The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." – Luke 3:9

Today's Scripture Reading (December 3, 2023): Luke 3

I have an apple tree in my backyard. Every September, the family gathers to begin the task of taking the apples off the tree. The apples are great eating apples. I love eating them right off the tree, although they also make delicious pies. But the apples are the result of all the tree has done throughout the growing season.

When we bought the house, one of the last requests of the people who had owned the home before us was that they would take the apple tree. My real estate agent immediately turned down the request. It was a mature tree, so moving it would not be easy, and removing the tree would mess up the backyard with no guarantee that the tree would survive the process. And so, in the end, the tree stayed with its new owners.

The act of producing fruit involves many factors that have to go right. One of the first things you notice in the spring is that the tree produces blossoms. These blossoms attract the bees, allowing the tree to cross-pollinate with other apple blossoms from neighboring trees. It is an important step; an apple tree does not produce apples in isolation. For our tree, part of the success is that two other apple trees of the same species are located close to my property: one behind our house and one on my neighbor's property to the east side of my house. If both of those people decided they no longer wanted an apple tree and cut their trees down, my tree would stop producing apples (another reason why removing the tree made no sense).

The lovely blossoms are replaced by tiny round balls that cling to the branches. Over the summer months, these balls will grow in size and change color until, finally, if left long enough, they will fall from the tree. The color, texture, and taste of these balls encourage other animals to consume them. If left alone, the animals spread the seeds in different places, and sometimes, a new tree grows that just might produce fruit.

For my apple tree, the idea of producing good fruit is defined by the fruit's edibility and whether the seed it produces can create new life. But the goodness of the fruit is also dependent on a blossom and a bee, and a process that continues in a perpetual cycle.

John the Baptist tells his followers that they should produce good fruit. The ax is ready to cut down any tree not up to the task. And for John, producing good fruit is a continual process. There is no endpoint. I don't want to scare you, but John knew what we sometimes miss: Christianity is never finished. It is a cycle that should continually produce fruit in the proper season. We never reach a point where we can say our job is done. We are Christians for life. We still have work to do and fruit to produce.

In this passage, Luke talks about people in general, and then he narrows his focus. There were people in the audience that had stopped producing fruit. And yet, the ax had not cut them down; not yet. There was still hope for them to learn to produce fruit, which included learning to love and to react with patience and longsuffering. But the ax was still a reality for these fruitless trees, as it is for us. There is still hope, but we can't wait long. We need to start producing fruit.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew 4