Today’s readings are all about the fruit. We’re not talking about cherries or pears or strawberries here, either. We’re talking about the fruit that we bear through our actions, and the fruit that God has borne in the Church.
The first reading from Ezekiel 17 speaks of God taking a “tender shoot” that “shall put forth branches and bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar.” This is a foreshadowing of the Church. In the Gospel reading from Mark 4, Jesus tells a couple of parables about plants, one a mustard bush that starts off as the smallest of seeds and becomes a great bush; this is another reference to the Church. And in the second reading St. Paul speaks of how each person “may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.” In other words, we will be rewarded according to our fruit.
Spiritually speaking, we are all fruit trees. In order to nourish others, a tree must bear good fruit. A tree that bears bad fruit or no fruit will be burned. Here’s the great thing: if you’ve been bearing no fruit or even bad fruit, you can turn that around. Christ can renew you – make you a new creation. Why not let Him do that today?
Father, help us to bear good fruit, that we may nourish others and fill the Kingdom. Amen.
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