The Gospel reading we used in the Eucharistic lectionary today was the encounter of Jesus and Mary, just on that first morning. "Tell me where you have laid him," she pleas, assuming he is a gardener.
Sometimes I think this moment came to mind for Francis of Assisi just after he had complied with his father's request and publicly returned to him "everything he had from me" - including the clothes he stood up in. The bishop had quickly wrapped him in his cope. But then, Francis found in the garden the discarded cloak of an assistant gardener, and happily adopted it as his new costume - once he had chalked a cross on the back.
Perhaps he was assuming the guise of an errant gardener, mistaken for the Lord. And took on himself this humble role.
How often are we 'mistaken for the gardener' or mistake Jesus for a gardener? Often enough perhaps that when we do perceive who he really is, we took will turn and say "Rabbouni" (Master).
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