John sets the resurrection in a garden (John 19:41, 20:15). This echoes the Garden of Eden in Genesis 1, but also the “Promised Land” the Israelites sought (also the tabernacle and later the temple).

The story of the bible is in many ways the story of God trying to get us back to the garden – a metaphor for the place where our relationship with God was healthy and intimate. The promised land, the tabernacle, the temple, these were all attempts create a place like the garden where we could be with God as God intended. We, Christians, believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s hope (and ours) that we might return to that good and healthy relationship with God that God envisions for us.

How are the wilderness and the garden similar? How are they different?