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Matthew 7:13-29
You will know them by their fruits
Amy Marie Epp
November 11, 2005
I would like to begin by reading another passage of scripture, from Proverbs. Jesus preaches his sermon on the mount very much in the same vein as Wisdom, in Proverbs invites her listeners into righteous living and the knowledge of God. This is the personification of divine Wisdom, calling to people at the gate join her and to live under her guidance and counsel.
Proverbs 1:20-33
20 Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. 21 At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: 22 "How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? 23 Give heed to my reproof; I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you. 24 Because I have called and you refused, have stretched out my hand and no one heeded, 25 and because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when panic strikes you, 27 when panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. 28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but will not find me. 29 Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, 30 would have none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof, 31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and be sated with their own devices. 32 For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them; 33 but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster."
Proverbs 8:19-21 19 My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver. 20 I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, 21 endowing with wealth those who love me, and filling their treasuries.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is speaking as Wisdom does in Proverbs, with invitation to take his words to heart. Wisdom challenges people to know her and thus to have understanding. She is calling people to a way of justice and righteousness. She is giving the opportunity, providing an opening but at the same time she is also pointing out the consequences of the choices that we and her listeners make.
Jesus is doing the same. These verses are the epilogue to a sermon that is filled with new ways of looking at old laws about retribution and violence, marriage and divorce, new ways of thinking about how to pray and create connection with God and with neighbour, news ways of thinking about both the spending of and storing up of money. Here he is summing up the invitation into the new way, and saying, ‘there are consequences for the choices you make.' This way that I have shown you, is the way to life.
Some writers call this section the eschatological epilog ue, which, more simply put means, Jesus ends with the end. The text reads, “On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not cast out demons in your name and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.'” Jesus is talking about ‘in that day' by which he means the day of judgement – the day which we have to explain and defend ourselves before God – the final hour.
I read this with a great deal of scepticism. It's hard for me stand here and seriously talk about end times much less make proclamations about my own belief about what is to come. So many of us have heard horrible and fear driven speeches about hell fire; we've heard misinterpretations and misapplications of Revelation and it's hard to give that future any serious consideration, much less any credence to the idea that it might have relevance on our own lives.
We don't like talking about the end times. I'd rather emphasize now …what can I do now , the kingdom of God is here now . It's true, the kingdom of God has begun, the possibility for reconciliation with God and with follow human beings is what Jesus came to proclaim. But I just can't get around Jesus saying look to the future, your actions now affect eternity, there will be a day when the kingdom of God will come in fullness. So bear the fruit that will be pleasing to God because now and eternity are connected.
I watched a movie this week called After Life . It's a Japanese film about a place where people go after they die. In this middle place, they have a week to decide on one memory from their lives in which they will live for eternity. There are people who work in this place who help and counsel each person to a decision. Anyone who cannot decide on a memory stays in the place as one of the guides. During the course of the film, you discover that one man has been a worker there for over sixty years because he can't think of a time happy enough that he would like to live in it forever.
As I thought about this character I kept thinking about an attitude that seems to be becoming prevalent in many people of faith: that the purpose of our lives in relationship to God, is to be basically good, basically decent, and basically happy, working toward self improvement and fulfillment and when we die we'll be rewarded. God really requires nothing of us except not to be a big jerk.
The man discovers by coincidence, that when he was alive though he was dissatisfied and unhappy, he has been a part of someone else's happiness and when he sees his own memory from the perspective of another, it is that memory that he is able to take with him.
I don't know what the end looks like. I hope it is more than a single memory, no matter how wonderful. But the fact is that something is required of each us and evidence of how well we have lived faithfully will be seen in the fruit that we bear. What have we done that testifies to the kingdom of God being present and begun in the work of Jesus?
Jesus doesn't get specific about heaven or about the fulfillment of God' reign. But he has given plenty of examples in his sermon about what that fruit looks like. And those who use Christ's name yet are not his followers in their actions, he doesn't recognize. He has presented a picture of a life of discipleship that includes living beyond the constraints of the law that his first listeners knew – that broke conventions but not relationships. He says much of hypocrites who speak of the law and of righteousness, but don't live in its spirit of justice, and reconciliation.
When I read the passage about identifying false prophets and knowing who are the wolves in sheep's clothing, it is very, very easy for me to feel self righteous.
