As I prepared for and celebrated Good Friday and Easter Sunday, I was often reminded of the metaphor of graves being turned to gardens. This has been a meaningful lesson in my life for many, many years (along with other similar messages), but “grave to garden” gains meaning as I reflect on Jesus’s death and resurrection.
The Grave
We are all well-aware that a grave represents death. After Jesus was crucified on the cross, he was put in a grave and the opening was sealed with a large stone. It was not meant to ever be opened again. Jesus was dead, gone from Earth, and scientifically- and realistically-speaking would not be coming back. And, for three long days, that was the case as Jesus lay in a dark grave.
I have had many times in my life where I have experienced darkness and struggles. I have never been physically dead, but before becoming a Christian I was dead spiritually. Since then, there have been times where I felt like I was in a dark grave, stuck or held down or utterly defeated. As a human being living in a broken world, I know you have felt that way too.
The Good News
Here’s the good news: Jesus may have died and been buried, but He rose from the dead and came back to life!
Death and the grave does not have to be the end for us either. Obviously, we all die at the end of life and are buried. This is not something we can control, and it will happen to everyone. But the darkness we experience here on Earth can be turned to light (John 1:5), beauty can come from ashes (Isaiah 61:3), the old can be made new (Isaiah 43:18-19; 2 Corinthians 5:17).
The grave can be turned to a garden (John 12:24)!
The Garden
The Bible shows figurative graves turning to gardens time and time again. At the beginning of creation, God took darkness and made light. Then a few days later, God literally created man, Adam, from dirt. Moses was able to part the Red Sea and create a way for the Israelites to escape from captivity in Egypt. David was able to dance and praise God despite all that happened in his life. Jesus and his disciples healed people and calmed storms and raised people from the literal dead.
It’s not just Bible stuff though, because I’ve experienced grave to garden moments in my own life, too. The first was when Christ saved me, and I became a Jesus-follower. Another was when I truly grasped what the Gospel and a relationship with God meant for me personally. Throughout my life, I’ve found purpose and meaning in who I am and things I’ve struggled with. Cage doors opened and chains unlocked as God gave me freedom from insecurities and past sins and shame.
Related Post: “Don’t Return”
The Truth
The grave sucks, there’s no way to sugarcoat that. It’s hard! Even Jesus had a moment where He was afraid and asked God for a different way other than death on the cross. But sometimes, the darkness of the grave is necessary…or at the very least it helps us appreciate the beauty of the garden when it later comes. And it can come! The grave doesn’t have to be the end.
Sometimes it means taking steps and sometimes it means sitting still. It isn’t easy or painless, and it takes time. Yet, graves can and will become gardens!
“You turn mourning to dancing
You give beauty for ashes
You turn shame into glory…
You turn graves into gardens
You turn bones into armies
You turn seas into highways”
(“Graves into Gardens” by Brandon Lake and Elevation Worship)
Related Post: “Shed What’s Dead”
