holyweektrees

[holyweektrees]

VII. Sunday / the gardener

John 20

Sunday is the day when everything begins anew.

Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’s disciples, finds the tomb empty. Distraught, she supposes, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him” (John 20:13).

But in the middle of her weeping, a man approaches her. It is the Lord Jesus. Alive! But Mary, not recognizing him, mistakes him for a gardener—for two reasons.

The first reason is that she has not been given eyes to see him. She is looking Jesus in the face, but she cannot recognize him for who he is until she is given eyes to see. And yet all it takes is the personal, knowing address of Jesus: “Mary.”

The second reason that she mistakes him for a gardener is that, well, the tomb was in a garden. The beginning of all resurrection—Christ’s own resurrection—takes place in the middle of a physical garden.

On the one hand, Mary was clearly wrong to mistake Jesus for a gardener—and she soon identifies him correctly. He is ��Rabbi!”, or, as Thomas would later confess, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)

But, on the other hand, Jesus is a gardener. Mary’s ironic mis-identification says more than she knew. He is a gardener, because with his resurrection, he has planted the seeds for the resurrection of all of creation, and all the people who belonged to his new order.

He is the one who speaks to Israel, saying, “Your people shall all be...the branch of my planting, the work of my hands” (Isa 60:21). He promises to give his people gladness instead of mourning, “that they may be called oaks of righteousness; the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified” (Isa 61:3). All the children of the Lord will be like “plants full-grown” (Psalm 144:12).

The resurrection means Jesus’ resurrection and ours, for those who know him and are known by him. Because he is the gardener, all things will be made new. New creation will end in a garden, whose beauty outshines the garden of Eden.

Because Christ is the tree of life, we who are nourished by his life and grace can truly be like trees planted by streams of water (Psalm 1:3). True to nature, the death of the one tree, Jesus, has multiplied itself as the beginning of a new forest. And his life lifts us into flourishing and new growth. Life from death.

For now, we are only just tasting the first fruits.

image: https://jonathan-anderson.com/

[holyweektrees]

VI. Friday / the killing tree

Matthew 27 / Mark 15 / Luke 23 / John 19

In the end, Jesus is the tree of life.

He is “the true vine” (John 15:1), giving life to all who abide in him. He is the “blessed man” (Psalm 1:1), the tree whose leaf never withers. He is the one who showed us the way to true human flourishing.

But on Friday, he who had come to give life was put to death. The one who held all things together was torn apart. And the instrument of his destruction was a tree: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). 

For the Jews, to be hanged on a tree of a symbol of divine rejection (Deuteronomy 21:22–23)—and that is what Jesus experienced. Using the words of Psalm 22, he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Good Friday tells us that the death of Jesus is something that we have done. Like the Jewish leaders, we have produced no fruit. Like Israel, we have followed false promises of flourishing. Like Adam and Eve, we have taken from the tree that God commanded us not to eat, and spurned the wisdom of God. In truth, we all “killed [Jesus] by hanging him on a tree” (Acts 5:30).

But the movement of redemption is that he “redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). John Murray said, “He became so identified with the curse resting upon his people that the whole of it in all its unrelieved intensity became his. That curse he bore and that curse he exhausted.”

This is the deeper magic of the great reversal—that his death exhausted the curse. That his death allocated life to us. That his death is the seedbed of true flourishing. “Truly, truly,” he told us, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).

But for now, the seed remained alone in the earth.

image: https://jonathan-anderson.com/

[holyweektrees]

V. Thursday / garden

Matthew 26 / Mark 14 / Luke 22

After Jesus ate the Last Supper with his disciples, they went out to pray at a garden called Gethsemane. This garden was outside Jerusalem, on the way up to the Mount of olives. Jesus was entering into a time of testing.

A test in a garden on a mountain. This is a design pattern that shows up throughout the biblical narrative:

Adam and Eve faced their test in the middle of the garden of Eden: Would they obey God’s prohibition against one tree, or would they do what looked right in their own eyes? They chose to trust in their own wisdom, and reject the wisdom of God.

Noah, after the arc landed on Mount Ararat, became drunk in a garden and sinned against his sons. He proved that although he was the most righteous man on the earth, humanity could not escape our fallen nature.

Abraham was tested by God when asked to sacrifice his own son, on Mount Mariah. Again, he had the choice: will you do what seems right to you, or will you trust the wisdom of God and obey him? Abraham chose to obey, and his son was saved through the sacrifice of a ram, stuck in a thicket.

