The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN
Year C - 6 Epiphany - February 17, 2019
I’ve always been mesmerized by trees that grow in water. Maybe it’s because I grew up, not far from the great dismal swamp and the Albemarle sound… Those bodies of water are famous for the towering bald cypress trees growing just off of a point of land out in the middle of the water. Thinking of those trees takes me back to the days of fishing and boating as a young boy, trying to cast line between them and not get hung up in the roots.
Jeremiah tells us that if we trust in God, we will be like these wonderful, strong, powerful Cypress trees that send out their roots by the stream. They survive heat, their leaves stay green, and they do not cease to bear fruit, even in the most horrible conditions.
The psalmist also picks up on this tree imagery, pointing out that people that refrain from evil, and stay off of the sinner’s path… Are like trees that are planted by streams of water yielding fruit and having leaves that do not wither…
Trees can teach us a lot about our faith and life with God… See, from what we know about trees, trees are not at all independent… trees depend on other things around them to survive… The conditions around them must provide them with the nourishment and sustenance to survive.
Paraphrasing some words from Thomas Merton, a tree does not all of a sudden, decide that it isn’t comfortable where it is… therefore, it’s going to go over and be in another field for a few weeks. A tree is not in a big rush to flit off with sparrows or people, where ever they might be going. Merton says, that a tree does none of these, a tree gives glory to God by being itself… by being a tree.
Trees are used throughout scripture to describe things… They have become, for us, an image of humanity gone awry. Everything from the tree that bears the fruit of knowledge that we find in the Garden of Eden to the tree that becomes the bearer of our salvation, the tree that Jesus was crucified on found on the Mount Golgotha, just outside of Jerusalem. Jesus was crucified on a tree and considered cursed so that we might be rescued from the curse, and grafted back into the family tree of God’s people.
In our gospel lesson, Jesus is preaching from the level places, and turns the understanding of happiness and blessing upside down… He calls the people to action… he calls the people to a life of discipleship and learning… learning what it means to truly be what God has created us to be. Nothing more, nothing less…
Jesus uses the laundry list of blessings and woes, to point out and challenge us... to ask what it is that we value and what it is that we reject as it relates to faithful Christian living. Jesus calls the hearers of his message to better understand what it is going to be like living in the Kingdom of God.
In the Kingdom of God where the values are different than they are of this world but not only that… But that it’s possible to live those values now as we seek to bring forth the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus is on the level place, and he is not just speaking on the plain, but he is speaking plainly. Blessed are… and you can fill in the blank… Jesus advocates for everything that society has shunned or considers shameful…
Blessed are the poor… blessed are the unemployed, the homeless, the unimpressive or the underrepresented… blessed are all those on the fringes of society that have not had a fair chance because of prejudice and the assumption of who they are, they don’t deserve a chance.
Blessed are those who are hungry… blessed are those who don’t know where their next meal is coming from… blessed are those who live in a society and nation of abundance only to find that they can’t scrape enough together on min wage to feed their kids.
Blessed are those who weep... blessed are those who have dealt with loss and brokenness, blessed are those whose tears flow because of the harshness of their experience.
Jesus isn’t saying that they are any more blessed than those who already feel that they have found favor with God. On the contrary… Jesus just simply levels the playing field and reminds those that do not feel blessed, that recompense is coming…
In our modern society and culture, it is commonplace to equate wealth with divine approval. aka "That we are financially rich because of God’s favor." Here, the scripture is telling us exactly the opposite. The shame of poverty in Jesus’ time is very much the same as in ours. Jesus tells the people in so many words, that true strength, purpose and power, doesn’t come from money, feasting, or a feeling of bliss.
A tree draws its strength from what’s around it… the soil, the nutrients, the water, the sunshine… We draw our strength, purpose, and power comes from our communities of lifelong partnerships and family… Communities of faith, communities of Eucharistic partnership, communities that gather to pray and study scripture together... Communities that reach out to serve others and communities that are mutually committed to God’s love.
We can learn a lot from trees about our communal life with God. We can learn how our dependence on each other makes everything work… about how growing in our life together eventually makes us stronger... stronger and more resilient to the forces that wish us harm. Only together can we stand tall against the elements… only together can we discern and understand God’s will.
Together within God’s family tree. Together, empowered, unashamed, resilient, and strong... Together, equal, forgiven, restored, and loved…
