Week 4: Burial

Buried in a Garden

“They are junk fish.”

I thought it was a weird phrase when my grandpa muttered it to me after I showed him the largest fish I had managed to pull out of our little creek all day. It was a red drum. Granted, my grandpa had spent his formative years deep-sea fishing off the coast of California, and any freshwater creek fish was junk to him.

My grandpa was a kind and wonderful man. That having been said, he did not like cleaning fish. My disappointment must have been evident. I had walked that fish in a bucket of water almost a mile up the hill on a hot June day to hear it wasn’t worth eating. I sunk my head and wiped the sweat off my forehead.

“Well, what should I do with it?” I asked him.

“I’ve got an idea. We will try something I read the Native Americans did with fish entrails long before we ended up here.”

He went to the shed and grabbed a shovel. He then handed it to me, of course. We went over to his garden near the half-grown corn stalks. Let’s bury it. I remember laughing and thinking it was a joke.

“I’ve heard they are full of nitrogen and great for the soil. Might make the corn taste a little fishy, though.”

I heartedly laughed while digging my shovel into the rust-colored soil. Eventually, I made it deep enough, and grandpa dropped the fish in the hole.

“Now cover it up.”

I put the soil back into the hole and patted it down a few times. Grandpa turned to walk back to the house, but I stopped him in his tracks.

“Weren’t you going to say a few words? I mean, it’s the least we could do?”

He smiled, took off his worn feed supply ballcap, and held it to his chest.

“Thank you, junk fish, for your sacrifice. May your burial grow our garden.”

We both laughed a bit.

In today’s reading, John notes that Jesus was buried in a new tomb in a garden. It’s magnificent. Remember, the original creation narrative of Adam in Genesis begins in a garden. God takes the dirt of the ground and creates life through the breath of his Spirit in Genesis 2. In John 20, God recreates humanity, recreates Adam through the resurrection of Jesus in the garden. Many scholars and preachers notice this point, but what is often overlooked is John's attention to Jesus being buried in the garden in a new tomb.

Jesus might not be rich in nitrogen, but his burial is the nutrient for an abundant life. We come to God’s garden to be grown. We know that in his garden, he brings about life, but this life only comes out of the death of Christ. The soil is rich and abundant because Jesus offered his life. We grow from the compost of his decomposition. The fruit of the resurrection is grown from the soil of his burial.

Ponder awhile today on how Jesus’ burial supplies the nutrients of your life.