Eventually, everyone who encounters a test in a garden on a mountain fails, as the story goes on. Abraham. Moses. David. The people of Israel, as they worship their Asher tree idols on the high places. Left on our own, we all do what is right in our own eyes.

But then, Jesus—the new Adam, the seed of Abraham, the new prophet like Moses, the son of David, the true Israel—he enters into his own test. He knows that death is ahead of him, and from a human perspective, it does not at all make sense. How could the Messiah’s appearance end in death?

But then, Jesus did what no one else was ever able to do: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matt 26:39). Jesus entrusted himself completely to his Father, even when his Father’s will looked like losing and dying. Jesus was the first of a new humanity that would choose flourishing under God’s rule.

His betrayer was at hand. A mob filled with anger was approaching. Soldiers came to arrest him. The darkness was closing in—but Jesus had already won. He passed the test on behalf of everyone who had failed it.

Now, everything was turning upside down.

image: https://jonathan-anderson.com/

[holyweektrees]

IV. Wednesday / fig tree pt. 3

Matt 24 / Matt 26 / Mark 13

After Jesus claimed to receive his authority from God himself—after he claimed to be the divine son of God—the course to his crucifixion was set. The Jewish leaders were seeking to put him to death (Matt 26:3–5), and on Wednesday, Jesus’ own disciple would be the one to betray him.

But on Tuesday, after his confrontation with the chief priests and the Pharisees, Jesus had spoken in private to his disciples about the future. They began by remarking how beautiful the temple was—but Jesus responded by saying that the temple would soon be destroyed, and not one stone would be left upon another. Naturally, his disciples were alarmed and asked him when these things will happen.

This leads into Jesus’ final discourse in Matthew, or “the Olivet Discourse” (Matt 24–25). In order to explain the signs of the coming destruction and the coming of the Son of Man, Jesus uses a familiar image: a fig tree.

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as the branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.” (Matt 24:32)

In the springtime, as the world wakes up from winter, when trees begins to show signs of new life, a discerning person will be able to say, “Summer is almost here.” That’s the image Jesus is using here. Then he draws a comparison: “So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.” (Matt 24:33)

Admittedly, this is a hard passage to interpret. However, it seems likely that “all these things” refers to the calamity that he had just described—that there would be false teachers leading people astray (Matt 24:5, 24), that brothers will betray each other (Mark 13:12), and that the love of many would grow cold (Matt 24:12). And when all these things take place, Jesus says—just like the blossoming fig tree—then the Son of Man will appear (Matt 24:30).

Jesus is calling his disciples to be watchful and discerning. No one knows when all these things will take place, but more importantly, they are to stay awake (Mark 13:32–33). Be on guard, stay awake, he says again and again—because these things will happen soon.

Which brings us back to Wednesday. While Jesus is spending time with a leper and an outcast, Judas strikes a deal with the chief priests in order to turn over the Son of Man. A deal between the false teachers, who have been leading many astray, and the one whose love has gone cold, betraying his brother. Almost like the end of the age.

Be watchful, Jesus says. You will know a tree by its fruit (Matt 7:15–20).

image: https://jonathan-anderson.com/

[holyweektrees]

III. Tuesday / vineyard

Matthew 21:33–46 / Mark 12:1-12

The commotion that Jesus caused in the temple on Monday escalates on Tuesday. The Jewish leaders challenge him, saying, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” (Matt 21:23) Jesus does not answer them outright, but tells them a series of parables, which answer their question very clearly.

The second parable is commonly called “The Parable of the Tenants.” In it, the master of a great vineyard, who has built it up and cultivated it, leases it out to tenants, so that they will care for it while he makes a long journey. When the time for harvest comes, the master sends servants to collect some of its fruit.

But the tenants don’t respect the servants—some they beat, others they kill, and all are left empty-handed. More servants are sent, several times, and the same thing continues to happen, until finally the master sends his son, thinking that they will surely respect him. “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him” (Matt 21:38–39).

Jesus is telling this parable about the Jewish leaders. They are the temporary tenants who have presumptuously installed themselves as the permanent owners of God’s household. They have not cultivated the vineyard or produced any fruit. When the master returns, he will put them out and deal with them.

Jesus is also telling this parable about himself, and he is answering the question about his authority. Herman Bavinck explained, “Jesus knows himself to be the only Son who was beloved of the Father and was sent out into the vineyard after all the other servants.” His authority comes from his Sonship.

God is the master, who cares for the vineyard, which represents the kingdom of God. “He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it” (Isaiah 5:2). God will cultivate his vineyard again.

