As I delight in retelling, over the years, my lemon tree, which is now about twenty years old, has given me so much joy, and blessed many regardless of how things started. And as you can imagine, I have had to prune it several times, not by reason of efficiency, but by reason of exigency. You see, my lemon tree is consistently and continuously growing, both in height and girth, and fortunately, also in fruits. And don’t forget that I already mentioned the fact that the fruits are big and juicy and enjoy compliments for many who have had the opportunity to share in its bounty. So, we can safely assume that my lemon tree is a good lemon tree by any standard.
But there is a downside to its constant growth which only I, its owner and host and planter have to deal with. For one, it is rather annoying to see its branches reach high up to cover the bedroom windows on the first floor. Perhaps it wouldn’t have been so bad, maybe even quite fun, if one could reach out from the window to pluck some of the fruits that are clearly visible from there. But this is not possible for various reasons I would rather not discuss here. This makes its growth in that direction is doubly annoying.
To make matters worse, my lemon tree grew beyond the window to the roof of the house!! And of course I wasn’t having any of that! Not only would the fruits be completely unreachable at that level, but the branches might even damage the roof of the house! So began the first pruning. So, yes, the lemon tree bore fruit. But no, my reason for pruning it had nothing to do with the very noble reason our Lord Jesus Christ gave when informing us that the branches that stayed grafted to Him (faithful followers) would be pruned. John chapter 15, verse 2 shares this noble reason with us: 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
If my understanding of ‘pruning’ in the spiritual sense in the above bible text is correct, then it is akin to the kind of loving discipline God promises those He loves and accepts as children, as expressed in Hebrews 12: 6, and which we are further urged not to despise, then it’s good for us (Hebrews 12:5). Well, it turns out that I who did (or at least arranged for) the pruning of my lemon tree, also got ‘pruned’ by the Great Pruner Himself! And my less-than-virtuous reason for pruning my lemon tree the very first time certainly contributed to it.
You see, my sole intention was to curb its growth at all cost to protect my house. So, regardless of time and season, I had it pruned in a hurry and and solely at my pleasure, without a thought for the consequences. And I certainly learned my lesson the hard way because I had to wait a year or two before I saw another lemon on my lemon tree!! Ouch!! During this new waiting period which lasted for well over a year, I worried all over again about the fate of the tree, until I finally saw another little lemon emerge. Thank God this time I knew exactly what the fruit was, and that all that is now behind me now! (Read Part 1 to understand better).
Having learned the hard way after the first pruning, I have since become more strategic about when and how I pruned my lemon tree, and I can assure you that God’s Word is once again proven to be perfect! The performance of my lemon tree has never been better! It’s so very comforting to know that our God carefully chooses the right moment to prune us, and exactly where and how, thus ensuring, as He promises in the above bible text, that we bear even more fruits.
As I observed my now-prospering lemon tree one day, some thoughts passed through my mind and soon transformed into very interesting lessons about the Christian life. First was the frustration of not being able to easily see the fruits on the highest branches of the tree because its rich foliage hid them. You’d have to move from one side of the tree, under and far away from it, to be able to espy the many fruits at the top of the tree.
Second was knowing that the fruits high up would not be easy to reach without a strong, long pole. And thirdly was that even if I could find a pole, long and sturdy enough to reach them, it was very unlikely that I be able to pluck them by myself since the pole would be unwieldy in my hands, given my limited strength. I was therefore going to need someone with more strength and skill than I had, to hold it steady enough to beat down the fruits.
Since it looked like plucking them was going to be so complicated, I considered for a brief while just ignoring them and settling for those I could reach easily. And let me assure you there were quite a large number of those on that very same tree! However, this reflection was quickly dispelled, not only by the thought of their rotting away useless, and by extension, denying me of the pleasure of observing the joy-filled expressions on the faces of the people I gave them to. Furthermore, it would deprive the beneficiaries of the pleasure of not only receiving them, but also of the fruits’ nourishing benefits to themselves and their families!
This led me to meditating on the vital importance for the Fruit of the Spirit in a Christian’s life to be visible and accessible. While the branches on a tree have no choice about where they are positioned, Christians who are true disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, although spiritually highly placed, are constantly urged to willingly and continually ‘bend low’ like their Lord and Master.
