After all the Bible which begins with a garden ends with a garden. It all begins in the Garden of Eden and ends in Paradise Garden, the New Jerusalem, in which the throne of God and the Lamb are central. I often talk about the structure or shape of particular biblical books. Here we have an example of a structure which can be seen in the whole canon of Scripture.

Yesterday was Garden Day here at Transfiguration when a group of green-fingered parishioners labored in our wonderful garden to make it look its best. We are so greatly blessed to be stewards of this remarkable oasis in the midst of the city. Rarely a day goes by when someone comments to me about the garden, about its very existence let alone its beauty. With Springtime upon us the garden looks at its best with blossoms and fresh leaves and perennials reappearing for another season. Father Houghton the first Rector knew what he was doing when he planned for this church to have a garden. Even more so that he placed a fountain in the garden echoing the river of the water of life flowing through the holy city. That fountain is an integral part of the biblical imagery of the garden.

Listen to the description of the first garden, the Garden of Eden, in Genesis chapter 2: “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.” In Canterbury Cathedral there is a magnificent piece of medieval glass high up in the Clerestory which depicts Adam delving (or digging) with a large spade or shovel. In that description of the first garden the water feature is mentioned as it is in the Revelation garden. Father Houghton knew what he was about as he placed the original fountain in the garden. It is a reminder of the river of the waters of life which flow from God in the first Garden as well as of the words of Jesus to the Samaritan woman at the well: “Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

Some of you know that among my passions is a passion for gardens and gardening, although sadly yesterday I had too much to do to be able to help with the garden day. One of the great joys of my life was to create a new garden in Australia at the Bishop’s House in Geelong near Melbourne when I was bishop of the region. As I developed that garden I began to read of the history of gardens. The first thing any gardener needs to learn is that the Persian word from which we get the word, paradise, simply means a garden. It was this Persian concept of the garden that became part of the Islamic garden tradition. The great surviving Islamic gardens can be seen in Mugal India and in Moorish Spain. The best known of the former is the Taj Mahal and of the latter, the gardens of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. Those gardens, somewhat formal in our eyes, all have key features including trees and plants for shade, fruit, flower and smell as well as some living water in the form of a fountain and streams. Each of these gardens is in the Islamic tradition a foretaste of paradise. It is that tradition which influenced the monastic and collegiate gardens of the Christian West which we see replicated at the Cloisters Museum here in the city. So here at Transfiguration our garden is intended to be a foretaste of paradise, a place of refreshment and life.

But there is more to it than that. For it is also appropriate that on this 6th Sunday of Easter we are thinking of gardens, both biblically and practically. Indeed at the conclusion of our Mass today we will process out into the garden to give thanks for it and to bless it. In doing so we will celebrate God’s Creation and our participation in that creation as beneficiaries and stewards. But also we will be conscious of the fact that through the Death and Resurrection of Jesus we are caught up in God’s New Creation. For we know too well that our ancestors, Adam and Eve, were cast out of the Garden of Eden for their disobedience to the command of God. One of the great Resurrection themes is that by the obedience of Jesus, through his suffering and death, God raised him from the dead, not only as the first fruits of all who sleep, but also as the Second Adam, the one who rightfully reenters God’s garden, that is Paradise. And not only that but also that he makes it possible for us to find our true home there.

Of all the Resurrection narratives it is only John’s Gospel that touches upon this theme. Three times John mentions gardens in the passion narrative. It is only John who identifies Gethsemane as a garden. It is only John who mentions that “there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb.”

And it is only John who mentions the encounter of the Risen Christ with Mary Magdalen on the Day of the Resurrection when she “supposed him to be the gardener.” Mary Magdalen who seemed not to recognize the Risen Lord until he mentioned her name in fact unconsciously got it right. For Jesus is the Gardener, the New Adam, reclaiming his rightful place in the Paradise Garden. In other words John the Evangelist places the key events of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus in a garden. For what is our Salvation but the freedom to reclaim our true home in Paradise, the Garden of God.

So it is highly appropriate that today we are thinking of gardens and God. As I have argued the garden is a symbol for God’s first creation and of his redemptive power to restore the human race to its rightful home in Paradise. But not only that but these things remind us the whole creation, of the environment in which we live, and of our biblical role as beneficiaries and stewards of the Creation. The call to greater stewardship of the environment, of God’s creation, is more urgent than ever. Daily we receive alarming information of the man made degradation of the environment in which we live. As Christians we join with St Paul in the first reading in celebrating the creator God. With the Revelation to John we share in the vision of Paradise, the new Jerusalem, which is our true home. And in very real way we receive a foretaste of the Paradise to come as we share in this holy eucharist, the sign of the indwelling of God mentioned in today’s Gospel and of our participation in the New Creation.

Alleluia, Christ is Risen.

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