(A one act play involving the gardener who took care of the gardens in which the body of Jesus was buried and the Voice of God whose voice rings throughout the sanctuary.  The play is the eighth drama in a Lenten Series called, THE VOICE OF GOD,  available through Grace Lutheran Church and this website (under dramas);  yet this play stands on its own, without the other dramas. .....  The mood of God’s voice is cheerful and elated.  God is immensely pleased with what he did earlier that day.  The mood of the gardener is happily excited because of seeing the empty tomb, the grave clothes, and the faith of the disciples.  He has been convinced of the resurrection.  He is carrying a shovel (symbolic of the gardener/gravedigger) that he leans on until the very end of the play.  It is a prop to be used creatively. ..... A video of this drama is available if wanted.)

Gardener
O God, what a surprise!  What a wonderful joke!  Did you blow them away! 

God           
You liked what I did? 

Gardener
Like it?  I loved it!  It was mind boggling!  They didn’t know what to think! 

God  
My truth is surprising.  What I prepare is so good and so wonderful, no mind                 can comprehend it. 

Gardener
I loved it! 

God  
So did I!  (with a smile in his voice)

Gardener
I had the best seat in the house, front and center.  I mean, being the gardener and caretaker of the cemetery and all.  Digging out the graves from the the limestone wall right over there.  Planting the flower beds.  Raking the grounds.  I got to see everything, the whole show! 

God  
You had a special view.

Gardener
You better believe it.  ....  It started on Friday, late Friday afternoon, about five or six o’clock,  to be specific.  I saw Joseph of Arimathea, Mr. Megabucks from the Jerusalem Bank ....and Nicodemus, Mr. Senator from the Sanhedrin; they, of all people, were carrying the body of Jesus up the hill from Golgotha to my cemetery.  I couldn’t believe it!  The two of them, of all people. ..... We put the body into that grave right over there, the grave that I had dug last week.  It was a big vault, big enough for two bodies.  Five or six mourners could stand inside of it at one time to grieve.  They placed the body there, on that niche to the right.  And then, they stood there silently for a moment, and then bowed, as if before a king. 

God  
Jesus, my Son, is king.  King over life and king over death.  No grave shall containnnnnn him! (The gardener responds positively to God’s voice, nodding, agreeing, because the gardener “knows.”) For I am the God of life and living.  I am the God of eternal thanksgiving, and  I raised my Son from the dead!   (The gardener listens very carefully to this poem. As God repeats it in later speeches, the gardener will be learning it.) 

Gardener
I know.  I know.  I know that you did.   After what I saw today, I know it. ..... Very early this morning, I heard sounds at daybreak, at the first hint of dawn.  As you know, God, I live in the little cottage here at the cemetery.  I’m a light sleeper.  I looked out....and it was the women I had seen here on Friday.  They had been watching as we put the body into the vault. I watched one lady as she approached the grave.  She shrieked:  “Who rolled the gravestone away!!!”  I was shocked!  She was right!  The gravestone had been rolled away during the night.  What happened?  I watched her as she went into the grave vault.  She was there, only for a short while, and when she came out, her face was shining as the sun. She shouted at the top of her lungs:  “He is not here!!!”  And off she and the other women ran, down the hill towards the city wall of Jerusalem.

God  
To tell the disciples the good news....the message of my angels.

Gardener
Yessss.  (whispers)

God  
That I am the God of life and living.  I am the God of eternal thanksgiving, and I raised my Son from the dead.

Gardener
I didn’t know what to do.  Before I knew what happened, I heard footsteps, running.  Two of his disciples came running up the hill from the city.  First, a younger man....a dark beard...he came puffing up real fast.  He approached the grave here, but he didn’t dare go in.  He was afraid.  Shaking in his sandals, he was.   A moment later, the second disciple arrived.  A big burly man...gray beard...he looked like an old fisherman.  He came right up to the grave and boldly walked right in.  No fear in his old heart.  The young man quickly followed.  They were in there for what seemed like an eternity.  And then...when they came out...their faces were shining like they had seen the sun.  They were laughing, smiling, and slapping each other’s back.  It was like they were hilariously drunk on some new kind of wine.  And off they ran down that hill, back to Jerusalem.

