A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them. Matthew 7: 18-20
Jesus speaks these words to warn his followers about false prophets. These charlatans may be clothed in a gentle sheep’s skin, but inside they are voracious wolves consuming everything for their own gain. They are liars, thieves, cheats, and pretenders.
Yet many people trust and believe them. How can that be? Are we just too naive to see them for what they are? Maybe. But I think it’s more likely that we want to believe their lies because we think we will benefit from them. We excuse their cheating and veiled thievery because it hasn’t hurt us, just the “other guy”. We espouse their pretenses because we mistakenly believe they will advance us as well as the “wolves”.
Jesus knows we’re not stupid. He says there is one clear and sure-fired way to identify a false prophet. By their fruits you shall know them – and those “fruits” should be the fruits of the Holy Spirit. If, despite the rotten fruit they have produced, we follow them then we will end up in the fire just like they will.
An image today instead of a poem
Music: Ubi Caritas – Where Love and Charity Abide, There is God
“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets.“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.” Matthew 7:12-14
Jesus says that the gate is narrow which leads to life. It’s a warning that makes me want to sit up and pay attention to my life! Just what is it that I should take from Jesus’s words?
I think Jesus is telling us that our lives are occupied with a lot more unimportant stuff than important stuff. What is it that really matters each day in my thoughts, actions, relationships, plans?
Jesus says that the measure of what matters is this: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
I want to be respected, noticed, cared for, appreciated and loved. That’s what I hope others “do unto me”. When I pray over my day at night, have I treated others this way? Have I found the narrow gate Jesus is describing?
Prose: from How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
You want the approval of those with whom you come in contact. You want recognition of your true worth. You want a feeling that you are important in your little world. You don’t want to listen to cheap, insincere flattery, but you do crave sincere appreciation. You want your friends and associates to be, as Charles Schwab put it, “hearty in their approbation and lavish in their praise.” All of us want that. So let’s obey the Golden Rule, and give unto others what we would have others give unto us. How? When? Where? The answer is: All the time, everywhere.”
Music: Do Right to Me, Baby (Do Unto Others) – Bob Dylan
Don’t wanna judge nobody, don’t wanna be judged Don’t wanna touch nobody, don’t wanna be touched Don’t wanna hurt nobody, don’t wanna be hurt Don’t wanna treat nobody like they was dirt But if you do right to me, baby I’ll do right to you too Got to do unto others like you’d have them Like you’d have them do unto you Don’t wanna shoot nobody, don’t wanna be shot Don’t wanna buy nobody, don’t wanna be bought Don’t wanna bury nobody, don’t wanna be buried Don’t wanna marry nobody if they’re already married But if you do right to me, baby I’ll do right to you too Got to do unto others like you’d have them Like you’d have them do unto you Don’t wanna burn nobody, don’t wanna be burned Don’t wanna learn from nobody what I gotta unlearn Don’t wanna cheat nobody but don’t wanna be cheated Don’t wanna defeat nobody if they’ve already been defeated But if you do right to me, baby I’ll do right to you too Got to do unto others like you’d have them Like you’d have them do unto you Don’t wanna wink at nobody, I don’t wanna be winked at Don’t wanna be used by nobody for a doormat Don’t wanna confuse nobody, don’t wanna be confused Don’t wanna amuse nobody and don’t wanna be amused But if you do right to me, baby I’ll do right to you too Got to do unto others like you’d have them Say, like you’d have them do unto you Don’t wanna betray nobody, don’t wanna be betrayed Don’t wanna play with nobody, don’t wanna be waylaid Don’t wanna miss nobody, don’t wanna be missed Don’t put my faith in nobody, not even a scientist But if you do right to me, baby I’ll do right to you too You got to do unto others like you’d have them Like you’d have them do unto you
Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’
“If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.
In these verses, Jesus utters another dangerous prayer: forgive us, God, as we forgive others.
Uh oh! I don’t know about you, but I think we can be pretty bad at forgiveness. It’s so much easier to remember a wrong done to us, to excuse ourselves of any responsibility for it, to fester in its hurt, to calculate a concomitant revenge, to demonize and ostracize the offender.
