Eden and Gethsamane, the two most written about gardens in the Bible, and never the twain can meet. Which you may ask is more important ? Eden the garden, prepared by God in the beginning of time, as a home for His favourite creation, its inhabitant Adam the first man. Gethsemane, the sacred garden, that witnessed, the passion of Christ and soaked up, the bloody sweat of the brow of God’s only Son, during His most agonising moments .
Eden, the first garden, home to the forbidden tree of Knowledge, always described as a place of great beauty and abundance, but the first place where man encountered sin, where he was lured to commit his first transgression. Gethsamane, written in the gospels that came after Jesus, was smaller and lacked splendour,, with maybe just a few shady trees, known as the place that led to the tree of sacrifice, to counter sin, to redeem man and reconcile him to God.
Eden is the garden, where Adam hid himself after committing sin . When sought by God, he cowered in fear, made himself scarce, for he had eaten the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, and couldn’t face His wrath. After committing his very first sin of disobedience, he felt totally alienated from God , his Creator. In Gethsamane, it was Jesus the man, who sought out God , drawing close to the Father, praying in agony, in total submission, making Himself fully available and visible to God, and surrendering to His will .
Eden took away from man the inheritance of the kingdom of God, of a life in eternity, of a place of proximity in the presence of the Father. Eden is the place that made us slaves to sin, subject to the punishment of eternal death. Gethsamane led to our Salvation through the Son of God, a Salvation that came from a sacrifice so great, by a crucifixion so base, and then a glorious resurrection, conquering death, setting us free from bondage and sin lost its control over us forever.
Jesus came to cleanse the world, to heal mankind, to give us victory over death, to reunite us with the Divine . Through His sacrifice we can claim our inheritance, as the children of the most High, assured of eternal life with Him. As we journey through the days of lent, fasting and praying as ordained, let us slowly move from the garden of Eden to the garden of Gethsamane, from sin to salvation, from the worldly to the spiritual, from hiding from God , to making ourselves visible to Him, and surrendering to His will .
Mary Jacob 