God  
To tell the world the good news,  the message of my angels.....that I am the God of life and living.  I am the God of eternal thanksgiving, and I raised my Son from the dead!  (The gardener is now repeating the words of God’s rhyme with God, in a joyful  whisper.)

Gardener
But before you knew it, the Jewish guards came running from over there.  They had been sleeping nearby, camping out.  And then all hell broke loose. They were squabbling with each other, swearing at each other.  “What happened?”  “Who rolled the stone away?”  “Where’s the body?”  “O my God, the linens and napkin are here.  “The disciples must have come and stolen the body.”  “We will get killed for this.”  “Who will tell the chief priest?”  “Not me!”  “You do it.” .....In a moment, the Jewish priests came puffing up that hill from Golgotha, dressed in black, looking like a flock of crows squawking  at each other.  “You soldiers will die for allowing them to steal the body.”

God  
Those poor blind Jewish leaders...Blind to eternity.  Blind to immortality. Blind to eternal spring.   I,  the Lord God, turn ...brown seeds into beautiful flowers.

Gardener
Yes!

God  
Cocoons into butterflies.

Gardener
Yes! 

God  
And dead bodies into eternal glory. 

Gardener
Yes!  .....It has been a madhouse here all day, God.  Everybody has come to the cemetery.  Would you imagine?  The scholars from the uppity University of Jerusalem arrived.  Scientists.  Astronomers.  Well educated men.  They came to examine the evidence.  They carefully touched the walls to make sure that there was no other route of escape.  They made me come in, to prove that there was no escape door.  Then, they took the linen cloth and carefully stretched it out and closely examined the blood stains.  Their minds were perplexed and puzzled and they finally concluded:  “Either...somebody has stolen the body or something very strange has happened here today.”

God  
What human mind can fathom the intelligence of God? What human mind can comprehend the universe?  What human mind can understand life itself?  And I, God,  who created all of life, can raise one man from the dead...if I so chose!

Gardener
God, I know that you created life itself, and I know that you raised Jesus from the dead.  But....but....but how about me?  ....  a poor Jewish gardener?  My wife?  My family?  The bodies here in my cemetery?  Will we live again?

God  
What did you see today, Gardener?

Gardener
What I saw was gloriously wonderful!  I saw the empty tomb.  The grave clothes folded neatly in the grave.  The faith and faces of the disciples. ... And I also saw the daffodils blooming in my garden.....and a cluster of butterflies flutter past me.  They were beautiful. ...  Today, I felt the deep hope of eternity spring forth  within me,  like a flower blossoming forth into full bloom.

God  
My friend, you will never die.  Your eyes are open and you have seen eternal spring.  Your heart is open and you know eternal love.  Your ears are open and you have heard my eternal song.

Gardener
O God, how I love your song.  Sing it to me again.

God  
I want the whole world to know that...I am the God of life and living, I am the God of eternal thanksgiving, and I raised my Son from the dead!  (The gardener is repeating the words with elation as God speaks.)

Gardener   
I will tell.  I will tell the whole world.  I will run to tell the whole world....(The gardener shouts these lines as he is running from the chancel to the rear of the sanctuary.  He now spins and triumphantly shouts to the congregation and world.)

He is risen!  Your Son is risen indeed! ... For ours is a God of life and living. Ours is a God of eternal thanksgiving.  And he raised his Son from the dead!

(The organist hits the keys for the beginning of a triumphant Easter hymn.)

(This sermon grows out of the time when Pastor Markquart visited the Garden Tomb which is located immediately above a cliff with eye sockets in it that make the cliff look like a skull of Golgotha.  This area is right outside the wall of  Jerusalem.  In the Garden Tomb is a burial vault carved out of the limestone,  “traditionally”  thought to be the burial place of Jesus. Thus, it is easy to visualize people running up to the Garden Tomb from the city and back down again.)


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