“In the Garden”

I’m enjoying post-resurrection stories, especially this one involving Jesus and Mary Magdalene:

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 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.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). (John 20.11 – 16, ESV)

Did you know that the well-known hymn “In the Garden” is not about just any encounter with Jesus in a peaceful setting, but it’s about this encounter? Here’s what the author and composer himself said:

One day in April 1912,…I drew my Bible toward me and it opened at my favorite book and chapter, John chapter twenty. I don’t know if this was by chance or by the work of the Holy Spirit. I will let you the reader decide. That story of Jesus and Mary in John 20 had lost none of its power and charm.

It was though I was in a trance, as I read it that day, I seemed to be part of the scene. I became a silent witness to that dramatic moment in Mary’s life when she knelt before her Lord and cried, “Rabboni”. I rested my hands on the open Bible, as I stared at the light blue wall. As the light faded, I seemed to be standing at the entrance of a garden, looking down a gently winding path, shaded by olive branches. A woman in white, with head, bowed, hand clasping her throat, as if to choke back her sobs, walked slowly into the shadows. It was Mary. As she came unto the tomb, upon which she placed her hand, she bent over to look in and ran away.

…As [Peter and John] departed, Mary reappeared leaning her head upon her arm at the tomb, she wept. Turning herself, she saw Jesus standing there, so did I. I knew it was He. She knelt before Him, with arms outstretched, and looking into His face cried, “Rabboni”.

I awakened in sunlight, gripping my Bible with my muscles tense, and nerves vibrating, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I wrote as quickly as the words could be formed the lyrics exactly as it is sung today. That same evening, I wrote the tune. It is sung today as it was written in 1912.C. Austin Miles

In the Garden, first two stanzas with chorus

There are myriad recordings of “In the Garden” including my own as found on my first CD Impromptu Piano Praise, but there’s none better than the one by Elvis Presley! (Just close your eyes and listen so as not to be distracted by the irrelevant pictures.)

Incidentally, C. Austin Miles is practicing what some call “Imaginative Prayer” when he writes, “I seemed to be part of the scene. I became a silent witness to that dramatic moment in Mary’s life…I seemed to be standing at the entrance of a garden, looking down a gently winding path, shaded by olive branches. A woman in white…” His practice of the exercise that day has blessed millions for more than 100 years.

I’ll have more to say about Mary’s encounter with Jesus tomorrow.

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” (Revelation 1.9 – 11, ESV, emphasis mine)

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