Good fruit

Matthew 7:13-21

     In the not too distant past there was a litmus test for conservative and Christian candidates. I am sure it is still employed to some degree. You have to be pro-life. That stance referred to your unwavering opposition to abortion. It was as if the judgment of whether you are a good christian or not was based on that alone. There seemed to be few other hallmarks.

       What does make a good Christan? I remember a time in those hippy dippy 60's when people were heard singing "They will know we are Christians by our love". What has happened?  If today's passage from Matthew is true at all, we should be known and judged by our actions and by the good fruit that our actions bear.

      Which brings to mind how the Evangelical Christian community has so embraced an individual who, by almost any standard, is a truly horrible person. Commandments are broken at will, lies spew out constantly. It is beyond alarming. It's as if the Kraken has been released. There is a wholesale attack on 'the least of these'.  A Jesuit Priest was forced to resign his position by a "Good Catholic" because he was preaching about the poor on Capital Hill. We are striving to create poverty among the masses with wild policies that engorge the rich. We deny logic and science with policies that threaten the lifeboat called Earth that we need to survive on. And make no mistake, God did not wish us to just survive, we were meant to thrive. All policies seem to be aimed at following an anti-Christian message.  Me thinks the fruit is rotten here.

     If we are to be called pro-life, it must be that we are in support of the totality of life, from birth to death and it cannot be limited to those we judge worthy or from just within our borders. God has no borders. On this issue and many more, the political right and evangelicals have not even hit the target.

      Aside from the fact that the political right and evangelical community has now lost any moral high ground. They really never had it, it's just that now the cards are face up on the table for everyone to see. Aside from that, this passage highlights something for us. That is, everyone with a brain, everyone who truly tries to follow the teachings of Christ in their daily lives. We need to be strong at home and in our lives as individuals. We cannot rest on our laurels that someone else is can be trusted to do the right thing. We must awaken loud, proud and ravenous for righteousness.

    I recall Emil Litella who famously argued for more 'violins on TV' only to be told that it was really "violence" on TV that was being railed against, to which she responded, "Never mind".

I think we should be trying to reach for more Violins in the world. The beautiful sound of God orchestrating and making love in the world with our acts of selflessness and behaving like Jesus. How beautiful the world would be if we acted like the beautiful creatures that God created us to be.

       Bear good fruit.

‘Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.

‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven.