Quick Summary:

Each of the four gospel writers tells the story of Easter Sunday in a different way. But John's story is different in significant ways. John gives many titles to Jesus in his gospel: he is the Bread of Life, the Light of the world, the Good Shepherd, the True Vine—there are seven in all. But today we learn of another: Jesus the Gardener. What might it mean that Jesus is mistaken by Mary for the Gardener?

This sermon combines Renaissance artists' depiction of Easter's Garden scene with a medieval mosaic in San Clemente, Rome, to invite us to imagine see how the tree on which Jesus was crucified is the Tree of Life, and how the Risen Christ as Gardener calls us back to our first vocation on this, the 8th day of creation.