July 10th Weekly Word

 

Bearing Fruit

"You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God" (Colossians 1:6).

“The kingdom of God is like this,” [Jesus] said. “A man scatters seed on the ground; he sleeps and rises—night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—he doesn’t know how. The soil produces a crop by itself—first the blade, then the head, and then the ripe grain on the head." (Mark 4:26-29).

Another church we attended a while back had a community garden where congregants and others in the area could make use of the plots to grow vegetables and herbs. When we started at the church and found out about the opportunity, we were eager to participate and delighted to get a spot ourselves. We put some time and effort into the endeavor and had a great time doing so. Just getting our hands in the soil and cooperating with nature's means of growth felt fulfilling. And eventually we saw the fruit of our labor in the form of peppers, tomatoes, cilantro and scallions.

In his prayer for the Colossian church from our epistle reading, Paul uses the metaphor of fruit bearing to describe the way in which the gospel message of Jesus' life, death and resurrection has entered the world and is now expanding and bringing transformation in the hearts and lives of believers.

But it's important to note that the growth of God's kingdom is not something we can generate. It's God's work. The gospel message penetrates our hearts like a seed in the soil and begins to sprout up and produce fruit in a way that is a mystery as Jesus makes clear in the Gospel of Mark.

Our job as believers, as those who have received this miraculous deposit, is to cultivate it – to cooperate with the One who has by his grace planted in our souls the seed that is growing into a tree that produces much fruit

Will you allow the Great Gardener to do his work in your heart during this Green Season? The result will mean the bearing of fruit in the form of character transformation and outreach to others.

Fr. Darin+