Good Tree, Bad Tree

Lana Waters Liu

By their (the false prophets’) fruit you will recognize them.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit (Matthew 7:16, 18).

If the idea of a good tree and a bad tree sounds familiar to you, you may be remembering the two trees in the Genesis garden.

We were told way back then that the bad tree is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the good tree is the Tree of Life. If we eat the fruit of the former, we will die. If we eat the fruit of the latter, we will live.

Today's scripture tells us that is because the bad tree bears bad fruit and the good tree bears good fruit.

“You are what you eat,” the saying goes. So what are we eating when we eat the fruit from these two trees and what are the results of each diet?

Let's start with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Its fruit is that I shove God aside and believe that all on my own I can decide what is good and what is evil. I join the ranks of the false prophets at this point. I choose my own words. I set myself up as judge and jury—both of myself and of others. I become certain I am good or certain I am bad. Both perspectives sicken me.

Add to that that the earth is populated by others who are consuming that same bad fruit. From that diet come the ills of human society—from marital squabbles to global wars. If everyone is being their own god, living as false prophets, confusion abounds. A diet of blaming, ostracizing, prejudice, cruelty, and murder leads to —figuratively or literally—death.  

Which is why the whole world is starved—knowingly or unknowingly—for fruit from the Tree of Life.

There is only one possible meaning for the Tree of Life symbol—it is the One who is Life, Jesus.

In Jesus we have entirely different fruit. When we eat it, it nourishes us and we Live.

What does that look like? We switch our allegiance from ourselves to God. We cease being judge and jury, to the relief of everyone we know. We stop navel gazing and/or self-aggrandizing and instead promote and rejoice in our own well-being and the well-being of others.

Play a bit with the metaphor of eating good or bad fruit. (This may be easier if you've ever had food poisoning!)

How could you transfer this message into our “Living Right Side Up in an Upside Down World” framework?