Gardner

Last night in Bible study, we spent some time with Jesus' promise to the man on the cross that he would "be with me in paradise." Terry talked about the word "paradise."  The word came from an Old Iranian word that meant "walled enclosure" and subsequently became to indicate the walled gardens of Persia.

So, you can see the link to the idea of the Garden of Eden - paradise.

She asked us to think of times in Jesus's life when gardens were mentioned.  The Garden of  Gethsemane was the first, obvious reference  but someone else mentioned the women in the garden with the tomb on Easter.  Think of Mary Magadelene outside the tomb entrance.  She sees Jesus and she mistakes him for the gardener.

For some reason my mind clicked onto that word. The gardener is the keeper of the garden. So, perhaps Mary's first assumption wasn't wrong. She encountered Jesus, who is the keeper of the garden - or the keeper of paradise.

I kind of like the image.