Easter 2026: From the Grave to the Garden
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
SCRIPTURE READING: MEGAN & JESSICA
John 19:38-42 & John 20:1-18
Prayer:
Imagine a garden.
Not a vegtible garden, not a flower garden, not nice landscaping or even a city park
IMAGINE A PURE CLEAN SPACE, FULL OF TREES, PLANTS, FLOWERS, SWEET AIR, ANIMALS PLAYING, LUSH FULL GRASS BELOW YOUR FEET, THR DOUNDS OF STREAMS, BROOKS, AND WATERFALLS.
Fruit hanging heavy from trees.
Water moving and clear.
Air warm and clean.
Work that feels meaningful.
Relationships without fear.
No funerals / NO DEATH OR DECAY
No headlines
No hospitals
No war
That is how the Bible begins.
That is how the Bible begins.
Not with a war/ hurts / pains / death / disease / sin
But with a garden - PARADISE.
And if you are honest, something in you aches for that world.
We plant flowers at graves.
We landscape our homes.
Even in hospitals we put plants in rooms.
WHY?
Because something inside us believes life should push back against death.
Because something inside us believes life should push back against death.
We were made for a garden.
But we do not live in one.
We live in a world of weeds.
We live in a world of fractures and funerals.
And this day, Easter dares to say:
And this day, Easter dares to say:
The garden is coming back.
TODAY I WANT TO TAKE Us THROUGH THE EASTER STORY THROUGH THREE MOVEMENTS.
From God’s intent for humanity, to the human tragedy we live in, to His restored creation through Jesus.
To understand why Easter matters, we have to go back to the first garden — and the moment we lost it.
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MOVEMENT 1: CREATION LOST: THE GARDEN WE BROKE.
MOVEMENT 1: CREATION LOST: THE GARDEN WE BROKE.
Listen to how the Bible describes humanity’s beginning.
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
ADAM WAS NOT PLACED IN ANXIETY
ADAM WAS NOT PLACED IN ANXIETY
He was placed in abundance.
His job was not survival / It was stewardship
CULTIVATE AND KEEP -
That language later became the same language for the duties of the Jewish priests in the temple.
Eden was not just farmland.
It was sacred space / A Place where Heaven and Earth are one.
Humanity was meant to expand the beauty of that garden to the ends of the earth.
But instead of tending what God gave, Adam grasped for what God withheld.
And everything changed.
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
ONE FATEFUL DECISION CHANGED EVERYTHING
AND IT IS THE SAME DECISION WE HUMANS HAVE CONTINUED TO MAKE OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
The serpent said, “You will surely not die, for God know when you eat from the tree you will be like Him, knowing the difference between right and wrong, good and evil.”
The tree was not magic / it had no special powers /
But the tree did represent REALITY -
As long as our first parents were being dependent on God to determine what was good and evil, what was true and a lie, what was beautiful and what was twisted, there was Garden Life / Paradise.
The moment they ate, they took into their own hands the power to determine reality on their own.
They, not God say what is good and evil, right and wrong, true and false, beautiful and twisted.
And from that day onward, we humans have chosen our wisdom, desires, over the wisdom of God.
EXILED FROM THE GARDEN WE TURNED THE WORLD INTO A GRAVEYARD.
EXILED FROM THE GARDEN WE TURNED THE WORLD INTO A GRAVEYARD.
You have seen what happens when a yard is left untended.
It does not stay neutral.
You do not have to plant weeds.
They grow on their own.
Grass dies.
Thorns take over.
Decay becomes normal.
That is the story of humanity.
We do not have to teach selfishness.
We do not have to cultivate pride.
We do not have to fertilize rejecting God’s Words and depending of self to determine truth and goodness.
Weeds grow naturally in fallen soil.
And every funeral you have ever attended whispers:
This is not how it was supposed to be.
But if sin entered the world in a garden…
it should not surprise us that God chose a garden to begin putting it back together.
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MOVEMENT 2: NEW CREATION BEGINS: THE GARDNER RETURNS TO THE GARDEN
MOVEMENT 2: NEW CREATION BEGINS: THE GARDNER RETURNS TO THE GARDEN
Before we see the beauty of a garden, seeds must be planted, die, and give birth to Life, Joy, and Beauty.
THE QUESTION WE ALL ASK, THE QUESTION ALL HUMANITY HAS ASKED;
HOW WILL GOD REDEEM THIS BROKEN MESS WE HAVE CREATED?
HOW WILL GOD REDEEM ME, A BROKEN MESS?
NEW CREATION STARTS NOT IN THE GARDEN BUT ON A HILL WITH A MAN HANGING FROM A CROSS.
NOT JUST A NORMAL MAN BUT GOD WHO BECAME MAN, LIVED THE LIFE WE ARE INCAPABLE OF, LIVING FULLY DEPENDENT ON GOD.
THIS JESUS TOOK ON HIMSELF OUR SINS, OUR CRULTY, OUR ARROGANCE AND PRIDE AND THERE HE EXCHANGED HIS PERFECTION FOR OUR FILTH.
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
NOT ONLY IS THERE THIS INCREDIBLE UNDESERVED EXCHANGE BUT GOD THROUGH JESUS RECONCILES US TO HIMSELF, AS SONS AND DAUGHTERS.
19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
JESUS BECAME THE DIVINE SEED TO A NEW KIND OF HUMANITY, PLANTED INTO THE GROUND THROUGH DEATH ON THE CROSS.
23 And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
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On the first Easter morning, a woman stands outside a tomb weeping.
