Transplanting vegetables and the Gospel

'Cos lettuce' among onions

Much of my gardening time lately has been spent transplanting.

For example, the 'cos lettuce' is now growing clustered together about three millimetres apart. They need more space to grow to a decent size (more like three inches apart), so I find gaps in the veg patch to relocate them, such as between the sets of antler-like onion blades. The tennis-ball green and sprawling shapes of the lettuce stand out nicely in a different area of the garden. 

Then there are the transplants given to us by other gardeners: Brussels sprouts, kale, flowers. Each one comes with its own social distancing requirements. I slowly remove them from their containers and gently place them in the earth to ease the shock of their transition. I make sure they are well-watered so that their roots can establish in the new soil.

Transplanting comes with the satisfaction of watching the garden slowly filling up. 

As I transplant, and as the garden fills up, I think of how God, as shown in the scriptures, desires his world to be filled, sometimes using transplanting to do that. I see two themes of this transplanting and filling in the Bible.

The first theme of transplanting and filling is that humanity must spread throughout the earth. In the book of Genesis, after creating the first people, God blesses them and tells them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it' (1:28). 

As the book unfolds, people naturally increase and fill the earth. But in one settlement, the people decide to build a city and a high tower to make a name for themselves and 'not be scattered over the face of the earth' (11:4).

Here the people resist God's command to 'fill the earth'; instead, they want to glorify themselves and stay put.

When God learns about their plan, he decides to stop it to prevent them from doing great harm (v. 6). God confuses their language so that they cannot cooperate to complete the tower, and then '[scatters] them over the face of the whole earth' (v. 9), fulfilling God's original vision. In other words, God transplants them to fill his garden. 

The second theme of transplanting and filling is that the Gospel must spread throughout the world. 

In the short time after the execution of Jesus of Nazareth, something happened that transformed his defeated followers into a courageous community boldly proclaiming a message of hope and salvation accompanied by powerful signs. 

They claimed that God had raised Jesus from the dead, making him the champion over death and establishing him as Lord and Saviour. They explained that, because of Jesus' exaltation, God had now poured out the Holy Spirit on them, and that all who turned to Jesus through repentance and baptism would receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:22-41). 

These disciples understood that Jesus had commissioned them to be his witnesses 'in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth' (Acts 1:8).

So, the disciples transplanted themselves throughout Asia and Europe. Instead of seeking to build a tower to make a name for themselves, they built communities to worship God and bring the truth and healing to others in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 9:34). 

Sometimes the disciples' movements were prompted from within, such as by a vision or communal discernment (Acts 16:6-10); sometimes they came from outside forces, such as persecution (Acts 8:1b-4). Sometimes they were transplanted into communities for years; sometimes months; sometimes only for the length of a conversation.

On one occasion, an angel tells Philip to travel down a certain road: the desert road 'that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza', to be specific (Acts 8:26). He does, and there he finds an Ethiopian eunuch reading a prophecy from the scriptures but not understanding it. Beginning with that passage, Philip tells him 'the good news about Jesus' and then, as requested, baptizes him. Suddenly the Spirit takes Philip away -- God transplants him elsewhere to preach the Gospel -- leaving the Ethiopian eunuch alone but joyful at what he has received (vv. 27-40).

St Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch

Whatever the cause for the disciples' transplants, the result has been that, ever since those times, the Gospel has been spreading to every corner of the earth, which Jesus said must happen before the end of the world (Matt. 24:14).

This leaves me with three main thoughts I consider for myself. I hope they can be of use to you as well. 

1) What if God has transplanted me to where I am now? What if my being here is part of God's vision, not only for my life, but even beyond that (Acts 17:26)? 

I can trace many of the decisions, large and small, that my wife and I made, and the events surrounding them, that brought us here to this part of Cumbria. But what if, underneath those choices and circumstances, God's hand was mysteriously at work? 

2) If there is a divine reason for my being here, what if that reason is primarily to encounter Christ? What if my present circumstances are my own desert road between Jerusalem to Gaza, like the one the Ethiopian traveller was on, the location where I can hear and more deeply understand the good news of Jesus?

3) Having experienced Christ, how can I, like the disciples being transplanted to new places to share the gospel, be Christ's witness to people here in this place?

Like a good gardener, God looks after the wellbeing of the world, and has commanded humanity to spread throughout the earth to care for it in God's name.

God also looks after the wellbeing of humanity. The most important way has been through giving us his Son Jesus, in whom we find life and healing. This is the message that we are called to receive and then give to all people so that they may have life.

As the prophet Habakkuk writes, 'For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea' (2:14) -- or as the vegetable plants cover the garden!