Read: Matthew 12:33-37
Devotion: If you were driving by an orchard during an off season, could you tell what types of trees you were looking at? Many of the homes in the neighborhoods that surround our church have citrus trees in their yards. Typically they are either orange or lemon trees, but you might also see the odd pomelo or lime tree here and there.
Although I know the neighborhoods around our church well, I haven’t personally memorized which houses have which trees. I can tell if a tree is a citrus tree or not, but I’m no dendrologist. Because of this, if it’s off season or if the trees are only flowering, I couldn’t tell you if a tree was a lemon or an orange tree. If I did correctly guess that the tree was an orange tree, for example, I certainly couldn’t tell you what kind of orange tree it is.
However, as the fruit grows and matures, identifying the tree becomes easier. If I knew my oranges well I could even easily tell you what specific kind of orange tree we were looking at. The point is something everyone recognizes: a tree is known by its fruit.
It is this well-known fact that Jesus applies to people, and specifically the Pharisees. He did this earlier in his ministry (Matt 7:16-20), but the Pharisees were now accusing Jesus of being empowered by Satan in his exorcism of a demon-oppressed man, so Jesus readdresses the topic (Matt. 12:24).
The Pharisees’ words, their opposition to Christ and the Spirit-empowered work that he was performing, revealed what kind of tree the Pharisees were. Their day-to-day activity, their religiosity, and their positions of authority within the Jewish community were like a tree in its off season. They appeared to be healthy and vibrant trees, and so you assume that they will produce healthy fruit. They are also located in a good part of the orchard which would lead one to expect high productivity.
But then their actions and thoughts and words toward Christ are like the diseased and worm-eaten fruit that is not only unprofitable to the farmer, but which will endanger rest of the crop if the disease spreads. Their fruit revealed their true nature as a bad tree.
Yes, the Pharisees were whitewashed tombs in that their outward righteousness hid their inner unrighteousness (Matt. 23:27-28). But they were also like stone facades on buildings that look natural from far away, but which reveal their real nature the closer you get. Under the light of Christ the Pharisees’ rotten fruit—their verbal rejection of Christ—was exposed (v. 36). Though in the off season they looked like a healthy tree, the fruit that they produced would be the evidence against them at the final judgment as to their true spiritual condition and guilt before God (v. 37).
This truth calls for discernment and self-reflection. We don’t want to have an overly critical spirit, but we are called to be discerning. First, we should ask: What is the fruit of those you listen to who teach the Bible? The Jews of Jesus’ day should have recognized the horrible fruit of the Pharisees (Matt. 23:1-3). The same goes for Jesus’ followers today: Are the Bible teachers we listen to teaching well? Do their lives reflect a true saving faith in Christ?
Secondly, we should consider the kind of fruit that our lives are producing. How are our actions and words and thoughts? Do we have a love for God and Christ and for the saints, and is that love flowing out of us in tangible ways? Our works aren’t the means of our salvation (Eph 2:8-9; Rom 4:5), but they are evidence of it (James 2:18-26). If people observe the fruit of our lives, what type of tree would they say that we are? A good tree, or a bad tree?
Ponder and Pray: Consider the importance of the fruit that we bear in our lives. How should how we live help or hinder our assurance? Finish by praying that you would live a fruitful life for Christ.
