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PART II
5. THE CROSS AND THE TREE OF
LIFE
" I look upon this little hospice of Rome, near St. John Lateran, as a grain of mustard seed which the Divine Majesty sows for the present in that great city. But with a lively faith, I think He will one day make it grow into a large fruitful tree."
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As I read the first pages of the bible, I notice something that many may not notice as we can focus narrowly on the 'tree' with which Adam and Eve engaged with, i.e., the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is about the other tree mentioned: the tree in the middle of the garden.
"Out of the ground the Lord God
made grow every tree that was delightful to look at and good for food, with the
tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil.
(Gen 2:9)
This is the Tree we can we can link with Jesus, the 'True Vine' and with the 'Tree' from which he will be nailed on, shortly after he talks about Himself as the 'True Vine' at the last supper with his apostles. He says:
“I am the true vine, and my
Father is the vine grower. He takes away
every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he
prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the
word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch
cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the
branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because
without me you can do nothing. (John 15:1-5)
The Cross is often compared to a Tree (e.g. Eliade: 119-120) with fruit that feeds us. The Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden of Eden, we can say therefore, foreshadows the Tree of the Cross at the center of our life. Scripture scholars show us that Christ, describing Himself as the Vine, with us as branches, preceded by the divine title of "I am", is an indirect quote from Scripture, when God appeared to Moses, giving his name as "I am who am" (cfr. Exodus 3:14). This divine title is used throughout the gospel of John: I am the light of the world…the living bread…the good shepherd, etc. So this highlights his divine nature from different angles of who He is, yet never exhausting in telling us everything, and thus remains a mystery. Never should we try to put God under a microscope, as if wanting to control Him with our mind. We are engulfed by God, who is never fully understood by us, like the mystery of trying to grasp how it is possible for there to be three Persons in only One God.
For me, this image of Tree/Vine portrays a holistic view of Christ's message, when at the last supper, not only does Christ pray to the Father for unity among us, but also for an integration of us into the Holy Trinity: "may all be one in us" (cfr. John 17:21).
Understood in the context of the Vine, we are united in Christ as the branches, with the leadership from below, like the trunk and roots, as service. Actually the roots are not visible, as Christ is not visible to us, but without the roots, the Vine is not anchored to the ground and dies, because it is from the roots that the whole Vine is nourished. Not only do the roots keep the Vine alive, but it also enables it to grow. The Vine needs to have stability, and be anchored; unlike dry bramble weed, blown around by the wind with every novelty fad that shows up in society, as highlighted in Psalm 1.
Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit
in company with scoffers.
Rather, the law of the Lord is his joy;
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted near
streams of water, that yields its fruit in season;
Its leaves never wither; whatever he
does prospers.
But not so are the wicked, not so! They
are like chaff driven by the wind.
Therefore the wicked will not arise at
the judgment, nor will sinners in the assembly of the just. Because the Lord
knows the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.
This image of being served from below is a different image to that of the mystical body, where the head leads at the top (cfr. Ephesians 5:23; 1 Corinthians 11:3.12:12; Ephesians 4:15). Yes, He has been risen up on the Cross to rule, but he wears a crown of thorns, as he takes on to himself the sharp, poisonous thorns of our sins and wayward ways, trying to lead us back onto the right path. Both images complement each other: a listening service at the base while leading at the top. As mentioned, I like to image Christ as the hidden invisible root that sustains the Whole Vine, or the hidden Foundation Stone of the spiritual Building.
…like living stones, let yourselves be
built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)
The stone the builders rejected has
become the cornerstone. (Psalm 118:22)
Through a visible structured leadership in the Church, that
is united to Christ, symbolized by the vine,
where the trunk gradually splits up into collaborated branches, so it is like
the visible leadership, at the service of the whole
Other images that come to my mind, in regard to the idea of Christ leading from the bottom up, is when having died on the cross, he descends to the dead, to embrace also those in the underworld. Or, like mentioned before, it is similar to the seed that must be buried first in order to be ready to sprout anew. Or, think of the caterpillar of hawk mouth, that makes it's cocoon buried in the ground, preparing the way to come out later as a moth. Yes, that humble movement downward of Jesus, who is also placed hidden in a tomb, prepares the way for the Resurrection. How beautiful is power, ruled from a humbled base, from which He will be given a name above every other name:
"Have among yourselves the same
attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of
God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he
emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and
found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even
death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him
the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
(Philippians 2:5-11)
Flowing through the Vine, is the invisible Sap, but essential to the life and growth of the Vine. For me this represents the Holy Spirit. As the root sends the Life giving Sap to the rest of the Vine, so Christ sends forth his Spirit upon us from his open side on the Cross.
Now, the Vine grows toward an unforeseen destiny, developing into more and more surprising ways, producing flowers, fruit and leaves, which become nourishment for others. It's as if to remind us that we, as followers of Christ, develop as persons and community, like a spiritual Vine reaching out to the Father, who awaits us at the end of our earthly life!
What a beautiful, wholistic image of meaningful integration between us humans immersed in the Trinity! The image of Jesus as the True Vine in John 15 is followed by his prayer to the Father, which, I believe, builds on the image of a Vine, when he says: "may all be one in us." (John 17:21)
And it's good we remember that we are also one with a common home on this planet! Let us remember that the soil is necessary for the Vine to provide water and minerals. Even God Incarnate in the person of Jesus has a body like ours, composed of all these elements, like water and minerals found in the soil. The beating of the heart, the growth of hair and nails are all like our link to the plant world. Our body also reminds us of our "mammalian" animal characteristics. So we are one with our 'common home' as Pope Francis calls our planet in his Encyclical, " Laudato Si' " (On Care for Our Common Home), with a mineral, vegetable and animal levels, but distinguished in particular by our humanity.
Nature cannot be regarded as something
separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are a part of
nature. (Laudato Si'. 2015 # 139)
I owe these insights of contemplating different levels of
nature in our being, to a Jesuit who taught me during my years of philosophy in
the Colegio Máximo, San Miguel,
If we have ever seen a vine that is pruned, it is impressive, more so than other plants I have seen pruned. Yes, if we want to be truly fruitful with abundant, good quality production, we must be pruned, pick up our cross, be purified in the school of suffering, (cfr. John 15:2), as we have seen Jesus mentioning this to his apostles, at the last supper.
6. THE CROSS, THE BASKET,
THE STAFF, THE ARK AND
THE CRIB