Baruch 5:1-9
Canticle 16 (Benedictus Dominus)
Phil. 1: 3-11
Luke 3:1-6

Advent 2C
HE 2B 10:00
RCL

THE FRUIT OF THE TREE

Credit: Pulpit Resource 1985
Previous: 85

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On these Sundays in Advent I am doing a series of thoughts on trees, for trees have a lot to teach us as we prepare for Christmas, and as we celebrate Christmas. Last week we thought about the leaves of the tree, and how you and I need, especially in Advent, to turn ourselves, like leaves, towards the spiritual sunlight of God's love in this world which is so full of darkness. And we spoke of fallen leaves, and the promise of new life, of resurrection, from the leaf-buds, and of new life from the fallen leaves, the failures and disappointments, of our lives.

I. Today we go on to think of the fruit of the tree. A tree may be thought of as having six organs. Three of these are vegetable structures roots, stems and leaves, and the other three flowers, fruits and seeds, are reproduction structures.

From this second group of organs - fruits and seeds - come our first food. Fruit is the oldest known food. It wasn't difficult to find - there it was - just hanging on the tree, ready to be eaten. Some people think that the pomegranate was the first fruit discovered for food. At least it is the first one recorded in the Stone Age drawings on cave walls. Then came the fig and date and olive and grape - and all of these fruits are prominently mentioned in the Bible. And God had already said at creation, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed, and every tree with seed in its fruit - you shall have them for food." And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. (Gen.1:29-31).

Fruit has always had a special prominence in the Holy Land, because food has usually been scarce there, and fruit was an essential part of the diet in ancient Palestine. Fruit trees were so important to the economy that Israel was forbidden to destroy them, even in time of war, as we hear in the book of Deuteronomy (20:19f).

Because of the importance of fruit in Bible times, we find in the Scriptures a plentiful crop of analogies that have to do with fruit. Beginning right away with the Creation story, the divine command is to be fruitful and multiply. The first fruits of the harvest were offered to the Lord in thanksgiving. One's actions were also known as fruits, with such phrases as "according to the fruit of his doings", and a statement that the wicked and the righteous "will eat the fruit of their deeds." (Is.3:10-11).

In the New Testament, the image of bearing fruit ripens richly in the teaching of Jesus. Bearing fruit is often used by Jesus to indicate the results of an obedient or disobedient life: the yield may be good fruit (Matt.3:8; 7:17-19; 12:33; 21:43), or bad fruit (Matt.3:10; 7:17f; 11:33; .Luke 6:43). In Jesus's analogy of the True Vine in John 15, it is only the branch that lives in the vine, as part of it, that bears fruit - so you and I must, as branches, live in Christ the True Vine.

Paul also spoke frequently of the fruits of righteousness (Phil. 1:11) and the fruits of the Spirit (Gal.5:22f). Paul is praying that his readers' lives may produce a crop of moral qualities in line with their Christian commitment. And in one of his letters (Galatians), he names those fruits: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

II. Among those fruits are some that have to do with Advent themes of peace (on earth), joy (to the world), love, goodness and kindness. And they are there for the picking. They are there for the picking: some pick them and some do not. Some people bear fruit in Christian living; some live lives as nominal Christians but there is no substantial effect in their lives in terms of the fruits of the Spirit. Why is it?

The prophet Isaiah wondered about this. The Lord Himself wonders about it. Isaiah has a whole chapter (5) in which the Lord speaks, comparing Israel to a vine which had been cultivated through history by the Lord, and the Lord looked for Israel to produce grapes - that is, good fruit, but instead, Israel produces wild grapes - bad fruit. It is as if the Lord said,"I could give up on this people and look elsewhere for fruits of the Spirit - but this people are my vine, and I really care about them. But no matter how much I care and toil, this living, growing thing cannot be compelled. But I will continue to coax it."

Jesus told a parable of a fig tree like that, how it never bore fruit, and was good for nothing but to be cut down and used for firewood. How many people are like that - fruitless? They look good - they might even be planted in God's vineyard, the Church - but they never bear fruit. They look like a tree, but they never bear the expected fruit. They are Christians in name, but their lives do not show the expected fruits of the Spirit.

People like that may be catered to during their lives, but those are not the ones who are remembered. They vanish away almost if they had never been. The ones who are remembered with thanksgiving are those who have borne the fruits of the Spirit all their lives. Old age simply makes them more fruitful, and they do not take refuge in complaining and bitterness as so many do. We can probably think of older people, often with many physical infirmities, who nevertheless are a joy to be with. We think it will give them a lift if we visit them, and it turns out that we are the ones who get the lift. There is a verse from the Psalms (92) that speaks to this: "The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree and spread abroad like a cedar - they shall still bear fruit even in old age." (There is the image of fruit again.)

III. People who bear no spiritual fruit in their lives - people who seem to be untouched by the self-giving love of the Lord Jesus need to be shaken up, severely. But all of us need to be shaken up, for we all are only partly converted. There are always corners in our lives that need to become converted, become fruitful for the Lord. And that brings me to a story with which I shall conclude, for shaking up, or being shaken up by God, is an Advent theme. The story comes from a man who told it of his grandfather, who came to the United States from a large farm in Czechoslovakia. He brought with him a deep faith. Every year around Christmas, he would tell us of the cherry-tree story.

When he was a young boy, there was a huge old cherry tree that had stopped blooming. One year, after Midnight Mass, his father took him to that tree. Together they shook the tree, saying, "Wake up! Jesus is born!". The following season, Grandpa said, they had cherries.

Grandpa began telling his tree story often in the summer of 1979 and decided to repeat the story with his own cherry tree that no longer bloomed.

As "modern" grandchildren, we were skeptical of his superstition, but neither our explanations of aging trees nor our suggestions of cross-pollination could dissuade him.

After Midnight Mess, he rushed home anxiously to shake his tree. We laughed as we sat in the car, thinking about him going out back to the tree.

Grandpa eventually stopped talking about it, and gradually the incident was forgotten. Late in May we were talking about the family when I suddenly remembered the tree. I asked what happened. It was then I heard: "It was full-of flowers ... there were lots of cherries, and grandma made pies - miracle pies - for everyone."

Let us pray: Wake us up I Lord, for Jesus is coming. Shake us up, Lord I that Jesus may be born in our lives. Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy people, that we, bringing forth the fruit of good works plenteously, may have the plenteous reward of knowing you more clearly, loving you more dearly I and following you more nearly. Amen.