Pleasant Trees

Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. But these you should have done, without neglecting the others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.” (Matthew 23:23-26)

We are blind when we sit under the apple tree with anyone else than the one we love and with whom we have a covenant through marriage.  Here are relevant lyrics from “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” sung by The Andrews Sisters.

I wrote my mother

I wrote my father

And now I'm writing you too

I'm sure of mother

I'm sure of father

Now I wanna be sure of you

Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me

Anyone else but me, anyone else but me

No! No! No!

Just remember that I've been true to nobody else but you

So just be true to me

Don't go walking down lovers' lane with anyone else but me

Anyone else but me, anyone else but me

No! No! No!

Don't start showing off all your charms in somebody else's arms

You must be true to me

I'm so afraid that the plans we made underneath those moonlit skies

Will fade away and you're bound to stray if the stars get in your eyes

So, don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me

You're my L-O-V-E.

Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me

Anyone else but me, anyone else but me

No! No! No!

By cleaning first the inside of the cup, the outside also may be clean means we must first focus on our moral values and work to be true to them and keep them polished.  Otherwise, our insides will be full of plunder, self-indulgence, and decay.  Similar to our mythical story of Adam and Eve and the apple tree [really a fig tree and not a willow or a maple], the snakes will cause us to stray, and the cups' insides will be dirty.  Not very pleasant [trees].

Deacon David Pierce