Upon hearing a recent family incident, an acquaintance commented to me, “You could probably
make a month of sermons out of that story!” Though ministers regularly work personal stories
into their teachings, that is not my thing. Of course, it makes sense for teachers to connect to
their listeners through stories and everyday experiences. People like stories.
Jesus too acquired much of his teaching material from everyday experiences which also included
the natural world. Very often he noticed profound things in agriculture and passed them on to
people in the form of parables. Trees held particular interest to Jesus, with no fewer than seven
distinct lessons centered around trees observed in the Gospel books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John. The Land of Israel is not in a deciduous forest biome; therefore, trees get noticed.
Teaching about the importance of being careful with one’s words in Matthew 12:33 Jesus says,
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten, for a tree
is known by its fruit…For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” In this word
picture, we are both the tender of the tree and the tree itself.
As someone who has struggled for years to control my tongue, speaking harsh and hurtful words
to my dear children, this teaching convicts me terribly. The most convicting aspect of this short
parable lies in the agency Jesus attributes to the those tending the tree. There are no passive
verbs. Jesus’ blunt talk demands the listener take responsibility for his words and
actions—creating the very environment where a tree can produce good fruit or rotten fruit.
Synonyms for this common Greek verb and its Hebrew equivalent “to make” include create,
produce, prepare, even compel. A personal translation of this passage would read, “Either
produce [like] a healthy tree with its good fruit or produce [like] a worthless tree with rotten
fruit…For the mouth yields in abundance the contents of the heart.” The choice lies with us.
People are not helplessly forced into evil. We have responsibility and agency to create good fruit
rather than bad. No one is to blame for my harsh outbursts but me.
One of my favorite teachings from the religious world of Jesus reveals that every person is a
tree—based on a literal reading of Deuteronomy 20:19-20. God’s prohibition against the
shortsighted felling of fruit trees for weapons of war comes with a rational that “since man is like
a tree of the field” the fruit trees should not be harmed.
Like trees, we all need roots to survive. We need nourishing soil and refreshing water. We are
designed to reproduce seeds and fruit. We need tending and pruning for maximum growth. We bear fruit in season. We should reach our hands toward heaven. We protect others. We don’t exist forever. I could go on.
Jesus highlights that like trees people grow and produce fruit. As his disciple, I must not be
tomorrow what I am today, because when I yield to his spirit and teachings, I can grow. I can
change. This is a genuine gift from our heavenly Father, and an encouraging lesson from our kin the trees!
Kyle A. Kettering graduated from Xenia Christian HS in 1998, Cedarville University in 2004,
and Nyack’s Alliance Theological Seminary in 2017 with a degree in Ancient Judaism and
Christian Origins. He serves as a teaching elder at Church of the Messiah in Xenia.