Jesus says, “Hey, is that the way you want God to forgive you?”
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: We examine Jesus’s words in the Our Father to find the secret to forgiveness.
We are all the children of One God, equally and completely loved.
God wills holiness and joy for every one of us.
God will always grant forgiveness to the ready heart.
We live for the hope of heaven, and the circumstances of this world pale in its Light.
Still, in our daily circumstances, we need to be fed by the Spirit in order to find the courage and desire to forgive as God does.
Poetry: Enemies – Wendell Berry
If you are not to become a monster, you must care what they think. If you care what they think,
how will you not hate them, and so become a monster of the opposite kind? From where then
is love to come—love for your enemy that is the way of liberty? From forgiveness. Forgiven, they go
free of you, and you of them; they are to you as sunlight on a green branch. You must not
think of them again, except as monsters like yourself, pitiable because unforgiving.
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of our Creator God, Who makes the sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. Matthew 5:44-45
It must have been so hard to hear and accept Jesus’s words in his Sermon on the Mount. These listening disciples had been raised on the Deuteronomic principle “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. What could ever make them turn that principle inside out to do just the opposite of what they had always thought? What would make us turn from this kind of “justice”? After all, it’s even-steven, isn’t it?
In Jesus Christ, there is no even-steven. The Mercy of God is given to all of us without limits. It rains from the heart of God over all Creation. Jesus showed us that there is no place in Mercy for quid pro quo justice. If a disciple wants to love like Jesus, this precept is foundational.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: Perhaps we are someplace where we can watch the rain today. If not we can remember how rain falls without distinction over everything within its embrace. So too does God’s Mercy fall on us moving us to be its agents in our world.
Enjoy the Peaceful Rain
Poetry: from The Merchant of Venice – William Shakespeare
The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: 'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown: His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God's When mercy seasons justice.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5: 23-24
Jesus teaches a profound lesson in today’s Gospel. We cannot be in balance with God if we are out of balance with our neighbor.
In the “court” of God’s justice, that balance resides not in judgment or vengeance. It resides in a love beyond “liking” — in reconciliation, forgiveness, mercy, patience, hospitality, reverence, and service toward one another.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We realize that we can’t like everybody. We can’t feel good toward everybody. We can’t approve of everybody. But we can choose to be Christlike to everybody.
May we grow in that grace, inspired by the awareness that we are One in God with all Creation.
Poetry: One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII – Pablo Neruda
I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz, or arrow of carnations that propagate fire: I love you as one loves certain obscure things, secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself, and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose from the earth lives dimly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where, I love you directly without problems or pride: I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love, except in this form in which I am not nor are you, so close that your hand upon my chest is mine, so close that your eyes close with my dreams.
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31
In this Gospel passage, Jesus really puts the spiritual life in a nutshell: Love God and love neighbor.
It’s pretty self-evident that to achieve holiness one must love God. But loving the neighbor is a far different story. Depending on our views in life, we might have a hard time with the annoying, Democrat/Republican, irresponsible, refugee, gay, unemployed, or subsidiary-dependent neighbor. Who is our neighbor, really? Or more to the point, who isn’t?
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Let’s work to understand and embrace all persons, indeed all Creation, as neighbor. Doing so, what is required of us in response?
Thought: from Fred Rogers
“All we’re ever asked to do in this life is to treat our neighbor —especially our neighbor who is in need— exactly as we would hope to be treated ourselves. That’s our ultimate responsibility.”
Prayer: from Walter Brueggemann
On our own, we conclude: there is not enough to go around
we are going to run short of money of love of grades of publications of sex of beer of members of years of life
we should seize the day seize our goods seize our neighbours goods because there is not enough to go around
and in the midst of our perceived deficit you come you come giving bread in the wilderness you come giving children at the 11th hour you come giving homes to exiles you come giving futures to the shut down you come giving easter joy to the dead you come – fleshed in Jesus.
and we watch while the blind receive their sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the deaf hear the dead are raised the poor dance and sing
we watch and we take food we did not grow and life we did not invent and future that is gift and gift and gift and families and neighbours who sustain us when we did not deserve it.
