Tree-Hugging | Sunday Reflection | 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Trees loom large in Sacred Scripture. When the first Adam reached up to seize the fruit of a tree, the human family fell into sin and death. When the last Adam stretched out His hands on the tree of the Cross, that same family came to know redemption. The arc of salvation history has an arboreal beginning and end. In between, trees spring up frequently in the Lord’s dealings with humankind. They can signify the people of Israel as in our first reading from Ezekiel. Individual saints too stand as flourishing palm trees and tall cedars (Psalm 92) in the symbolic landscape of the Bible. Sprawling terebinth trees provide shade for the Patriarchs and their altars. A sycamore gives Zaccheus the perch he needed to see the Lord Jesus. Nathaniel unknowingly draws the Lord’s gaze as he rests under a fig tree. The examples go on and on.

Why, we might ask, do trees feature so prominently in God’s Word? Trees stretch from their roots in the earth up to heaven. They are ladders between these two realms. How we climb them makes all the difference. Adam climbed up in pride and fell. Zacchaeus climbed in ardent humility and was found by the Savior.

Trees, like us, cannot thrive when they are hidden from the light of the sun’s face. Only by this radiance and only with the favor of refreshing rains do they progress in their upward growth. They take their own mysterious time to take root, sprout, and bear fruit. So do we.

The Lord is thus building upon one of His favorite themes when He likens His Kingdom to a plant springing up to put forth large sheltering branches. His elaboration, though, comes with a twist. Instead of the majestic cedar so prized by King David and the builders of the Temple, it is the humble mustard plant that enjoys the privilege of signifying God’s Kingdom. The mustard seed, St. Ambrose long ago observed, may not look like much in its smallness, but manifests its power only after it is bruised or crushed. Only then is its unmistakable aroma and flavor unleashed.

Trees show us how we are to grow upward towards our Father in Heaven. Rooted in Christ, warmed and watered by the Holy Spirit, we slowly but surely increase in grace and stature. Within the rich canopy of our faith, others will find shelter for themselves. Harsh winds and earthquakes may shake us, but we need not fear being bruised or even crushed. That is when the Kingdom’s sharp and surprising aroma stirs the dulled senses of the world, and invites all to behold the wood of that tree upon which hung the salvation of the world.