Got Fruit ?

Luke 17:6 was the topical verse for this evening’s devotional/Bible study time; and has been for the past 3 days or so. What leads up to verse 6 of Luke 17 is Jesus warning

the apostles that it will be impossible to go through life without being offended,trespassed or sinned against. The warning as understood by your’s truly is not for Christians to be put on guard to avoid being offended; so much as it is a forewarning to the apostles and to us on what attitude we are to have or take on after the fact.

 

Jesus gives instruction that we’re to be ready to forgive the repentant offender readily, He stresses this in verse 4 of Luke 17:"And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying I repent: thou shalt forgive him."Now the apostles having heard this; and probably feeling as though it was too much to repeatedly forgive someone looked at Jesus’ proclamation and responded to the Lord in verse 5 "Increase our faith!". In Luke 17:6, Jesus illustrates to the apostles what; a little faith can accomplish.

Luke 17:6 (KJV)
And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

At the "heart" of Luke 17:6 is the idea of expelling bitterness from one’s life. I recall coming across Luke 17:6 several months ago, and only giving it a passing thought back then. Not much digging into it’s meaning or it’s context was given; most likely meaning none of the verses before nor after it were read. At the time it may have simply been a verse that caught my eye while searching for some other scripture.

As Rick Renner, author of "Sparkling Gems" notes; Jesus used the Sycamine tree to illustrate His message to the apostles,on the destructive nature of harboring bitterness . The Sycamine tree had the following characteristics; which bitterness mimics figuratively …

• The root structure of the Sycamine tree ran very deep,and the tree itself was large considering it grew in the Middle East’s climate. It was difficult to eradicate the tree because of it’s roots being buried so deep into the ground. The tree could be cut down to the stump, and eventually because of the roots being so deep, the tree would recover in time. Similar to bitterness being deeply embedded in the heart.

 

• The wood of the Sycamine tree was the preferred wood for building caskets, perhaps an example by Jesus to show how bitterness if left unattended will spiritually kill a person.

 

• The Sycamine tree thrived in the arid conditions of the Middle East, much the same as bitterness can thrive in the life of a spiritually dry Christian.

 

• The fruit of the Sycamine tree was similar in appearance to that of the Mulberry, however; where the fruit of the Mulberry was sweet, that of the Sycamine was bitter. The fruit of the Mulberry was also more expensive; so people without much money ate of the Sycamine, but did so by nibbling at the fruit. This picture is similar to mentally nibbling at issues and situations that bitterness has arisen from; constantly revisiting or opening old wounds.

• The Sycamine tree was pollinated only by wasps. In order to be pollinated, a wasp stuck it’s stinger into the heart of the Sycamine tree’s fruit. Similar to bitterness being a by-product of someone being "stung" by another person (hurt emotionally, wounded, trespassed).

 

As Jesus illustrated in Luke 17:6, to rid one’s self of the destructive power of bitterness requires not only a little faith, but an attitude of actively pursuing the desire to remove bitterness from one’s heart. As study time was winding to a close, a movie from 2004 came to mind. Jim Carey and Kate Winslet starred together in a movie titled "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"; my recollection of the movie is that it was a bit bizarre at times, yet now presents a thought worth bringing up.

The synopsis of the movie is of a man named Joel Barish (Carey) whom is heartbroken and distraught over the fact that his girlfriend Clementine (Winslet), underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory after the two had a falling out. Upset and bitter, Joel opts for the same procedure to "get over" his loss. During the p

rocedure however; as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realizes that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.

What stuck as a common idea between Luke 17:6 and the movie, is the way in which we choose to deal with

bitterness. In both cases, it’s a matter of whether one chooses to let go or to hold onto the life consuming bitterness. Letting go requires one becoming the authority of the flesh, holding on to bitterness however; is allowing the flesh to be in authority of one’s life. Hollywood presents a fantasy solution to a real life issue and that’s Ok, it’s just a movie. Scripture however presents a real life solution to a real life issue.

Grace and peace be with you.

C.A. Stallworth