It dawns on us – late rather than soon- that you “give food in due season you open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.”
By your giving, break our cycles of imagined scarcity override our presumed deficits quiet our anxieties of lack transform our perceptual field to see the abundance………mercy upon mercy blessing upon blessing.
Sink your generosity deep into our lives that your muchness may expose our false lack that endlessly receiving we may endlessly give so that the world may be made Easter new, without greedy lack, but only wonder, without coercive need but only love, without destructive greed but only praise without aggression and invasiveness…. all things Easter new….. all around us, toward us and by us
all things Easter new.
Finish your creation, in wonder, love and praise. Amen.”
Music: Good Neighbor – Evan Craft
We may not look the same Ya might talk different too Got a long long list of differences Between me and you Different colors different stories Even different politics But He’s calling us now To lay it all down Get back to the heart of it And be a good, good, good Good, good neighbor Learn to love each other with The love of the Savior Make room at the table And share the hope that we got And be a good, good Good neighbor And show the world we got a good God I’ve read the good book Every word in black and red But is my faith alive if I live my life And I don’t do what it says Love your God with all your heart and soul Love your neighbor as yourself And be Jesus to a broken world That’s crying out for help And be a good, good, good Good, good neighbor Learn to love each other with The love of the Savior Make room at the table And share the hope that we got And be a good, good Good neighbor And show the world we got a good God Yeah, we got a good God, oh There’s room for everybody In the family of God There’s room for everybody In the family of God Make room at the table share The hope that we got ‘Cause there’s room for everybody in The family of God The family of God And be a good, good, good Good, good neighbor Learn to love each other with The love of the Savior Make room at the table And share the hope that we got And be a good, good Good neighbor And show the world we got a good God And show the world we got a good God And show the world we got a good God There’s room for everybody In the family of God There’s room for everybody In the family of God
A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent speaker, arrived in Ephesus. He was an authority on the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord and, with ardent spirit, spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the Way of God more accurately. And when he wanted to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. After his arrival he gave great assistance to those who had come to believe through grace. Acts 18:24-27
In this passage, we meet early Christians who loved and supported one another as they spread the faith. Priscilla and Aquila were a power couple for the early Church. Eloquent Apollos arrives on the scene not perfectly synched with the evolving Gospel. Priscilla and Aquila tenderly redirect him, welcoming him to teach the community.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We get a great picture of the importance of having good buddies for the mission. As we look at our own lives in service, how precious are our faith companions as we deepen our life in Christ! How grateful we can be for the gentle corrections, encouragement and support we have received in community! Let us pray for our whole Church that we will understand what it means to truly “buddy” one another in Christ.
Poetry: Alone – Maya Angelou
Lying, thinking Last night How to find my soul a home Where water is not thirsty And bread loaf is not stone I came up with one thing And I don’t believe I’m wrong That nobody, But nobody Can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here alone.
There are some millionaires With money they can't use Their wives run round like banshees Their children sing the blues They've got expensive doctors To cure their hearts of stone. But nobody No, nobody Can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here alone.
Now if you listen closely I'll tell you what I know Storm clouds are gathering The wind is gonna blow The race of man is suffering And I can hear the moan, 'Cause nobody, But nobody Can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here alone.
Music: Companions on the Journey – Carey Landry
We are companions on the journey, Breaking bread and sharing life; And in the love we bear is the hope we share for we believe in the love of our God, We believe in the love of our God.
No longer strangers to each other, No longer strangers in God’s House; We are fed and we are nourished by the strength of those who care, By the strength of those who care.
We have been gifted each other, And we are called by the Word of the Lord: To act with justice, to love tenderly And to walk humbly with our God, To walk humbly with our God.
We will seek and we shall find; We will knock and the door will be opened; We will ask and it shall be given For we believe in the love of our God, We believe in the love of our God.
