My dad loved to sing the old hymns. One of his favorites was “In the Garden.” A few years back, we sang it at his funeral. The chorus is simple: “And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own, and the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known.” That song brought joy to my dad—as it does to me.
Hymn writer C. Austin Miles says he wrote this song in spring 1912 after reading chapter 20 of the gospel of John. “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 [Teacher].’ ”
In John 20, we find Mary Magdalene weeping near Jesus’ empty tomb. There she met a man who asked why she was crying. Thinking it was the gardener, she spoke with the risen Savior—Jesus! Her sorrow turned to joy, and she ran to tell the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” (v. 18).
We too have the assurance that Jesus is risen! He’s now in heaven with the Father, but He hasn’t left us on our own. Believers in Christ have His Spirit inside us, and through Him we have the assurance and joy of knowing He’s with us, and we are “His own.”
By Alyson Kieda
REFLECT & PRAY
How is it comforting to know that you don’t have to do this life on your own? When have you intimately felt Jesus’ presence?
Jesus, I’m so thankful You’re alive and that as Your child You live in me!
While there are differences in each of the gospel accounts of the discovery of Jesus’ empty tomb, John’s account (John 20:11–18) is unique in that Mary’s emotion takes center stage. Mary is crying when she’s introduced in this scene, and her tears are the impetus of the question asked by both the angels and the risen Lord: “Woman, why are you crying?” (vv. 13, 15). To the angels she responds, “They have taken my Lord away” (v. 13). She has lost Him twice—first through death and now through an apparent conspiracy. The angels and Jesus knew why she was crying, but this is where Jesus meets her. When he says her name—“Mary”—she recognizes Him (v. 16). He meets her where she is in her grief and confusion.
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