection of God’s eternal wisdom and of His unfailing love for us.
The parable of the mustard seed is a perfect
example of how Jesus used something organic to teach His followers about the Kingdom
that His Father seeks to establish on earth. “What shall we say the Kingdom of
God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard
seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows
and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds
can perch in its shade. (Mark 4:30-32)
Not long after Jesus spoke those words,
He was to face His own agony in yet another garden, where he struggled with the
harsh reality of His impending suffering and death. The Lamb of God who came to
take away the sins of the world would spend some of His own final moments in a
place much like the one where it had all begun centuries before. It was in a
verdant wooded place where Jesus faced the fact that He was to pay the ultimate
price for what had transpired in that first garden. (John 18:3) And it would be
from a tomb in yet another garden where He would rise in fulfillment of his
promise to us. (John 19:41)
What a comfort it is to know that God
knew of the pleasures and benefits that a garden provides! And how fortunate we
are that He cared so much for us that we can continue to enjoy it as tangible
proof of His great love!
(Scripture references taken from the New
International Version of the Holy Bible.)
