A Tree and Its Fruit

Yesterdays Gospel was about practical wisdom in pursuit of spiritual wholeness. Today’s Gospel continues with the same. Today everyone claims to be the voice of God and give marvellous teachings, and some even do signs and wonders. What then is the Truth?

The Jews of Jesus’ time may probably have been in this predicament; to accept Jesus as Lord, God and Messiah, or to outright reject Him. But Jesus here is showing how to evaluate for our self the truth of such individuals. Let their lifestyle inform us the truth about them. The man of God will always spread peace, all about himself, speak in true Love for one and all, be a unifying factor and be self gifting. Judge then what the fragrance and life of Jesus has done for the World, it has turned it the right side up, it practically has seeped in all corners of society and brought in great change, from the oppressive Roman world to todays times. Yes man has continued to muddle it with his own selfish world view, yet the advancement to society in leaps and bounds is due to the life and teachings of Jesus, lived and seen though his disciples.

But the core idea at the heart of these words of Jesus is fruit. God demands us to pursue fruitfulness, even if the way ahead is dark and uncertain. We can use the idea of the flowing river to illustrate this. Wherever the river flows it brings life, but once it stops moving and there is no outlet for it like the Dead Sea, there can only be slow but certain decay and death.

The message for us today is do not be disheartened, do not give up on God, trust Him, pursue to be the change around yourself, imitate Him, and go out on a limb trusting God. Here remembering the Parable of the talents will help…