But Jesus also knows that before the vineyard is taken away from the wicked tenants and give to “a people producing its fruits” (Matt 21:43), he will be killed. He will be killed because of the hardness of the peoples’ hearts, and their deep rejection of him. But he already knows how the story will end—he knows that death is ahead, but still he will choose to be taken and killed, so that by his death, he might pave the way for new life.

image: https://jonathan-anderson.com/

[holyweektrees]

II. Monday / fig tree, pt. 1 & 2

On Monday, we find that Jesus is not quite acting the way the Jewish people expected of a could-be Messiah. The story of the fig tree seems strange, at first—Jesus approaches the tree, hoping to find something to eat. But when there was nothing on it but leaves, he cursed it: “May no one ever eat fruit from you again” (Mark 11:14).

This seems strange to the modern reader, as it probably did to his disciples. Is Jesus letting this small setback get to him a little too much?

The story becomes clearer as the day goes on, and they travel to the temple. Upon entering it, Jesus finds it wholly corrupt. Presumption had taken the place of true worship, taking the form of commerce and lust for money, making it into a den of robbers (Mark 11:17). In a passion-filled, emotional display of God’s justice, Jesus disrupts the trade and drives out the sellers and buyers. In this way, he is confronting the religious leaders who had led the people into false worship.

The next morning, Jesus and his disciples pass the same fig tree, but now it is entirely withered up. Now, we can see the parallel between Jesus’ anger against the tree, and his anger against the temple. His curse of the fruitless tree can be understood symbolically as a curse on a fruitless temple.

Instead of flourishing as a tree planted by streams of water (Psalm 1:3)—an Old Testament’s image for human flourishing under God’s rule—the Jewish leaders have become the wicked, like the chaff that the wind drives away (Psalm 1:4). In their sin, they have become the subject of God’s righteous anger.

So, Jesus’ return to Jerusalem is not what the people expected. He is not just coming to judge Israel’s enemies, but first to set his house in order. By cursing the fig tree/temple, he shows that no one is invulnerable to God’s judgment. But in doing so, he is also inviting Israel back to true righteousness—to delight in the Lord and so become fruitful again.

image: https://www.jonathan-anderson.com/ 

[holyweektrees]

I. Sunday / palm tree

Matthew 21 / Mark 11 / Luke 19 / John 12

Jesus is entering the city of David. The true King is returning to the city of the King. His face has been fixed on this day, on this place (Luke 9:51). The anticipation has been rising for this moment.

There is expectation on behalf of the people, too. If he really is the Messiah, perhaps this is the time when he will put their enemies under their feet? Although they do not yet understand what is ahead, they are nevertheless right to cry out to him, “Hosanna, save us!” and to hail him as “he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

It seems that their ritual action also speaks to who they make him out to be: “And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields” (Mark 11:8). The gospel of John specifies that these are palm branches (John 12:13).

This celebration resembles the Feast of Booths, where Israel is commanded, “And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days” (Lev 23:40).

The purpose, in all of this rejoicing, was for Israel to remember—to remember their wilderness wanderings, and to remember that God is the God who “brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Lev 23:43), delivering them from their enemies. Perhaps on this Sunday, the Jews were holding their breath for the same kind of deliverance from the Romans.

But this ritual action with the leafy, splendid trees and branches took place on the first day of the Feast of Booths. There was more to come in the story, yet to be told. In Leviticus, the week began and also ended with a “solemn rest” (Lev 23:39).

In the same way, there was a whole week ahead of Jesus. Holy week was just beginning, and there was more to be told of this story.

They were right to hail Jesus as that King. He was indeed returning to his throne. But it would not end how they thought. While it begins on Sunday with celebration and expectation, it would end on Saturday with a “solemn rest,” one of hopes dashed and bitter disappointment.

Could this be the one who would restore the garden dwelling place of God?

image: https://www.jonathan-anderson.com/

[holyweektrees]

Introduction

Genesis 2 / Psalm 1 / Revelation 22

Trees play an important role in the biblical narrative, from the very beginning to the very end. In the biblical story, trees and tree imagery comprise not just one but several themes, all overlapping on top of each other. A particularly rich place to explore these themes is The Tree of life podcast series by the Bible Project.

And so, instead of suggesting a biblical theology at this point, I merely suggest a lens through which to enter into the story of Holy Week.

More than anything, this theme is a guide to bring us into the deeper realities of Christ’s final days in Jerusalem. Christ is the King who is worthy of our praise, and the suffering servant who took our judgment on himself. We retrace his steps, remembering the story again, because it is our story, because Christ is our life.

His beauty doth all things excel: By faith I know, but ne'er can tell The glory which I now can see In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

image: http://jonathan-anderson.com/