A sermon for Easter Day, April 20, 2025. The scripture readings are Acts 10:34-43, 1 Corinthians 15:19-26, John 20:1-18, and Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24.

A few years ago, when I worked at a church in midtown, one morning, I was walking down Sixth Avenue. I was dressed as a priest, with my black suit and white collar. I saw a woman heading towards me and began to get that sort of panic of knowing that I knew her, but could not think of her name. Closer, she came, as I searched my mind. Had she been attending church recently? Was she part of the family at a recent wedding? I certainly hope she wasn’t someone I had just met at a funeral, and now had forgotten…. On and on, my mind tried to come up with the name, but nothing came forth.

Finally, as we were about to pass, I simply smiled at her and said, “Hello, how are you?” She responded with the most beautiful British accent, “Good morning, Father.” As she passed, I realized that I did not know her at all—it was Dame Judi Dench, the actress!

Now, I’m not suggesting that my encounter was exactly like Mary Magdalene’s meeting the gardener on Easter Morning, nor am I suggesting that God was disguised as Judi Dench (though she has been rather “godly” in some of her roles…. But I am suggesting that in the same way that we can be surprised by someone right in front of us, not fully recognizing them for who they are, in a similar way, God shows up for us in surprising ways.

And that a part of what is happening with the Resurrection.

Over and over, in scripture, in history, and in our lives, God shows up in what might seem like the least likely person, in the most unlikely of places. God shows up to Abraham and Sarah in the form of three strangers. God shows up to Jacob in a wrestling match of a dream. In the Book of Esther, God shows up in the words and acts of Queen Esther, Mordecai, and even a Persian King. God shows up in Bethlehem, in the carpenter’s shop, and in dusty Palestinian villages. God is in the garden. God is on the cross. And God shows up at a fish fry on the beach that first Easter morning. God shows up as a wanderer on the road to Emmaus.

When has God shown up for you? Was it in someone you knew, or a total stranger? Was it through a book, or a movie, a piece of music, or a sudden insight? Did it happen in church, or at work, or at the beach? Or was it, like with Mary Magdalene, in a garden?

That Easter morning, Jesus shows up as a gardener for at least two reasons, I think. The first is to remind us to be on the lookout for him. God is often disguised in our world, but with eyes of faith, we can see and rejoice and be a part of the continued resurrection of his love.

But there’s a second reason why Jesus appears as a gardener: It’s because sometimes we are called to appear as Jesus, to be his hands and feet and mouth in the world. We’re called to speak up for those who have lost their voice or had their voice taken from them. We’re called to reach out and help heal. We’re called to grow and cook and feed the hungry, to build and provide in order to house the homeless.

Symeon (the New Theologian), a tenth century mystic, puts this beautifully as he writes

We awaken in Christ’s body
as Christ awakens our bodies,
and my poor hand is Christ, He enters
my foot, and is infinitely me.

I move my hand, and wonderfully
my hand becomes Christ, becomes all of Him
(for God is indivisibly
whole, seamless in His Godhood).

I move my foot, and at once
He appears like a flash of lightning.
Do my words seem blasphemous? — Then
open your heart to Him

and let yourself receive the one
who is opening to you so deeply.
For if we genuinely love Him,
we wake up inside Christ’s body

where all our body, all over,
every most hidden part of it,
is realized in joy as Him,
and He makes us, utterly, real,

and everything that is hurt, everything
that seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,
maimed, ugly, irreparably
damaged, is in Him transformed

and recognized as whole, as lovely,
and radiant in His light
he awakens as the Beloved
in every last part of our body.

And so, this Easter and always: Keep your eye out for the gardener. Or the actress, or the taxi driver, the nurse, the waiter, the politician, real estate agent, teacher, or kid playing soccer. It may be Christ shining through.

And live aware, as well, that Christ may just as soon shine through you to bring his light more fully into the world.

Alleluia, Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed, alleluia.