Jesus and several others are talking about recent disasters. One disaster concerns the murderous ruler Pilate. He has the habit of practicing Militarism’s blood sacrifice rituals. His habit elicits a parable from Jesus about a murderous landowner who wants to kill a tree but is prevented from doing so by a gentle farmer. The bloodthirsty Pilate has the role of the murderous landowner in the parable with Jesus as the gentle farmer, the tree’s advocate.
People today can express a similar ethic of care, for trees especially. We are really just returning the favor. As we learned when children, trees naturally care for us. They create whole ecosystems by maintaining the integrity of soil, providing homes for birds and small animals, and bestowing food upon them and us. Most especially, their miraculous care includes removing and storing carbon, a harmful effect of greenhouse gases. Trees then release oxygen back into the air cooling it for their environment and ours as they do so. Environments decreasing their number of trees are suffering greater hardships. For example, the entire state of California. This past week, with California in mind, scientists published their assessment of decades of data on the consequences of drought and its impact on trees (Global Change Biology). They concluded the impact of climate chaos was extending beyond West coast trees and threatening whole forests and swaths of trees across the U.S. Who of us doesn’t have the memory of a magnificent tree from our childhood? I had two. One was a sturdy elm in the front yard from which friends and I would drop water balloons on unsuspecting other friends. The other tree was a magnificent apple tree breathtakingly beautiful in the spring and generously fruitful all summer long. I loved that tree. I played in it the entirety of my childhood. Let it be that appreciative love that we bring to our next encounter with a tree. Let it be that mutuality of care that has us plant a new tree this season.
“I think that I shall never see – a poem as lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest against the sweet earth’s flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in summer wear – A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.” (Trees – Joyce Kilmer)
Prayer: Spirit of Care, grow us into farmers and gardeners devoted to caring for creation.
Question: What is the loving memory I have of a tree?
February 28, 2016 Gospel Luke 13:1-9 Third Sunday Of Lent