The Tree of Life

Revelation 21:10 & 22-22:5

Rogation Sunday, May 25, 2025

Holy Trinity Cathedral

“The Tree of Life”

There is a tree so large that it covers the whole of our Holy Scriptures.  It is introduced in the first chapters of the book of Genesis and comes to fruition in the last chapter of the book of Revelation.   Our story of faith starts with a tree and ends with a tree, and it is centred on a tree. 

Today is what the Church sometimes calls “Rogation Sunday”.  Rogation means ‘asking’, and it is the time of year when people ask God for the fruitfulness of the earth.  We pray also for a blessing on the labours of the many who work to sow and tend the crops and orchards and lands that feed us as a community.  We have as our New Testament reading the Revelation passage where the writer describes what the new heaven and earth will look like when all are fed and reconciled.  In the midst of the holy city stands a tree, which is called the tree of life, “with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2).   No one will go hungry.  Unlike crops, which fail when there is drought or disaster, and have to be re-planted each spring, a tree can provide fruit every season.  Although trees are cultivated and tended for better yield, a wild tree still bears fruits according to its kind.  It is watered by the rains and grows with the sun, pollinated by the insects and birds, and offers its produce without human intervention.  Trees were one of the first providers of sustenance for animals and our ancestors, without our asking.  They are evidence of the abundance and grace of the Creator. 

In the story of Genesis, God makes the heavens and earth.  In the cradle of creation, a garden is established, with everything that the first peoples needed.  A stream flows out of Eden to the four directions to water the earth.  In the midst of this abundance is a certain tree that is sacred to God and not for human consumption.  The type of tree is not identified.  Medieval pictures often show an apple tree.  Others show a pomegranate or a fig or an almond tree.  Regardless of what it is, the first humans were tempted to disobey the Lord’s command not to eat of it.  And as they eat, they break the life-giving relationship of trust in their Creator.  They gain the knowledge of good and evil, but they lose so much more.  In Genesis 3:22 they are banished because “now they might reach out their hand and take also from the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever.”  There was no prohibition before about eating from the Tree of Life, but humans have broken faith and they are no longer ready to receive this.  God has to enter into a long-term plan of salvation to restore the relationship. 

The Tree of Life in Genesis is seen as a prefiguring of the cross.  Humans cannot partake of this heavenly fruit until the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  He is the one who takes away the sin that entered into creation and divided God and humanity.  The  cross, and sometimes Jesus himself, is also called the Tree of Life.  The old English word for the instrument of the cruxifixion is ‘rood’.  A ‘rood’ is a large representation of Jesus on the cross that often is placed in a church on a wooden beam that divides where the people sit from the choir and altar.  When it is a decorated divider, it is called a rood screen.  I grew up in a little parish church with a rood screen.  When you carried the processional cross, you had to lower it in order to pass under the screen.  Grief to the server who forgot to ‘dip’ the cross and hit the screen with a resounding thump!  

Healing stories always follow the Tree of Life.   Churches that claimed to have a piece of the true cross upon which Jesus was hung got lots of pilgrims seeking cures.  Holy slivers were called ‘Holy-rood’, and places that had shrines for their veneration also got the name.  (Not to be confused with Hollywood). The legend goes that St. Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, discovered the actual cross when excavating in Jerusalem in 330 C.E..  The proof she produced is that when a dying woman touched the wood of the cross she was healed.  When we come to the table at communion, we receive the fruits of the work of the cross.  In the bread and wine are the signs of the body and blood of Christ.  Even though we are not worthy to ask, we are redeemed by him to eat and drink of this harvest.  We are strengthened by this meal to be disciples in a hungry world.

There is a promise from God early in the Book of Revelation: “to the one who conquers, I will give the right to eat from the Tree of Life” (Revelation 2:7).  Which brings us to hope for the future.  The vision of the Tree of Life in the new heaven and earth represents the lifting of the consequences of Genesis through Jesus Christ.  All humanity can come to a restored living relationship with the Divine.  The holy community is described to us:

• There is no temple, for the Lord God and the Lamb are worshipped
• There is no sun or moon, for the glory of God is its light
• There is no division of nations, for all will walk together
• There is no need for gates, for no one will be shut out

What is present is the throne of God, the river of the water of life, and the tree of life.  Just as in the beginning, all is restored to balance.  All who drink of the water will be renewed.  All who eat of the fruit will be filled.  All who are ministered to by the good medicine of the tree will be healed.   God, who creates all things, has given us the gift of return to the state of grace for which we were made. 

Are we there yet?  Look at the world around us and you know that there is much healing needed.  Not just in the conflicts among nations and the healing of hurts inflicted by human sin, but in our natural world.  The ground and water and air struggle to respond to our human demands because of the changes we humans have brought about.  As people of faith, we have responsibility for tending creation.  In the midst of an earth being crucified by climate change, how do we ask for God’s help? Humans have eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  We have the capacity to choose the good.  And through the salvation of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we can put into action the gifts we are given.  The Tree of Life is a powerful ikon for people of faith.  It reminds us to be rooted in God, to be fed with the fruit of Jesus Christ, and to reach out to cover the whole earth with the glory of God’s Spirit.  Until one day, all will come to that holy city where God dwells with us forever. Amen.