I want to tell you a fable.
Once there was a man who, while walking down a country lane, grew weary in his travel. Seeing that he was passing by an orchard of apple trees, he chose a particularly shady one in the middle of the orchard and lay down in the rich, green grass underneath to sleep.
After what seemed to him only a few minutes of dozing, he was rudely awakened when an apple fell from the tree, striking him on the head. As his mind cleared from slumber, he realized what had happened, and at the same moment noticed that he had grown hungry. Grateful for the ready food, he picked up the apple, leaned back against the tree and began to eat.
In the middle of his second bite of the crisp fruit, he noticed another man standing by the tree and looking up into its foliage. “Sir, what are you doing?” He asked.
Without taking his eyes off the branches above, the second man answered, “I am waiting for the tree to give me an apple.”
The man on the ground took another bite of his meal while pondering the answer he had received. Swallowing, he shrugged and said, “Sir, the branches are not high, why not just reach up and pick one?”
After a brief pause, and again without looking away from the limbs above him, the man answered, “I know that if I remain vigilant and patient, the tree will give its fruit.”
He did not appear anxious to talk further, so the first man went back to his apple and his own thoughts.
Presently, a third man came walking through the orchard with a steady and purposeful gait. The man on the ground watched him approach with interest, but the other man only continued looking up into the tree.
The third man strode directly to the same tree, uttered a polite grunt (the kind you might hear from someone not wishing to be rude, but also not willing to be distracted from his task), then he reached up to a low branch and picked an apple. He examined it, turning it in his hands for a moment, then with a nod of approval he picked a second apple, turned and began to walk away.
“Why the hurry sir?” asked the first fellow. “It’s such a pleasant afternoon; wouldn’t you like to sit in the shade with me while you eat your fruit?”
Without turning or even shortening his stride, the third man called back over his shoulder, “One apple is not for me. It is for my child. He is weakened by illness and unable to come to the tree himself. But I have heard that this tree produces the finest apples in the orchard, and I
know that if I bring him one it will give him nourishment and strength. I must be off to supply him. The second apple is for me to eat on the way. Good day to you sir.”
Swallowing the final bite of his own apple, the man on the ground lifted a hand to wave and said, “Good day, Sir”, but he doubted the retreating form was still close enough to hear.
After a moment more he decided to get on with his journey. He stood to go, but before moving on and not wanting to be rude himself, he turned to the second man to bid him farewell. Before he could open his mouth to speak however, he saw the man reach up into the tree and pluck a red, lush apple from a branch.
“Why sir,” he exclaimed, “I see you have chosen not to wait after all!”
Finally turning his gaze from the tree, the second man, polishing the apple on his garment, smiled and said, “I grew very hungry, and the more hungry I grew, the less willing I found myself to wait. Besides, I knew the tree wouldn’t mind. After all,” he continued after puffing a breath at his apple, “does not the tree bear fruit for the very purpose of feeding all who come to it?”
Thoughtful, the first man turned and headed back toward the road. As he left the tree line he looked back and saw the other man sitting contentedly in the shade of that wonderful tree partaking of its fruit; and even from that distance he thought he could see a wide smile of contentment on the stranger’s face.
In the eighth chapter of Luke’s gospel we see the accounts of three people touched by the Savior. Now, I cannot believe that the Holy Spirit has given us these stories at random or without very specific purpose. So today I want for us to see what He may be telling us about the way our Lord meets our needs. On the one hand He is the same toward all and unchanging. On the other, He can deal with each of us as individuals, and is neither challenged by the depth of our need nor slow about meeting it as some would count slowness.
(Read 8:26-39)
Now as the eighth chapter of Luke opens, we are told that by now Jesus had a multitude of people flocking to Him. We are told elsewhere that many followed only to see the miracles or to be fed. That is why so many left Him when it became apparent to them that He was not going to immediately deliver Israel from her oppressors and make Himself King. Others, named here, Mary of Magdala, Joanna, Susanna, the chosen twelve, had been touched by Him and would never be the same. They had partaken of the fruit of the tree of life, while many were content only to sit under its shade. Where do you fit in this story, friend? Why have you come to Him and what were you expecting? Do you come for comfort only (as the song says, “Looking for a soft place to fall”), or are you spiritually hungry and determined to be fed?
Jesus tells a parable in the first 18 verses that you would do well to read and consider over and over again. But there are many other sermons there and we must move on.
Let’s look first then, at the account of the Geresene demoniac.
Here is an account of someone who was not looking for the Master’s touch. In fact, under the influence of many demons he was deathly afraid of that touch, and not in his right mind at all.
That is the plight of all in this world who have not met the Savior. They are not all demon possessed as was this man, but they are as unaware of their need; as ignorant of their imminent destruction; and in most cases, as anxious to avoid any confrontation with Him as this man was in his madness.
But the Lord eternal has known those who are His since before the foundation of the world. Paul told us in Romans 8 that whom He foreknew, those he also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son...and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Notice please that it was all of Him. HE foreknew, HE predestined, He called, HE justified, HE glorified.