NRS Matthew 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will know them by their fruits. 21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Jesus is talking about people who claim his name, who outwardly profess to be a part of his flock, but in truth their actions and the way they behave will be how they will be known to be a part of God's reign. I think, “no problem” I can point to exactly who I think the false prophets are – it seems to me that at this moment in history the United States is filled with people who are preaching a Gospel that completely flies in the face of what Jesus Christ preached… and there are a lot of people being led down a broad and comfortable road. A path that justifies violence and exploitive wealth and limits the blessing of God to race or nation.
It is very easy for me to point and say, ‘them, it's them, that is rotten fruit is ever I saw it.' But in doing this I completely ignore what I have only just learned from Jesus' sermon on the mount about passing judgement, when he talked about first taking the log out of my own eye. When I still got cable I loved the Daily Show – It is especially satisfying to see the show pick out various prominent television evangelists and to look, point and mock with the commentators on that program. I admit, I still find John Stewart funny, but I think it's probably good that I don't get a constant diet of mockery of people, even (maybe especially) those of whom I am wary and with whom I profoundly disagree. Jesus had hard words for those who look at others and say ‘you fool!' If I am to take seriously Jesus warning about false prophecy I would be wise to look at my own actions, and practices and see if they measure up. Or, am I a tree that will be thrown into the fire.
That said, There is nothing in Jesus sermon, not in this text that indicates that the point of following Jesus is to be part of a great nation, kill people in the name of God, gain wealth or even be happy and healthy. “The gate is narrow and road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” The word for and image presented of narrowness here is less like a tight parking space, and more like a crowded room. I was at a concert a few weeks ago – right at the front. Then I went to the bathroom and had to struggle my way to the front again where Joe was taking up as much space as possible to leave room for me. It took awhile and people did not want to let me through. I even had to prove that Joe was waiting for me at the front by showing someone my wedding ring. If you've ever tried to struggle your way through a crowd, that is the kind of path that will lead to life – working and struggling against the crowd and pressed on all sides.
Anabaptists have always valued the Sermon on the Mount greatly as a cornerstone of our understanding of what it means to be a Christian and a disciple. The early Anabaptists understood especially well what it meant to follow Christ even into persecution and death, often martyred for acting in ways that defied the church and state for the sake of their convictions about how they were to follow Christ. Perhaps being faced with imminent mortality makes it easier to think about what comes after this life. Bernard Rothman's quote that was read by Paula earlier also speaks of the narrow road that leads to life. He says “Do not be discouraged to start on the way to righteousness, for while we do not have in us the ability to carry it ourselves, we are able in him who strengthens us, even Christ. Without him, we can do nothing.”
Not only Jesus' sermon a lesson for ethical living, Rothman's words remind us, it also gives guidelines on how we form out spiritual lives. Jesus has provided in the sermon on the mount a formula for prayer and for the very personal relationship that we have with God. He has given the understanding that our ethics come from our response to God's great love for us.
So in the face of such love, what about judgement? Certainly the text raises questions about what will happen to those whose fruit is not good. The tree which does not produce good fruit will get chopped down and thrown into the fire. The short answer is, I don't know what to do with this text. I do know that Jesus preached that God has great love for us, the creation of God's hands – greater that the lily and the sparrow, for whom God has given all they need. My understanding of God does not comprehend or leave room for the idea that God would reject outright a person who has not borne good fruit.
I find some hope in a parable that Luke records Jesus telling:
Luke 13:6-9 A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' 8 He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"
God the gardener has great patience. There is time for us to be tended. I think that the point of both the parable of the wise and foolish man, and the metaphors of the trees and the gates, are not to make the focus that some are destined for hell and some for heaven for all eternity. It seems to me that Jesus was using graphic language to say – you have a choice to make – a choice to follow and to do justice and righteousness, or choice to fall by the way, and to be consumed by the evil in your own heart. As Wisdom says in proverbs, “ they shall eat the fruit of their way and be sated with their own devices. For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them.”
The sermon on the Mount is Jesus' way of provoking his listeners out of complacency into lives of loving and just action. This is true both of his teachings and of these final verses which demand us to make a choice. As we move into new season of worship, my prayer is that we can let the words of Jesus provoke and move us out of complacency and into loving action.