Fruitful tree, abundant vine

Daily Reading for May 11

There is a place, we believe, at the center of the world,

Called Golgotha by the Jews in their native tongue.

Here was planted a tree cut from a barren stump:

This tree, I remember hearing, produced wholesome fruits,

But it did not bear these fruits for those who had settled there;

It was foreigners who picked these lovely fruits.

This is what the tree looked like: it rose from a single stem

And then extended its arms into two branches

Just like the heavy yardarms on which billowing sails are stretched

Or like the yoke beneath which two oxen are put to the plough.

The shoot that sprung from the first ripe seed

Germinated in the earth and then, miraculously,

On the third day it produced a branch once more,

Terrifying to the earth and to those above, but rich in life-giving fruit.

But over the next forty days it increased in strength,

Growing into a huge tree which touched the heavens

With its topmost branches and then hid its sacred head on high.

In the meantime it produced twelve branches of enormous

Weight and stretched forth, spreading them over the whole world:

They were to bring nourishment and eternal life to all

The nations and to teach them that death can die.

And then after a further fifty days had passed,

From its very top the tree caused a draught of divine nectar

To flow into its branches, a breeze of the heavenly spirit.

All over the tree the leaves were dripping with sweet dew.

And look! Beneath the branches’ shady cover

There was a spring, with waters bright and clear

For there was nothing there to disturb the calm. . . .

Around this spring countless races and peoples gathered,

Of different stock, sex, age and rank,

Married and unmarried, widows, young married women,

Babies, children and men, both young and old.

From the Tree of the Cross quoted in Ancient Christian Commenatry on Scripture: New Testament IVb, John 11-21, edited by Joel C. Elowsky (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2007).

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