Through the centuries men have debated and split hairs over this predestination issue. They have spent much time and energy and written many books to expound their deep thinking on the issue of who chooses whom. They have labeled themselves Calvinists and Armenians. But I like the simplicity of God’s Word, and I like to keep it simple in my preaching and in my own relationship to Him. I enjoy letting God be God and knowing that I do not have all the answers.
I can only say that sometimes, in fact often, God answers the unspoken prayer for His own purposes and to meet His own ends. He is God...He is allowed.
Sometimes the sleeper finds himself by means and in a timing entirely outside of his own planning, under the shade of the Almighty, and the fruit of the tree of life bonks him into consciousness.
The demoniac was alone in his misery, chained by his own circumstances, living like a wild animal with no thought for tomorrow (much less eternity), and God, according to His eternal plan, came to him. BONK!
This happens in our lives more often than we usually realize, and not only in reference to our salvation, but also to God’s purpose and provision in our lives as believers. We never recognize these times except in retrospect, but we may still bless His name and thank Him for His goodness when we look back with spiritual eyes and understand that even in our ignorance of our own needs, whether spiritual or physical, He takes care of us because we belong to Him.
“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Thy name, O Most High.” writes the Psalmist
“To declare Thy lovingkindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness by night.” (Ps 92:1,2)
God doesn’t only come to us, heal us, pour out His riches on us, when we ask, Believer. We couldn’t get through a day successfully without Him, and only eternity will tell all the many times, every day of our earthly lives, that the Tree of Life dropped His life-sustaining fruit into our slumbering laps.
So we should be mindful to praise Him and thank Him daily, for His mercy and goodness. We may have many days that to us seem at the end to have been uneventful and routine. But let me assure you that without Him you would not have awakened in the morning...you would not have had food to sustain you or clothing to warm you...you would have been weak and easy prey for the destroyer without the presence of the Holy Spirit to protect you...you wouldn’t have had a Godly thought apart from His influence, and at the day’s end, you would have no purpose to lay down with any expectation for the coming day without His keeping power.
Thank him for all the apples that fall on you daily by His grace and mercy alone.
We must move on. The next story we see in Luke 8 is that of the official of the synagogue who came to plead for his daughter.
(Read vs 40-42)
Let’s look more closely at the circumstances. Here was an official of the local synagogue. Almost certainly, his peers would have strongly disapproved of his seeking out this itinerant preacher for help. The most shallow study of the Gospels will reveal that the leaders of the Jews hated Jesus. They stressed the keeping of the Law; He preached God’s grace. They sought salvation by works; He proved constantly in His message and His life, that salvation was through belief in Him and no other. They had a form of religion with no power; His ministry was one of power through the Holy Spirit. He “...went about doing good and healing those who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him”. They hated Him for that.
Until now this official, Jairus, may have held the same contempt and distrust for Jesus the Nazarene. But friends, when our circumstances become dire enough, that is when we realize the truth of the song:
“When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.”
By God’s grace and mercy, Jairus had apparently come to that place. He was on the verge of losing his precious little girl; his only daughter, and he had to face the fact that neither earthly doctors nor his own empty religion could help him now.
So he went to Jesus. Oh, that we would be quick to turn to Him first, instead of last. Oh, that our God would be to us, not a fire-extinguisher to pull down from the wall and use in crisis, but the One of whom we say daily:
“His love has no limit; His grace has no measure;
His power has no boundary known unto men.
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!”
But does our Lord criticize and condemn? No. We are told that at Jairus’ request Jesus sets out immediately for the man’s home, but the crowd is so pressing around Him that His progress is slow.
In fact, if you read it in this light and place yourself in the shoes of Jairus, the suspense only builds when the author interrupts this portion of his account to tell of the woman with the issue of blood.
This is great writing, folks. We’ve been given just enough to know that there is a little girl dying in her sick bed and the father is so desperate to find help that he is seeking it in the last place a man in his position would be expected to look, and in a scriptural “cliff-hanger” that story is put on hold while the writer tells us of someone else whose situation is, to them, equally desperate.
We’re going to talk about this woman last. But for now, I’ll save you the agony of suspense and finish Jairus’ story.
(Read vs 49-56)
News comes through members of the official’s house that the girl has died. Now these are first-century people in a culture that sees death come to people of all ages, and often. They know death when they see it, and they would not have been given this tragic news to deliver to the father had they not been certain of the facts. The girl was not slumbering. She was not in a coma. She was dead.
But what did Jesus encourage the man with? That He would fix things when He got to the house? No. That the messengers were mistaken? No. He made a promise that only God can make in reference to the dead. “Only believe, and she will be made well”. God decides who is dead and who is not folks. Do you know someone who has rejected the message of the gospel over and over, and in fact may have even rejected it violently and cursed God by way of punctuation?
Don’t give up on them. God decides who is dead and who is not. Only believe. And know that He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Keep praying for them and never lose hope. He is on His way, and He cares, and He is the giver of life.
What you call death, He may call “only sleeping”. Blessed are those who have not seen, yet have believed; for as in the case of Jairus, faith is the medium our Lord uses to heal and to save.
