Luke 6:43-49 and Matthew 12:33-37; 7:21-29
It’s been a challenge to organize these readings and keep similar material from the Synoptics together, especially when it’s only three or four verses that overlap. The Sermon on the Mount creates the most difficulty, in terms of small common sections. So today we have three reading sections and five sets of comments in the links below from 2019.
Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad… (Mt. 12:33a) How does one make a tree one way or the other? And why would we want to make a tree bad? Or what can we do for a bad tree to make it good? I don’t know that we can make bad trees good. We can possibly make less productive trees more productive, but to turn a tree completely around – not likely. Earlier in His Sermon on the Mount Jesus says to cut down any tree “that does not bear good fruit” and throw it into the fire. (Mt. 7:19) However, Jesus is not talking about trees here. He is talking about us! And with us it is possible to make the bad, good, and the less productive, more productive. It is, in fact, our Lord’s wish. He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (I Timothy 2:4)
Finally, after saying all that, it is possible to make a “bad” tree good. The apostle Paul shows us: For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. (Romans 11:24) God is in the grafting business and He wants us to join Him!
See also: March 20 / Matt. 12:33-37; March 21 / Luke 6:43-45; March 22 / Matt. 7:21-23; March 23 / Matt. 7:24-29; March 24 / Luke 6:46-49
I have been pondering what the difference is between a “good” tree and a “bad” tree. It seems to me that the lesson is that the tree is shaped by what is in abundance in a person’s heart – good or evil. If a person has an abundance of evil in his/her heart, that person will be like the bad tree and not produce good fruit. On the other hand, a person who has an abundance of good in his/her heart will produce good fruit.
I don’t think this means that a good tree must always produce good fruit – people with an abundance of good in their hearts also are tempted and fall short of doing what God wants us to do. That is where pruning of branches comes in – continual improvement in seeking to be a faithful servant. Also, there is no reason to think that a person with an abundance of evil in his/her heart cannot be transformed through God’s grace.
Thankfully, I’m not sure I have ever known a person who has an abundance of evil in his/her heart. There are certainly examples from history, and Matthew’s verse is directed to the Pharisees who just a few verses above claimed that Jesus was Beelzebub because He drove out the demon from the possessed man (I am assuming that the Pharisees actually knew that Jesus was Messiah but were protecting their positions by undermining Him). It is scary to think that there are people like that.
It seems to me that what Jesus says about good and bad trees confirms that we can and should distinguish between good and evil and hence “Judge not…” cannot mean that we should avoid calling a spade a spade. Likewise, observing that a bad tree cannot bear good fruit goes to say that we should not expect goodness to come from evil hearts. Note, though, that the only true source of goodness is God alone. (See Mark 10:18 and Luke 18:19.) So either join God’s team or don’t; be part of the Kingdom or not; choose life or choose death (Deut. 30:19). Ambivalence is not an option.
Fred, I too was struck by the tree analogy and appreciate Lou’s additions to the good tree and its fruit (needs pruning sometimes) v. the bad tree (can be changed).
Our hearts hold our beliefs, attitudes, and motivations. And out of our hearts come our actions – behavior and speech. In Mt 7:29 Jesus says that by our words we will be justified or condemned, because the words reveal our heart. Praise God Father and Son that He can change our hearts of stone through the working of the Spirit!!!
Jesus certainly took on the Pharisees regarding their focus on rules and traditions. But in Mt 12:33+, He also took on the other end of the religious spectrum: those who prophesied, cast out demons, and did deeds of power in Jesus’ name (whom we might call pentecostal today?) Again He is looking into our hearts, our motivations and beliefs. Good things (traditions, healings) can be done for all the wrong reasons. May He look into my heart and find the Holy Spirit at work there!