Lectionary for 10/12/08

Today's readings are Deuteronomy 11.26-12.12 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Deut.+11.26-12.12 ) and Matthew 12.22-37 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Matt.+12.22-37 ).

We know the tree by its fruit.  A man speaks from the heart.  And our speech, including nonverbal speech, our actions, serves as evidence to justify or condemn us.  Here in Matthew 12.33-37 Jesus confronts us with our evil.  For what have we done or said which does not have a self-serving motive underlying it?  What have we done which is pure in the sight of our Lord?  One man I have heard on the radio challenges people to take a blank sheet of paper and a pencil.  They are to spend ten minutes writing down the most recent things they have done entirely with a right and unmixed motive, and which they would have done even if no person, including the person of God himself, were watching.  By the end of ten minutes, the sheet of paper should be blank and the person should have several things to pray about.

All our actions are rooted in the attitude of our heart.  And our heart is deceitful, sinful.  Knowing what our Lord has commanded, knowing what he has made the world to be like, we follow the way of sin instead.  We try to protect ourselves.  We seek our own glory and good.  We will do whatever it takes to come out with a result pleasing to us, though we won't do whatever it takes to be pleasing to God.  We are sinful and we act like it.  The tree is known by its fruit.

There is another tree we look to today, and that is the tree on which Christ our Savior died to show himself the victor of sin, over death, over our hearts.  And that tree is known by its fruit as well.  What is the fruit of Christ's tree?  It is a mighty river of grace, flowing through this world, washing our hearts, feeding them with his grace.  It is a river of the love of Christ, which resulted in his body being broken and his blood being shed for us.  This is the true tree of life, the fruit of which we are now commanded to eat.

May the Lord change our hearts, creating the good fruit, the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.