On the first Easter morning, a woman stands outside a tomb weeping.
And John records something so specific we could almost miss it.
14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”
SUPPOSING HIM TO THE GARDNER
John did not have to include this detail but he did.
The first Adam failed in a garden.
The Last Adam rises in one.
John begins his Gospel with the words, “In the beginning.”
And now, on the first day of the week, in a garden, something new begins.
On the first day of the old creation, God said, “Let there be light.”
On the first day of the new creation, the Light of the world walked out of the tomb.
Darkness did not win.
Death did not hold.
Light stepped back into the garden.
Paul explains what this means.
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
First fruits.
That is agricultural language.
It means more harvest is coming.
If you have ever lived through a hard winter, you know the feeling.
Everything looks dead.
Gray.
Silent.
Then one morning you see it — a small green shoot pushing through cold soil.
It is fragile.
But it changes everything.
Because it means winter did not win.
The resurrection is the first green shoot of the new creation.
Mary thinks she is standing in a cemetery.
She is actually standing in the first acre of restored Eden.
But Easter is not only about one man walking out of one tomb.
It is about who now holds the future of the world.
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MOVEMENT 3 - CREATION RESTORED: THE LAMB WHO DIRECTS HISTORY
MOVEMENT 3 - CREATION RESTORED: THE LAMB WHO DIRECTS HISTORY
In a vision of Heaven John sees something amazing.
6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. 7 And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.
A Lamb.
Standing.
As if slain.
Alive — but marked by sacrifice.
He alone opens the scroll.
History is not spiraling.
It is being directed.
And where does the story end?
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” 5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”
1 Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;
No longer any curse.
The Bible begins in a garden.
It ends in a garden-city.
The tree of life returns but multiplied.
The river flows.
The curse is lifted.
God does not demolish creation.
He restores it.
Room by room.
Heart by heart.
Nation by nation.
And if the Gardener has begun to restore his creation… then Easter is not just something to celebrate.
It is Someone to trust.
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Oue dear sister Brigitte Philipp is under hospice care in her final days.
I sat by her side yesterday and was told some amazing things about this woman.
At the age of 5 she was placed in a German concentration camp.
The day before Easter.
Her daughter told me there is where she fell in love with gardening and flowers.
God showed her at the age of five a beautiful garden.
That garden occupied her mind allowing her little mind and body to overcome the horror she was in.
The rest of her life, she planted, she planted everything she could get her hands on.
She loved to garden.
BECAUSE OF JESUS WE DO NOT MOURN LIKE THE UN-BELIVERS DO.
WE HAVE A PROMISE, SEALED BY THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS.
Brigitte, WILL PASS she will be absent her body and present with Jesus.
But a day is coming when the clouds will split
and the dead in Christ will rise.
Brigitte and Raughlie’s life is not over - BECAUSE OF THE REDEMPTION IN JESUS
Life - a physical life - in a garden city - awaits.
The garden God gave her a vision of is her eternal destiney - THANKS BE TO JESUS.
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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COMMUNION
TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE VICTORY OF CHRIST OVER SIN AND THE GRAVE.
THE VICTORY HE WON ON OUR BEHLAF.
WE CELEBRATE THROUGH THE LORD’S TABLE WHERE WE ARE INVITED TO SHARE IN HIS DEATH BURIAL AND RESURRECTION.
WE ARE INVITED TO BECOME ONE WITH HIM
TO PARTAKE IN THE UNMERITED FAVOR OF GOD TO US.
THIS BREAD AND JUICE REPRESENT
Sacrifice - The bread represents the broken body of Jesus for the believer. The Juice represents his poured out blood for the forgiveness of our sins.
New Covenant - The juice also represents a new agreement between God and those of humanity that place their faith in Jesus. An unbreakable promise between God and His sons and daughters through Jesus.
We also share this little meal to proclaim that we wait in Anticipation for Him to return and to complete this new creation He started.
BUT NOT ONLY DO THESE ELEMENTS REPRESENT THE WORK OF CHRIST, WE BELIEVE THAT WHEN WE COME IN FAITH, JESUS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, MEETS US HERE AT HIS TABLE.
HE MEETS US TO HEAL, RESTORE, ENCOURAGE, TO SANCTIFY, AND TO COVER US IN THE FATHERS LOVE.
I WILL INVITE YOU TO COME FORWARD IN A MOMENT BUT I WANT TO GIVE YOU TIME TO EXAMINE YOURSELF, PREPARE YOUR HEART FOR THIS SACRED TIME.
PAUL WROTE
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
ARE YOU HIS?
HAVE YOU HONESTLY PLACED YOUR FULL TRUST IN HIM?
HAVE YOU GIVEN YOURSELF FULLY TO HIM.
IF NOT, I PLEAD WITH YOU TODAY, PLACE YOUR HOPE AND TRUST IN JESUS, BE RECONCILED TO GOD BY TRUSTING IN HIS SON FOR YOUR SALVATION AND PEACE.
LET US TAKE A MOMENT, AS WE PREPARE OUR HEARTS AND MIND TODAY TO RECIEVE FROM THE LORD.
(Prayer over the bread and wine - prayer for our hearts to be ready, prayer for salvation)
—————————- ALL WHO ARE HIS ARE WELCOME TO THE TABLE OF THE LORD - ——-
COME AND RECIEVE / COME AND PARTCIPATE IN HIS LIFE AND DEATH / THAT WE MAY PARTICIPATE IN HIS RESURRECTION.
Come and recieve, return to your chairs and when all have recieved we will take together.
19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.
Let us now recieve from the Lord.