We are made for the glory of our God, For service in the name of Jesus, To walk side by side with hope in our Hearts, For we believe in the love of our God, We believe in the love of our God.
Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. John 15:9-11
What would it be like if we loved as the Creator loves – eternal life flowing out from Trinitarian Love to sustain all of us for always?
Jesus says that this is how the Father loves, and how Jesus loves all of us. He says that we abide in this Love when we indeed love God above all and our Neighbor as ourselves.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Honestly, can there be a more ubiquitous word than “Love”, and yet we find so little of its true practice in our increasingly self-absorbed and violent culture!
If, when we “love”, it does not strengthen sacred life in another or in the world, then we have not truly loved. We may have desired, admired, adulated, or ingratiated, but we have not loved as God loves.
Let’s pray to be open and responsive to the gift of God’s Love flowing into our hearts.
Prose: from Embodied Love in John of the Cross – Richard P. Hardy, Ph.D.
For John of the Cross, being wholly converted into divine love means actually living God's own life: The soul lives the life of God.
And the will, which previously loved in a base and deadly way with only its natural affection, is now changed into the life of divine love, for it loves in a lofty way with divine affection, moved by the strength of the Holy Spirit in which it now lives the life of love. By means of this union God's will and the soul's will are now one.
Finally all the movements, operations, and inclinations the soul had previously from the principle and strength of its natural life are now in this union dead to what they formerly were, changed into divine movements, and alive to God.
Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts before him in whatever our hearts condemn, for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
1 John 3:18-22
John makes it so clear and simple, doesn’t he? It’s what we do that matters, not what we say. Jesus said the same thing once when he pointed out a tree to his disciples and said, “By their fruits, you will know them..”
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Let’s take a good look at our lives, and the lives of those we allow to influence us. Are we like trees bearing good fruit – good deeds of charity, peace, forgiveness, mercy, honesty, respect, encouragement, hope, and fidelity?
If our deeds reflect the opposite of these virtues, John says they condemn us. He calls us to Gospel faithfulness in what we do as well as what we say.
Poetry:
How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.
William Shakespeare
Music: Good Tree – Hillbilly Thomists (I thought these guys were fascinating! See more about them on their website: https://www.hillbillythomists.com/about)
You can’t gather grapes from a bramble bush Or pick a fig from thorns What I’d like to be Oh, to be a good tree
Some fall in the rocks, on the beaten path Some sink into great soil From a tiny seed Oh, to a good tree
Like a cedar high And mustard wide Where all the birds of the air can hide Find rest inside
Oh, a good tree The beetle bites The black rot strikes From the inside Have your enemies
Oh, if you’re a good tree High and dry Some branches die From time to time A prune’s required If you wanna be Oh, a good tree
Even when I’m old I still will be Still full of sap, still green That’s what I want to be Oh, to be a good tree
By Your word The dark is light The tree of death becomes the tree of life So let it be Oh, to be a good tree Oh, to be a good tree Oh, to be a good tree Oh, to be a good tree Oh, to be a good tree
The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all.
Acts 4: 32-33
In this passage from Acts, community is noted as an essential aspect of life in Christ. We were not created to be alone. We are created to find God in the love of our sisters and brothers. That merciful and generous love, imitative of Jesus, makes us one with Him in the Trinity, that primordial Community of Generative Love.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray to understand that our capacity for community deepens in relationship to our generous and merciful love for each person. As we widen our circle of mercy and caring mutuality, the face of God becomes clearer in our lives.
Poetry: When Someone Deeply Listens to You – John Fox
When someone deeply listens to you it is like holding out a dented cup you’ve had since childhood and watching it fill up with cold, fresh water.
When it balances on top of the brim, you are understood. When it overflows and touches your skin, you are loved.
When someone deeply listens to you the room where you stay starts a new life and the place where you wrote your first poem begins to glow in your mind’s eye. It is as if gold has been discovered.
When someone deeply listens to you your barefeet are on the earth and a beloved land that seemed distant is now at home within you.
Music: In Christ There Is No East or West – Choir and Congregation, St. Martin in the Fields, London
Lavish Mercy 