In honor of Mark (cont.)

In Mt 12:33-37, Jesus says “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.  You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.  The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.  But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.  For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

 

At first read, this paragraph does not seem to help with the problem brought up by Mt 7:19 and being anxious about tomorrow, even given the advice in Mt 6:34.  However, to whom does Mt 7:19 apply?  To all “trees” in the illustration, that is, every human being.  To whom does Mt 6:34 apply?  To those who are worried about tomorrow.  Again, nothing prevents the condition – worrying about tomorrow – from occurring in good trees or bad trees.  What is necessary is to also know that God takes the individual bad tree and creates it anew, with the result of it becoming a good tree.

 

So, at “second read,” Mt 12:33-37 still seems not to help the anxiety about Mt 7:19.  Unless a good tree can know that it has been made, from a bad tree, into a good tree.  If a good tree can know that it is a good tree, then Mt 12:33 applies: all that the tree being good implies, including that its fruit is made good.  Only the bad tree is associated with bad fruit.  Then a way has been found to use Mt 6:34 to help with anxiety about Mt 7:19.

 

This puts exegetical emphasis on the understanding that what a tree is MADE as overwhelms, controls, and produces in every case – the quality of its fruit.   

What a tree is known as, follows from that.  The second exegetical emphasis is the understanding that what a tree is actually and truly finally known as: this overwhelms, overrules, produces correctly and corrects whatever is incorrect until the harvest, in the providence of God, eventually and eternally – what a tree seems to be during its pre-harvest.