How a tree brought us home
As anyone who has read the Bible will attest, the Holy scriptures possess a remarkable literary elegance, often functioning like a grand mirror where the tragedies of the beginning find their perfect resolution in the triumphs of the end.
In the opening chapters of Genesis, we find our first parents standing before the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, a scene that many of us may remember from childhood Sunday School illustrations or our early Bible reading, but one that carries a profound theological weight in our Anglican tradition. When Eve reached out to take the forbidden fruit and Adam partook, they were essentially attempting to seize a version of divinity that was detached from the source of life, an act that the Hebrew text suggests (and our daily lives show) brought a sudden and cold distance between the Creator and the creature. It is a poignant irony that the very thing that was said would bring enlightenment resulted in a frantic search for fig leaves and a hiding place among the shrubbery of Eden.
However, the very beauty of the Gospel lies in the “reversing” of this ancient narrative, a concept the early Church fathers described as the Second Adam undoing the knot tied by the first. If death entered the world through a tree in a lush garden, then it is only fitting that life should be restored through the wood of a tree on a barren hill.
Paul reminds us in his letter to the Galatians that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'” (Galatians 3:13 ESV). On the Cross, our Jesus does not merely observe our fallen state from a distance, but He physically takes the “thorns and thistles” of our rebellion upon His own brow, transforming a Roman instrument of torture into the true Tree of Life.
As we participate in the life of the Church and gather around the altar, we are invited to see the Cross not as a historical relic but as the living source of our healing. The Book of Common Prayer beautifully notes that God “didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption,” and in doing so, He turned the wood of defeat into the ladder of heaven.
We no longer need to hide among the trees in shame because the “Fruit of the Cross”, the Saviour Himself, has been offered for our salvation and spiritual, very real, nourishment. This week, as you go about your daily tasks, whether you are tending a garden or simply navigating the complexities of modern life, remember that the “reversing” is already underway in your own heart through the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Come to the foot of the Cross today, cast your burdens upon the one who bore the weight of the tree on the tree, and allow His restorative life to bloom in the dusty corners of your soul.
Pax
