The final landscape:
garden
2026 Beatrice Institute Lenten Campaign
“In a semblance of a gardener God walked again in the garden, not in the cool of the evening, but in the dawn.
”
Rembrandt van Rijn,"Christ the Gardener"
THE MEDItATION
Christ the Gardener…
An extraordinary number of artists have been captivated by the wonderfully strange Easter Sunday encounter between Mary Magdalen and Christ the Gardener.
In so many of these depictions, Christ is draped in some long, white strip of cloth that doesn't cover much of his body—an inadvisable and unnatural costume for a real gardener.
In Rembrandt's depiction, however, Christ looks exactly the part—a sturdy belt, rolled-up sleeves, a floppy hat.
Mary, already startled from her encounter with the angels, is now also startled by the appearance of a gardener intruding on her grief. Christ looks almost surprised to see her, too. (Is he giving himself fully to the role?)
And then he asks, "Why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" As if he doesn't know! Perhaps the disguise of the gardener, then, is really no disguise at all. No ruse, but a revelation.
Whom are you looking for, if not for the gardener?
The landscape where the need for salvation was born, is the very same landscape where salvation is consummated. There is no more disobedience in the garden now, no more agony, but unending joy.
Christ is the New Adam, who will accomplish the command to "tend and keep" the garden. Christ is the lover in the Song of Songs, who has "come down to his garden" (6:2). Christ is the gentle gardener, under whose loving care every seed planted in good soil will flourish.
The Action
At Beatrice Institute, we continue Christ's gardening within the University culture of Pittsburgh.
Our gardeners are the community of 50 faculty fellows who cultivate the soil in the hearts of our undergraduates, preparing them to—like Mary Magdalen—recognize Christ in places least expected.
When a faculty fellow prepares, teaches, and guides a seminar, we compensate them for their labor. This is our way of acknowledging their work as more than a volunteer gig they do on the side (as valuable as that would be) but as a true institutional endeavor for the renewal of Christian intellectual culture in Pittsburgh.
You can look through the photos and bios of our faculty fellows here!
Help us keep the garden. Donate today, in whatever sum, to support our faculty laborers!
Thank you to all who have already donated to support Beatrice Institute this Lent!
