In my Garden
1 Peter 2:19-25
2:19 For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly.
2:20 If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval.
2:21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.
2:22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
2:23 When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.
2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
2:25 For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
“He looked a little like a southern colonel with his white mustache and a small flower in his lapel. His extraordinary sense of humor and dry wit could be very sarcastic if he thought the occasion demanded it – a truly brilliant man.” This is a description of C. Austin Miles, the man who wrote the song “In the Garden”.
According to some polls “In the Garden” is popular abroad, as well as in the United States. More than a million recordings and printed copies of it have been sold. It is virtually impossible to pick up a standard hymnal and find it omitted.
Miles attended the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1892, he abandoned his career as a pharmacist and wrote his first Gospel song, which was published by the Hall-Mack Company. He later became editor and manager of the music publishing company and served them for 37 years.
He said of himself, “It is as a writer of gospel songs I am proud to be known, for in that way I may be of the most use to my master, whom I serve willingly although not as efficiently as is my desire.”
Miles’ hobby was photography, and he had managed to build his own “darkroom” for developing his film. He discovered one day that he could read his Bible in the special “red lighting” of the darkroom. He often read passages of scripture as he waited for the developing process to finish. Since he was a musician and a songwriter, he often found himself reading with the express purpose of getting ideas for Christian songs.
One day in March 1912, Miles, while developing film and waiting for the process to complete, picked up his Bible. It had fallen open to John, chapter 20. He found in that chapter the story of Mary’s coming to the garden to visit the tomb of Jesus. As she looked into the tomb her heart sank because he wasn’t there. He, standing nearby, spoke to her, and she recognized Him. Her heart leaped for joy!
Miles imagined that he was present with them in the garden on that glorious occasion, witnessing the wonderful event. When his thoughts returned to the business at hand in the darkroom, he was gripping his Bible. His muscles, according to his own recollection, were tense and vibrating. Reverently he thought, “This is not an experience limited to a happening almost 2,000 years ago. It is the daily companionship with the Lord that makes up the Christian’s life.”
In the inspiration of those moments, he wrote a poem. He later said the words and phrases came quickly. That same evening, he composed a musical setting, and in doing so gave to the world a song that has now become extremely well-known, “In the Garden.”
Refrain: And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
I get it; there is no salvific value in suffering. I mean there is no actual greater reward or saving power that comes from looking for opportunities to suffer. Well, or do I? Do I really get that? Do I fully understand that all of my teachings about Christianity and living a Godly life have been mis-taught, misrepresented and just downright erroneous? You probably like me were taught that if we suffer then we will gain eternal life….that it is in our willingness to not just suffer but to seek out, embrace and long for suffering opportunities so that we can gain that heavenly crown of life. As if in someway there was no way to reign with him if you did not suffer with him. So many scriptures come to mind.
I recall during my second conversion in the Pentecostal Holiness Church, I was clear I had heard from God about my lot in life…and that lot was to be one of suffering. At that time I did not have the verbiage but what I knew was I had a cross and I was required to, daily pick it up and carry it…I had to bear it and if I bore it correctly under great anguish and despair I would win the race set before me and I would have earned my eternal placement in heaven.
There was little to no understanding about the great work of Christ and the grace that had been rendered. There was no emphases placed on Christ taking my place and His cross was the only cross that actually mattered. But oh, to be like Jesus…and suffer all day long.
This text sits right in the middle of the writer’s discussion on suffering as it pertains to slaves. Here the concept of slaves obey your master even if he or she is a mean master. Just remember you are suffering for God’s sake. Needless to say, I have a problem with this concept. Yet, when reading this scripture something profound came to life for me.
2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
The Message translation said it like this: “He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way.”
Somewhere within me the seed of love grew that much greater! Jesus paid not just the debt of my sin, but he paid the cost of my suffering as well! Life will present hardships and challenges. There will always be the next event, situation, circumstance…the car broke down, the money is funny, a one-hundred-year pandemic…the lost relationship, the mixed-up marriage, the hardheaded children or the troubled mind. There will be many chances for us to weather the daily events of life that in and of their selves leads to pain and suffering, but it is not in them nor even through them that we are saved! We learn about ourselves, the world and others through them. We learn about the care and right now presence of God, but suffering has ZERO baring on how holy, righteous or saved you are or will be! In the cross Jesus brought healing and the possibility of “living in righteousness”. In his willing body he carried my sin suffering to the cross and in exchange he released unto me the ability to live a righteous life freely!
2:25 For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
Or in other words: “You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you’re named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.”
So today my sisters and brothers…today I like Brother Miles:
I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,
The Son of God discloses.
Refrain: And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
He speaks, and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing;
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.
Refrain: And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
I’d stay in the garden with Him
Tho’ the night around me be falling;
But He bids me go; thro’ the voice of woe,
His voice to me is calling.
Refrain: And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
Bishop-Elect Roger Billingsley-Hayes