It’s 1970. Milt Mason was a huge Brewers fan, was a friend of the Brewers general manager Marvin Milks, and was also a retired 69 year old man with nothing better to do than help figure out how to get people to show up to cheer on his beloved team with him. The masterminds, Milks and Milt, came up with a great plan… Milt would live on top of the Brewer’s scoreboard until the attendance reached a whopping 40,000 people.

Before we tell you about what happened – do you think that Adam, when he was created by God and put in Eden, just sat there and ate blueberries and mangoes to his heart’s desire? Maybe. Wouldn’t that be nice... Him and Eve would chill under palm trees and drink coconut water, watching the rivers flow out of Eden petting their pet zebras. It wasn’t all they were suppose to do though. Before you think that paradise is just hanging from a hammock all day, God actually gave Adam a job! 

Genesis 2:15 says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Bet that just blew your mind. Yep, Adam was a gardener! 

“How about them apples!” Satan said to Eve (or something like that).

Except it wasn’t a joke. Defying God’s orders not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, Satan pulled a fast one on the couple, as you know, and they fell into sin! The gardener and his peach were kicked out of their unending, delicious fruit stand. Sure, they were working it, but c’mon – it couldn’t have been any easier! They totally blew it.

Mr. Mason sat up there on top of that scoreboard wondering if he’d ever come down. What if the season ended and he’d make a home with the pigeons forever, throwing them bits of popcorn and applejacks? He was becoming their friend, but sure liked people more. The games were hard to see from up there. 

But the momentum was building. Game by game the crowd got bigger and bigger! Then, it happened – around day 40, Milt Mason was a free man! The crowd roared as Milt grabbed the rope and slid down – burning his hands in the process. The Brewers were back, baby!

You know, God had a great plan to build up a people. God came down as a baby and went through pain and hardship. It’s like he slid down that rope too. We don’t know if he burnt his hands, but he did take some nails in them. It sure wasn’t easy, even from being a kid. Jesus pooped and scraped his little toddler knees. He probably got pretty cut up working as a carpenter. Do you think he missed with that hammer like you do, and bonked his thumb? Some people think “without sin” means that he didn’t get his bumps and bruises. But he certainly did. He worked and sweated. His most important job was going to the cross to pay for our sins. 

God went to the cross for you. He went to the cross for baseball players too! 

You know, Jerusalem was all in a frenzy when they couldn’t find him in the tomb. Peter sure was a wreck. He ran to the tomb only to find the cloth he was laid there in.

“What in the world!” he must have thought, “He’s…. not…. here?”

And they still didn’t understand what Jesus was doing!

Mary stood outside the tomb bawling her eyes out. There is something that is funny here. Here, lets let the Bible speak for itself:

“As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

“They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

And this is where you can laugh.

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

WOOOOO, Boy! Hey, that’s prophetic, even if you didn’t know what you said, Mary. You’re right about one thing, even if you were wrong. 

As scripture says, Jesus is the new Adam! There is a promise here that people don’t understand at first glance. Jesus is making a new Eden. He’s the gardener we were looking for. He’s going to do the work that Adam left behind. He isn’t just going to sit there and eat papayas and pomegranates, laying on a bed of sheep. He’s directing the sheep – you and me – and if we listen well, we’ll get back to the garden too. He has bought you and redeemed you when you believe in him. He plants faith into your soul with his Word. One day, believers will live forever with the God got his hands dirty -- who from the very creation of mankind speaks life to a pile of dust! That’s a pretty unique gardener. Who else can do that?

Oh yeah, you may have seen Milt Mason, even if he died years ago. Milt became “immortalized” by taking the form of the furry Brewer’s mascot, Bernie Brewer to this day – with the stache and everything. 

Prayer Prompt

Lord, thank you for taking on a role that’s been vacant for thousands of years. You are the gardener we need. You became the man that we couldn’t be. Thank you for taking our sins and nailing it to the cross. Now, you are not tending to a garden of low hanging fruit, but you are tending to your people! We are messy and full of wild branches, but you don’t give up on us – how amazing! Give me what I need to thrive in your garden. 

Even if it’s hard to pray… I’ll say it. Prune me even if it hurts initially. I know it’s better for me. You make the graves in our lives into gardens. We are redeemed, and you aren’t done with us yet.