Rotten Fruit

Jesus said to his disciples: “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thorn bushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. 

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them. That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.” (Luke 6:43-49)

Jesus tells us to smell the air around us.  Is there a stink caused by rottenness we create through evil thoughts and actions?  If so, then we bear rotten fruit, meaning we are not the good trees he needs in his vineyard.  We are a store of evil; we are thorn bushes; we are brambles.  There are no figs or grapes.  

The stink can permeate crowds.  For example, Father Richard Rohr in his 2019 book “What Do We Do With Evil: the World, the Flesh, and the Devil,” stated:

“Crowds seem ready to applaud delusional nonsense.  They are truly trapped inside of a collective ‘demon’ and unable to even recognize obvious truth or blatant lies.  Think of American political parties that condemn a fault in the other party, but have no problem with their own party when it does the exact same thing.  We do not really love truth; we love winning.  Winning is revealing itself as the American idol, at almost every level.”

When we behave the way described by Rohr, as part of the crowd that listens to the truth but does not act, we are people who have built our houses on the ground without foundations. When the river bursts against our houses, they collapse at once and are completely destroyed.

Is it all about winning regardless of the truth and its consequences?  Do we applaud delusional nonsense?  Our house must not collapse.

Deacon David Pierce