Fruit

“Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them . ”

What is the proof of something's worth? How can we tell if we've been doing well, or just wasting our time? What is the value of a man—the way to judge him fairly and correctly?

It used to be our only food. The world was paradise, and in it all thing grew wildly, wonderfully and abundantly with fruits of every kind for the picking and eating. There was no work to it, no cultivation, planting, weeding, fertilizing, pest control. It just grew there; you picked it, and ate it. God made it that way by His command, “And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good… ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you… Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.'” Genesis 1:12, 29; 2:16-17 The food the man and his wife ate was a blessing, an expression of God's love. It was also a test. One fruit was not meant for us. That, of course, was the fruit we chose to eat. That's been the trouble with us ever after.

A fruit is the consequence of something else, often a lot of other things. You do a series of things right, and the fruit should be what you were seeking. Do a long division problem correctly, and you'll have the right answer. Do a chemistry experiment with all the proper ingredients, in the sequence and temperature and duration you ought to, and you'll get the reaction you wanted. Strike the cue ball just so, and the eight ball goes in the side pocket.

Now life is not always as predictable as a physics problem, but neither is real physics. There are too many variables and other players on the field. That's what makes sports so interesting: 22 men in pads and helmets all chasing a ball shaped like an egg in the mud with 75,000 people screaming and millions of dollars on the line. What's the score going to be? Tough to predict, but the better team on that day will probably win. The score may tell us what we couldn't know before the kickoff.

Cause and effect, actions and reactions, the consequences of the things we do, the thoughts we think, the way we act all have their result in who we are and what kind of people we become. You can't govern an outcome without first determining the steps you must take to have it, and then take those exact steps.

I once had an upstairs neighbor who loved jazz. John Coltrane and Charlie Parker were his favorites and I'd hear him playing their albums loud. The man had a saxophone too, and would like to have been able to play like these jazz giants—but when he blew his horn, it was always just this sort of goat with a tin can caught in his throat kind of noise. He'd never learned to play a note, but thought he could soar like Bird. I just plugged my ears. You've got to pay your dues before you can play good blues. Any musician knows it's practice, practice, practice…

Sometimes the evidence will fool you, and you can't tell between two things. There's the story of a man who got shipwrecked on a desert island where he knew two tribes dwelt side by side. The sun worshippers could only tell the truth, and the moon worshippers could only lie, but otherwise there was no discernable difference between them. A native ran up to the castaway and called out something, but the wind carried his voice away unheard. Another native, who looked just the same, ran up and told him, “That man said he is a moon worshipper, and he is,” then ran away. A third came and said, “No, he said he is a sun worshipper, and he is.” This may have presented the shipwrecked man with a dilemma, but by these clues he was able to know what the man said, and what each native was. Can you?

Fruits might be deceiving if we expect the outward evidence to always show us the truth. But it doesn't. When Jesus speaks of fruit, He isn't using obvious cues such as fortune or fame, vows and grand speeches. Anybody can do that, and very unscrupulous people have accomplished much that is highly prized and praised. In our Gospel reading today, Jesus is warning us against false prophets who, like ravening wolves may come to us dressed in sheep's clothing. The outer clues are deceptive. A tree may look good to us, and its fruits colorful and plentiful. The fruit may even taste good. But oleander berries are poisonous. You have to know fruit from other fruit. As our Lord said, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Who knows the ones who do the Father's will? The Father knows. So does the Spirit, who resides in you.

Eve didn't know her fruit, and was fooled by the serpent. But she had been given a great clue, the commandment of God . When an evil person wants you to believe his lie, he may tell you a really Big Lie. The little lie might be detected against the backdrop of what you already know. Like that commandment. But tell a really Big Lie like, “You won't die. God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil,” Genesis 3:4-5 and it can destroy your confidence in the original truth, undermine God's command, and cast a shadow on God's character. Tell a big enough lie, and some people might believe anything.

The castaway had to reason what the first native said to him, the words he couldn't hear.

Jesus told His disciples at His Last Supper that he is like a vine, and we are branches of the vine. From Him we draw our lives. But we have to bear fruit to be of value, to prove that we are of the vine. He said, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit… Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing… Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples… Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” John 15:2, 4-5, 8, 16

So we must be attached to Jesus to bear any eternal fruit. In order to be strong enough to bear the heavy fruit, He will prune us and cut us back at times. That's not a bad thing. We have to stay in Christ or we'll never bear any fruit. Our fruit brings glory to the Father. We are chosen of Christ, and thus our fruit will remain. What is this fruit?

St. Paul says, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 What: no churches, no hospitals, no kingdoms, no Nobel prizes, no platinum albums? No titles, no fan clubs, no TV shows? Just character? Oh, these things may also bring glory to God, but they may also be just sheep's clothing. God looks at the heart, and He can discern between an honest offering and self-glory. Love, joy, patience, temperance —these things don't make the news, don't make good plots for sit-coms. Good people aren't entertaining, the world says. The fruits of the spirit may be hard to see through a television lens.

The castaway reasoned that the first man, if he were a sun worshipper must have said, “I am a sun worshipper.” If he were a moon worshipper, he said, “I am a…. sun worshipper.” Now what did the other two say? #2 said: “Moon worshipper and he is.” That's the liar. The second said, “Sun worshipper and he is.” That's the truth, and now you know the riddle.

Test the fruits. Not just how they look and even how they taste. What kind of results come from eating them? Do they make you strong, give you heart, lead to life? Or do they make you lazy, selfish, fat, or crazy? Eat almonds, and stay away from oleanders. St. Paul again spoke of lives of sin. “For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome [the fruit] of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.” Romans 6:19-22

Paul is right. He said, “the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.” Ephes. 5:9 He instructs us not to have anything to do with the unfruitful works of darkness. They sound horrible the way he tells us, but we have to look deeper. We may think a pastime is innocent, innocuous, even worthy. I had people whose teenage kids played dungeons and dragons tell me it kept the kids busy and happy. Busy, yes, but have you looked in their eyes? What are their dreams? What is their chosen character in the game, and can they still distinguish it from themselves? Are they allowed to kill in the game? Dungeons and dragons was child's play next to the present day role-playing video games. Grown ups captured by the casinos are in the exact same spot, only it costs more. Tell me Crystal Gale is singing there and I'll tell you how many felonies sprang last year from gambling.

Fruits: they're how we know the truth of a thing, or a person, the value of them and whether we want to partake of what they offer. It takes a discerning heart, a faithful spirit, and a willingness to hear what we may not want to hear from God, whose Spirit lives in you. But God made fruit in order to give us life, and made us fruitful, so we may bring the fruits of our lives back to Him. May we worship only Him and always tell the truth. PFH+