Walking from Eden to Gethsemane.
By Chris George, Senior Pastor
People in general and especially lifelong Baptists often ask me, “What is Lent all about?” It is a fair question. I often try to explain that it is the 40-day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday when people focus on Christ’s journey to the cross. It is an ancient practice that has proven meaningful to many over the years. At about this point, people interrupt and say, “Yes, Pastor, but what is Lent really all about?”
Lent is really all about two gardens—Eden and Gethsemane.
Eden, meaning “paradise,” was a place where plants were plentiful and animals were friendly. The soil was fertile and the rivers brought life-giving water. Along with good fruit, Eden was filled with gold and onyx. It was a setting like no other, a dream come true. For Adam and Eve, it was a place called “home.” God made these two human creatures to be different from all others. God crafted them in God’s own image, a reflection of God’s own glory. The Garden of Eden was really a gift for them and they were commissioned to care for the creation and were fashioned to experience life to the fullest. They were freely offered access to everything in this garden. God asked only one thing from them in return: to be obedient. God said, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”
The other garden, which still exists today, is named Gethsemane, meaning “oil press.” It is a hillside garden with nothing more than a few olive trees. Instead of fertile soil, the ground there is gravel, a challenging place for any plants to grow. Rainfall is unpredictable. But the olive tree is resilient and finds a way to prosper even in this inhospitable environment.
In the time of Jesus, the setting was less like a home and more like a hiding place. On a night long ago, a small group of men were gathered there. The scene was cloaked in darkness. Far from their families and any financial security, these men had come into the garden with only a floundering faith in their Rabbi. The ease of Eden must have seemed far away. There were no rules that night in Gethsemane, just one simple request from Jesus, who said, “I am deeply grieved, even unto death, remain here, and keep awake.”
In our lives, we have all been to the Garden of Eden. We have tasted the forbidden fruit of sin. While it may not be popular to talk about, it is important. We have often chosen the wrong instead of the right. We have chosen darkness instead of light. We have chosen to walk away and to betray. We have chosen to be selfish and to pray, “My will be done.”
During the season of Lent, we are called to walk to Gethsemane. We are not promised an easy path. We will know disappointment and despair. And yet, we will never walk alone. For, the One who prayed “God’s will be done” in Gethsemane walks beside us as God’s will is done in us.
Two gardens—one choice.
My prayer, this Lenten Season, is that we go with Christ to the Garden of Gethsemane. We take the long, winding path, following in the nail-pierced footsteps of our Savior. We embrace obedience, looking for living water and the bread of life. We forsake sin and find salvation. For, in the end, Gethsemane is not empty. Gethsemane is filled with tears and pain and sorrow, but also with God’s love and grace. Yes, I think that is what Lent is really all about.