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| "Almond Plantation" by Uzi Yachin (Israel) |
Seed-Bearing Fruit Trees of Every Kind
Jesse Tree Symbol: The Earth
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A Greeting
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.
(Psalm 73:25)
A Reading
Then God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation:
plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth
that bear fruit with the seed in it.’ And it was so.
The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed
of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit
with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good.
And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
(Genesis 1:11-13)
Then God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation:
plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth
that bear fruit with the seed in it.’ And it was so.
The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed
of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit
with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good.
And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
(Genesis 1:11-13)
Music
Meditative Verse
"Come to me, you who desire me,
and eat your fill of my fruits."
(Sirach 24:19)
A Poem
Lord, purge our eyes to see
Within the seed a tree,
Within the glowing egg a bird,
Within the shroud a butterfly,
Till, taught by such we see
Beyond all creatures, Thee
And hearken to Thy tender word
And hear its "Fear not: it is I"
Within the seed a tree,
Within the glowing egg a bird,
Within the shroud a butterfly,
Till, taught by such we see
Beyond all creatures, Thee
And hearken to Thy tender word
And hear its "Fear not: it is I"
- from "Judge not according to the appearance"
Verses for the Day
Wisdom praises herself,
and tells of her glory in the midst of her people:
Before the ages, in the beginning, he created me,
and for all the ages I shall not cease to be.
(Sirach 24:1, 9)
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| Jesse Tree image by Eric Westra |
The second Jesse symbol is most often the planet earth, and marks the beginning of the story of the ancestors. The first ancestor is God himself, who created the heavens and the earth. The opening of John's Gospel reminds us that Jesus was also there as the Word. "The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God."
On the third day of creation, after the formation of the heavens, the waters and the dry land, but before any form of creature -- God creates the seed-giving plants and the fruit-bearing trees. The vegetation is abundant, signaled by the first instance in Scripture of repetition as a form of emphasis. Over the next weeks, some of the fruit trees will be explored on their own, but the image of "fruit trees" appears frequently in the biblical story, often associated with God's continued provision of abundance which never ends. It is also offered as a sign of consolation in times of restoration as when God promises in Ezekiel 36 that there will be fruits of the tree after the famine of the nations, or when in Joel 2, He reassures the soil and the animals and the children of Zion that life will be renewed for them. It is out of the promise of abundance that the obligation to tithe fruits is born: Leviticus sets the stipulation and Nehemiah offers a reminder. Fruit trees in the New Testament are mostly symbolic, acting as a metaphor for righteousness and the lack thereof (see Matthew 7). The exception is Revelation, where fruit trees form an essential part of the vision of new creation.
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| "Fog near Beit Jann-3" (Olive Trees) by Uzi Yachin |
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LC† The Trees of Jesse is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto.
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