Life Between The Trees: The Cross (Palm/Passion Sunday) - John 19:16b-30
“When Christ was on
earth, the dogwood grew / To a towering size with a lovely hue. / Its branches
were strong and interwoven, / And for Christ's cross its timbers were chosen.
“Being distressed at
the use of the wood, / Christ made a promise which still holds good: / 'Never
again shall the dogwood grow / To be large enough for a tree, and so, / Slender
and twisted it shall always be, / With cross-shaped blossoms for all to see.
“'The petals shall have
bloodstains marked brown, / And in the blossom's center a thorny crown. / All
who see it will think of me, / Nailed to a cross from a dogwood tree. /
Protected and cherished this tree shall be, / A reflection to all of my
agony.'”
What a beautiful poem
that many of us have heard through our lives, especially living here in North
Carolina, where dogwoods reign as the official state tree.
Today, we come near the
end of our sermonic journey of “Life Between The Trees,” remembering that the
scripture, and life itself is a journey between the Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil and the Tree of Life found in God’s Creation in Genesis 2 and the
Tree of Life and the Tree of Life found bridging the river flowing from the
throne of God in New Jerusalem in Revelation 22. We’ve spent weeks exploring different types
of trees found in the Scripture and their significance as markers of our
faith. In addition to the Trees in Eden,
we’ve considered the Olive Tree, the Cedar Tree, the Oak Tree, the Palm Tree,
the Broom Tree, The Fig Tree, the Sycamore Tree, and the Mustard Tree. I did not ask last week, but knowing how
important trees are to the Word of God, and to God himself, how many of you are
ready, without shame, ready to be called tree-huggers? I had set the goal of having all of our
congregation ready to profess that next week, but I am hoping by the end of
today, we will be ready.
We’re here once again
to talks about a tree. Today, on the Sunday we not only remember Jesus’
triumphant entry into Jerusalem (and some may wonder why we didn’t save the
Palm Tree for today), we also remember his journey up the hill called Golgotha and
being nailed to a tree. Why say “a
tree?” Peter, as he spoke to Cornelius
and his family said, “We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in
Jerusalem. They put him to death by
hanging him on a tree….”[i] Paul, as he wrote to the Galatians reminded
them, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for
us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree….”[ii]
We are here to talk
about the most significant tree in all of history…and though the poem offers a
lot of meaning, we are not here to talk about the dogwood tree. As beautiful as they are, and as much as many
of you love them—I did say “you,” not “we,” y’all know how I feel about
dogwoods—they serve as a miraculous reminder about the sacrifice of Christ, but
the possibility that the Romans used a dogwood is next to none. Dogwoods were not native to the land of
Israel and the Cedars and Sycamores were considered the tall, strong trees that
many folks used for special carpentry needs—they along with the Oak and Palm
and Olive would have possibly been source material for the Romans to build
their torturous execution tool. No one
really knows, no records of the early church nor even the Roman Empire reveal
what type of tree the Romans used.
The tree we encounter
today on our way to New Jerusalem is simply the tree that was planted on that
hill just outside first century Jerusalem, the cross. I think with all our gold, silver, brass,
crystal, and even plastic crosses, we have lost some of the significance or the
impact of just what those rough wooden crossbeams mean to us. It is an ugly tree with branches that were
not God grown, but man-made. Its
appearance was not to inspire, but to terrify.
Its purpose was not to give life, but to take life. Can a cross be
beautiful despite its ugliness? In all
honesty it is the most beautiful tree ever known—but it is not the kind of
beauty that we think will look good in our yards, the corner of our homes, or
miniaturized on our desks and end tables.
It is a beauty is a
deep, internal, spiritual beauty that when we see it ought to cause us to
shudder….
What is the
significance of this tree for our lives?
Where is its beauty?
It is in this tree we
find mercy.
It is in this tree we
find grace.
It is in this tree we
find love.
My brothers and
sisters, our sins leave us under the sentence of death. For those who were here when we considered
the twin trees of Eden, the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil, we recognized that when given the gift of Free Will and offered the
choice of obedience to God and life and doing things our own way, knowing it
means death, we have consistently chosen our own way. From the time of Creation the penalty for
sin, the penalty for choosing to live lives disobedient to God, is death. It doesn’t matter the sin, whether it is
murder, whether it stealing, whether it is sexual misconduct, whether it is
gossip, whether it is eating off the tree that God said not to eat from, the
price to pay for choosing our way as opposed to God’s way, is death.
God could have left all
of humanity, each of us, right there on death row, justly sentenced to die for
our sins. Our God, He could not and would
not just say, “forget about it, it’s no big deal.” A price had to be paid, and God was the judge
that was to see it carried out. Some
think of God as a mean judge just wanting to see everyone suffer and be punished. Yet that is not God. Peter tells us, God “is patient with [us],
not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.”[iii] So what is God to do? We stand sentenced to death, yet He desires to
be in a living relationship with us.
This is where we find the mercy, grace, and love. For the Judge, who sentenced us to death,
stands up from His throne and says, “I’ll pay the penalty.” Sometimes we miss that amazing act of God’s
love for us.
Some accuse God of being
unimaginably cruel forcing His Son to die for us. When we start thinking that way, we forget
that Jesus is not only human, but also Divine.
In Jesus we see not where God forces someone to die for our sins, but
where God Himself says “I love you so much, I desire to be in a relationship
with you so much, that I myself am willing to come and pay the penalty for
you. I will pay the price for you to
have forgiveness. I will pay the price
for you to have freedom. I will pay the
price for you to be in a relationship with Me.”
And so this tree is not
a tree that is covered in sap that is brown or clear or even golden…for on this
tree—where we find mercy, where we find grace, where we find love—the sap…the
life-force…ran red…
In the Name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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