The Tree of Life: Homily for May 26, 2019

The Tree of Life.  What a perfect metaphor for the nurturing and abiding love of God we have in today’s lesson from the Book of Revelation! But there is another Tree of Life, and it is that tree—the cross—that occupies the thoughts of our Lord as he offers final instructions to his apostles at the Last Supper.
  Still, the idea of a life-giving tree, as described in Revelation, is a uniquely compelling one. Found in the middle of the river of the water of life, before the throne of God, the tree produces fruit each month, “and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”  Since certain trees are believed to be the oldest living things on earth, the Tree of Life, like many of the trees we may have known and loved, is the ultimate provider of shelter and protection, of sustenance, of steadfast and comforting love. Consider the Tree of Life presented in  Revelation and note the quite fitting words that begin today’s collect: “O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding.”
God’s abiding and merciful love always seems to be just beyond the reach of our understanding—or our ability to accept.  Quite possibly we do not believe we deserve such love, but there it is anyway, flowing like the river straight from the throne of God. In today’s lessons, we are already doubly blessed with the words of the Apostle John, in his gospel and in the Book of Revelation, attributed to him. I would like to add a quotation from his first letter because I think it offers a further elucidation of the Lord’s words in the Gospel: “Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him…All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.” In today’s lesson from John’s gospel, we hear Jesus speak of that abiding spirit as our Advocate—our intercessor, our coach.
 When we read the events detailed for us in Chapters 13-16 of John, can we feel some of the desperation in Jesus’s final words to his disciples? These chapters cover the evening of the Last Supper, when Jesus knows he must be sure his friends are prepared for what is to come, that they are ready to carry on his ministry. His is a quandary with which I can empathize, on a very limited level of course. During the many years when I taught English in high school classes, if I introduced a concept and observed a dazed expression in the eyes of any of my students, I knew I had to try again. Since I wanted all of my students to understand, if even one of them seemed perplexed, I approached the new concept in a different way.
As we have seen in descriptions of earlier episodes in the life and ministry of Jesus, when he shared a lesson, maybe in the words of a parable, he quite often received the “duh” response from his disciples. On this evening at the Last Supper he will ever have with them, he reminds them of the main tenets he has taught, of what he has asked of them. He says, “ I am with you only a little longer…I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Surely they hear the urgency and sorrow in his voice, but what is Peter’s immediate question?  “Lord, where are you going?”
So, Jesus begins again, and during his remaining time with the disciples, he takes care to review with them the important themes of his ministry. He calls himself “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” and he makes clear that the very manner in which he has carried his message of love is that way he would have his disciples follow. He reminds them once again to love one another and to follow the commandments. Earlier in his ministry, when Jesus was asked which were the most important of God’s laws, he explained that there are really only two we need to know, and in following these, we have covered all the others: They are “Love the Lord your God” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
As his friends begin to realize that their Lord may actually be getting ready to leave them, he promises once again that he will not be leaving them all alone. He has promised before that he will be with them always, that as much as God is within him and he is within God, he will also dwell within his followers. He now says, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and WE will come to them and make our home with them.” That is an amazing promise, and it may be as difficult for us to comprehend as it seems to be for the disciples. It sounds as if we should cultivate an inner home for the Lord—but I don’t believe He expects this task to be difficult for us.
How does he explain the way he will live on within his disciples? He says to them, “…the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you…Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” In speaking of fear, Jesus addresses a compelling aspect of our interior lives. In 2019 we live in a world where scientists have shared with us many remarkable things discovered about human consciousness. Don’t we have a whole life going on inside us even when we are silent and alone? Isn’t that interior world the home of fear and anger and love, even when we are unable or unwilling to name those feelings out loud? Doesn’t our own sense of reason and our ability to decipher a new concept reside within our consciousness? On a deeper level, in that part of ourselves that we call the “unconscious,” our dreams arise and unexpected thoughts and ideas emerge. Our interior space is the place where God, as the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, has chosen to dwell.
Nowadays our interior lives seem to be under assault from all the many distractions confronting us, but shouldn’t it be possible for us to quiet our hearts and welcome the Advocate? In so doing, we welcome our Lord.
Indeed, the collect appointed for this Sunday expresses both our difficulty in comprehending as well as the steps we can take to rejoice in  the presence of the Advocate. “O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire.” Our consciousness filled with the fullness of love, we can’t help but trust that God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives right there in our hearts. Isn’t trust—or faith— always a key for believers?
Opening a space in our hearts for God’s presence is a bit like planting a seed of love—a seed from that Tree of Life. You may be, as I am, a fan of the contemporary American author Barbara Kingsolver. You may or may not know that Kingsolver is also a biologist. I’d like to share a quotation from her. I like these words for the way they express the mysterious power of life contained in a seed and the capacity humans have for reverence in the face of such power.  “There once was a time when Thoreau wrote, [she shares Thoreau’s words] ‘I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.’ [the end of Thoreau’s words; Kingsolver continues] By the power vested in everything living, let us keep to that faith. I’m a scientist who thinks it wise to enter the doors of creation not with a lion tamer’s whip and chair, but with the reverence humankind has traditionally summoned for entering places of worship: a temple, a mosque, or a cathedral. A sacred grove, as ancient as time.”
If the Advocate has been planted within us like a seed from the Tree of Life, then we are eternally the home of a sacred grove, a place of reverence, rest and joy, a place where we can seek and find the answers to all our prayers. May our hearts find peace in abiding there.  Amen.