Do you think Jairus gained anything from this experience? You bet. The girl was not the only one to receive life that day. I fully expect to spend eternity with Jairus and many who were there that day, and when I see him, I will rejoice with him as though I had stood next to him as his little girl sat up and smiled.
When you go to the Tree of Life for someone else, believer, there is great power in your prayers. Praying for others is a very powerful spiritual weapon, and God loves to answer “Yes” to those requests. But be assured that just like the man in my story who came to get an apple for his child and also took one for himself, when you go confidently to the throne of Grace for another’s needs, you will find your needs met also. No one goes away from the tree hungry!
In the account of the woman with the hemorrhage, we are given another example of desperation and faith. People react to desperate circumstances in different ways, don’t they? Some will grow increasingly despondent and finally give up altogether. In these folks we see bitterness, depression, cynicism, rebellion or any combination of these. Others, the ones we commonly refer to as ‘survivors’, will continue to hope against hope and reach out in faith to any possibility of assistance. This is the kind of person we see in this unnamed woman.
(Read vs 43-48)
She had a hemorrhage for 12 years, and it says here, “...could not be healed by anyone”. What a terribly hopeless situation this appears to be on the surface. Only those who have suffered a specific pain or debilitating illness for a sustained period of time can truly empathize with this woman. Depending upon its level of severity, this woman may have suffered chronic weakness for loss of blood and a lack of iron. Weight loss and lethargy may have been added symptoms. But in that culture there was a condition of this problem that in the Jewish mind would supersede all of those symptoms. We don’t know for sure if this woman was indeed a Jew. Jesus was ministering in Galilee, in the area of the Decapolis which means “Ten Cities”. This area was inhabited to a large degree by Gentiles. But if she was Jewish, then her added burden for these 12 long years is that she would not have been allowed to practice her religion. She could not attend synagogue, she could not sacrifice. According to Leviticus 15:19 and following, a woman with an issue of blood was considered unclean, and anyone who so much as touched her during that time was also unclean for seven days. So to the religiously strict Jews, avoiding any contact with her at all would be considered a necessity.
As a result, we have a woman who is weakened, frustrated, and almost constantly tired... and LONELY.
Finally one day she hears of this Jesus, who is going about doing good and healing those who are oppressed of the devil. They are saying, “Surely, God is with Him”. They are saying, “Never a man spoke like this Man”. They are saying, “I took my lame son to Him and his leg was healed when the Master spoke”. They are saying, “I hadn’t used my left hand for many years, and He healed it instantly with a touch”. They were saying, “Even the lepers are being cleansed”. And her hope built, until one day...
...she heard the buzzing in the street outside her darkened window. “Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. JESUS IS COMING!”
Her face brightened for a moment. She literally felt her heart begin to race within her. Here was hope renewed. “All the doctors and priests cannot help. But I’ve heard of this Jesus; that God is with Him.”
With determination setting her jaw and her eyes ablaze, she drops what she is doing and heads for the door. “If I can only touch Him”, she tells herself, “I will be healed. For God is with Him.”
Did she blame God for her circumstances? No. Did she lose faith in God because the trial was long? No. She endured, and she trusted, and in the end, her faith gave her confidence to go to the great Healer, certain of His love and mercy and grace. “If I can only touch Him, I will be healed”.
She may have gone through all the steps that we so often go through. Looking for speedy deliverance and, not finding it, settling into fatalistic resignation, and finally growing tired of the suffering, daring to pray, “Lord, how long? How long?”
But today, Jesus was passing by. The Tree of Life was finally within reach, and she decided to stop waiting, and reach up, confident of His goodness, and take and eat of the life-giving fruit.
How long have you waited, sufferer? How many places have you looked for the answer, and been disappointed? Have you been through all the steps? Desperation - resignation - frustration - despair...JESUS IS PASSING BY. This is our God; the One whose all-seeing eye searches the hearts of men, looking for faith...and when He finds it is quick to say, “I WILL”...for He loves to answer faith in the affirmative.
“IF you ask anything in my name believing, it shall be done to you”, He said.
Stop waiting. Reach up and take the fruit believer; the limbs are well within reach, and no one goes away from the Tree unfed.
Have you ever stopped to realize that Adam and Eve were only denied the fruit of ONE tree? Just that one! The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Nothing else in the garden was denied them. That means that had they not eaten the forbidden fruit, they would have been welcome to the fruit from the Tree of Life, which was also there. God never denied men access to the Tree of Life...SIN DID!
In John’s Revelation we are promised that to him who overcomes will be granted the right to “eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the Paradise of God.” (Rev 2:7)
God is anxious to give us that fruit, Christian! He does not give grudgingly; He yearns for us to come and take and eat!
We may come to the Tree for many different reasons, with many different frames of mind and degrees of need. Some find themselves under its shade unknowingly, by His grace alone. Others come there in desperation, others in unwavering faith. And at various times we all find ourselves there by these various means and for these various reasons.
But the Tree never changes, folks. He is the source of all our provision, all our healing, all our life, and His perpetual invitation to us is, “Take, eat, live”
No one goes away from the Tree hungry.