The Early church Apostles followed His example and taught it frequently. Take Ephesians 5: 21 where Paul urges: And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.; And Peter in 1 Peter 5: 6 declares: So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor. Luke, on his part quotes our Lord in Luke 14: 11 – For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
A quick google search provided me with a satisfactory definition of what it means to humble oneself. It states: Humbling oneself under God’s mighty hand involves recognizing one’s dependence on Him, acknowledging His authority and love, and practicing actions that reflect humility. This includes praying, confessing sins, serving others, and refraining from pride and worldly pursuits.
Unfortunately, very little of this is going on today in many Christian communities. Instead, we have the ‘progressive’ modern churches who specialize in dragging in those with itchy ears. Unlike the example of the Lord they claimed to serve, who had no horses or chariots to move around, yet healing the sick and delivering the demon-possessed as he moved around, a popular TV evangelist of our day reportedly justified his need for a private jet to avoiding ‘demon-possessed’ passengers on commercial flights! But mind you that does not stop him from claiming to heal the sick and deliver the demon-possessed on the screen!
These well-coiffed, spruced-up, and heavily made-up (as in cosmetics) men and even women spend millions to publicize and organize events with such titles as ‘Special Revival’ promising to make all problems of life disappear; ‘Breakthrough’ programmes guaranteeing husbands and wives for single men and women, children for childless couples, and visas for those who want to ‘relocate’; ‘Prophetic’ Encounters’ where profitable financial business deals are ‘revealed’ on the condition that you first ‘sow a seed’ into their ministries; ‘Worship Extravaganza’ encouraging all sorts of lewd and unruly behavior in the name of ‘flowing with the spirit’ (Please NOTE the small ‘s’); ‘Cultural Sundays’ during which everyone is encourage to come and show off their traditional regalia and culinary expertise, and so on and so forth…
And as you can imagine, nothing is spontaneous or simple about their activities. Such leaders only minister to large crowds brought together by expensive Public relations and marketing gimmicks.Furthermore,they are often located in more ways than one, so far above the people they lead, that they can only be seen from distant pulpits at best, and even then, mostly on large screens.
And then there is the other extreme usually observed among the more conservative church communities. While the gait and demeanor of the leaders in these communities is usually less dazzling, these also stand out in sharp contrast to the ordinary people they lead. This is because some leaders don other-worldly an impractical ‘uniforms’, much unlike our Lord who could not be distinguished from His followers without the help of The Betrayer. But rather than the exhibitionist events of their peers on the other side, they use man-made rules, regulations and tradition to tie down their ‘flock’.
Getting an appointment with such ‘great’ leaders of the church is a life-long task – exceptions made for the highly placed people like them, naturally. But this is only to be expected when one considers that they answer to such titles as ‘father’, papa, or ‘general’ apostle or teacher or something…. thanks to the subtle nudging of their many ‘handlers’, and the desperation of their itchy-eared ‘followers’ who would rather walk by sight than by faith in pursuing their personal agendas.
One could argue that they really have no choice in the matter since they did not ask for such titles. However, their demeanor and silence often speak louder than words. To these, the warning of our Lord in Matthew 23:9-10: And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your Father. And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher, for you have only one teacher, the Messiah’ becomes irrelevant.
These leaders conveniently forget the example set by our Lord Jesus Christ who, in spite of being the True and Only, withdrew from the people when they tried to make him king, in order to promote their own political agendas. Rather, these leaders seem to revel in the fact that they are being idolized, and even go as far as to defend it and promote it by distorting the meaning of the Word of the God they claim to serve in order to manipulate the people they are supposed to serve.
Like the inaccessible lemons, these leaders are high up and safe from needy hands, and therefore of no benefit to anyone except you choose to struggle to get at them. This would require you to climb on the thick, thorny stem of the tree and risk being scratched. Otherwise you must find a long, sturdy pole to beat them down. In other words, they offer no voluntary blessing in spite all appearances to the contrary. They distance themselves from the common man and can therefore not comprehend what he is going through, unlike our Lord Jesus Christ who left His Glory on high to become an ordinary human being like us. These give hope of nourishment that they have no plans of providing willingly. The blessings they promise disappear with the distant between them and the one who needs it.
This reminds me of the stanza of a song I learnt in my childhood. Maybe you know it. The title is New Every Morning… But it is stanza 5 of the song that this calls to mind. It goes:
We need not bid for cloistered cells,
Our neighbours and our friends farewell,
Nor seek to wind ourselves too high
For simple man beneath the sky!!
This attitude is very much unlike our Lord Jesus Christ who talks with prostitutes and touches lepers!
This humility of Jesus contrasted Him radically with the religious Jewish leaders of His day. I’m sure you already have an idea of what the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes were like. But let me just share some examples with you:
1. They established a tradition whereby, you are allowed to neglect you parents if you pay up a religious pledge. Jesus put it this way in Mark 7: 11-13: 11 But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’[a]
| Mark 7:11-13 NLT – – Bible Gateway |
12 In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. 13 And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.”
2. They resented the healing of a member of their religion because Jesus contravened their tradition. Our Lord’s reponse in Luke 13:16 was: 16 This dear woman, a daughter of Abraham, has been held in bondage by Satan for eighteen years. Isn’t it right that she be released, even on the Sabbath?”
3. And would you believe this!!?? A Pharisee that was himself healed of leprosy by Jesus (Mark 14: 3) accused Jesus of allowing a sinner to touch Him! Jesus’ reply to him in Luke 7: 40-44 was: “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. 47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”
But that was in the past, you may say. I regret to disabuse you of this line of thought. There are many like them still in the church today! Some Christians over the centuries have exhibited the same legalistic and arrogant spirit. They are ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of Truth!! (2 Timothy 3:7). As long as no one bothers them, these church leaders who consider themselves too important or too holy to rub shoulders with ordinary people will probably get rotten on their top branches on the tree and end up falling down anyway.
Otherwise, I imagine they will get eaten by birds first from high up where they are.
The Bible makes it clear that such is the fate of those hoity, toity leaders (I love this adjective that seems to me to also be an alliteration. By the sound of it, it clearly communicates its meaning to me – pretentious, haughty, or arrogant who act like they are better or more important than others). They place themselves, and/or encourage their ‘handlers’ and followers to lift them up so high, and comfortably assume the posture of ‘champions’ through their preaching and teaching and claims. In so doing, they actively attempt to replace the Lord that bought them, in the lives of their ‘flock’.
Here’s what 2Peter chapter 2, verses 1-3 has to say about such leaders: But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 3 In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.
Oh, Yes. Their destruction will not be delayed. The lucky ones get exposed while they are still alive and have time to repent. But the others… This reality makes me so angry and sad… until I look at the lower branches.
I thank God so very much for those leaders that are like the branches weighed down so low by the many clusters of 5 and 6 lemons, as if begging to be plucked! Yes, they do exist! These ones are a delight to my soul and spirit. I remember an occasion when a big pastor, whom I was going to serve food, made me sit down and served me instead! And he did so with such panache that he didn’t appear uncomfortable at all doing so. Although I do not remember his name of face, I have never forgotten him! That one certainly bore fruit that was visible, accessible and unforgettable.
Strangely enough, whenever I remember this leader, another one juxtaposes itself in my mind. Perhaps because it had to do with serving food again. This time, I was serving a leader the same food I was serving everyone else at the programme. When I got to this leader, her reaction surprised and confused me. It was not merely a rejection of the food, but also seemed to me like a rebuke that I should have known better! It took me some time to figure out why. It would seem that that in that setting, or tradition, or call it what you will, the leader was not expected to eat with the ‘others’. No. Their own food was prepared specially and served in a special place!! Incidentally I do know and remember the leader very well! I pray earnestly that I am not remembered for such reasons!
If you ask me, bending low need not be such a masterful gesture as the one earlier described above. It could be as simple as a leader rubbing shoulders once in a while with the people he or she leads, just as our Lord did and still does today. How I so much I so love to see a pastor, elegantly dressed or in fancy regalia, descend from the pulpit after a programme, to socialize with attendees. But these days, that is only for the ‘small’ leaders.
You would of course be right to wonder what my beef was with the ones so high up when these who bend low also exist. Look on the positive side, you might say… And you may be right in your supposition… but am I not my brother’s keeper? Nevertheless, after all said and done, it is indeed a great blessing to know that while one set of fruits is so inaccessible, all I need do is reach out and pluck another set!
In the particular instance of my lemon tree though, the ones hanging low were still small and green and therefore not ready for the picking. But I fed fat on the sight of them. Thank God that the more fruits they had in their cluster, the lower their branches came. No doubt that the bigger and riper they become, the lower they would still go… and the more exposed to delighted, needy hands they would become.
Both types, on the self-same tree…
