Sermon for Easter 6 (Yr C): The Tree of Life

6 Easter: The Tree of Life

Acts 16:9-15; Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5; John 14:23-29

The Reverend Paul D. Allick, The Church of the Advent, May 25, 2025

Over the years, non-believers have used this

zinger on me, “You know, Jesus wasn’t really

born on December 25th.” I always wonder if this

is meant to provoke me to denounce the

Christian Faith. Is it akin to breaking the news to

me about the Easter Bunny?

Of course Jesus was not born on December

25th. The calendar we use did not even exist

when he was born. The seasons and feasts of

the Church year overlap many seasonal

observances of ancient religions. It is normative

for religious observances of all sorts to coincide

with the seasonal rhythms of nature.

Christmas and Epiphany happen in the Winter

months because they are about light breaking

through darkness.

Although not as pronounced in our climate as in

others, Easter comes at the time of year when

all that seemed dead comes alive. In the fall

trees lose their leaves and then stand desolate

throughout the winter. But the trees are not

dead, they only appear dead. And what does

living look like anyway?

How often do we lose our leaves and think that

it’s all over? How many times have we

experienced desolation and loss wondering how

we will ever move forward?

Eastertide reminds us that through our baptism,

our regeneration in Christ, hope is never lost.

What seems dead will live again.

In today’s Gospel today, Jesus announces that

he is going to the Father. He is about to be

arrested, tortured and executed. He tells his

disciples to not let this trouble them.

He encourages them and us to keep his Word

by loving one another as he loves us. And

through that love God in Christ will dwell within

and among us.

And then God will send us a Counselor who will

teach us all things. The Holy Spirit is always

available to us. When we face adversities, we

call upon the Holy Spirit for strength and

wisdom. The Spirit will keep reminding us that all

is never lost when we walk with Christ.

In the Revelation to St. John, we see how God

turns things around and brings life out of death.

John and his community were suffering under

great persecution. Like Jesus they were facing

arrest, torture, and execution. When John

receives these profound visions, he is serving a

prison term in exile on the island of Patmos.

The Spirit carries him to a high mountain to see

the Holy City coming down out of heaven. In that

city there is no need for a Temple or Light

because the Almighty and the Lamb are the

Temple and the Light.

In the City is the River of the Water of Life. Along

the banks of the river is the Tree of Life bearing

the fruit of immortality. It is the Tree of Life which

Adam and Eve knew in the Garden of Eden. It

was not the Tree of Knowledge which got them

in trouble but the one next to it that provided

eternal life.

The Holy City is like the Garden of Eden where

we began. The place we walked away from

when we ceased trusting in in God and instead

trusted in ourselves.

In the Eastern Orthodox Tradition, the Tree of

Life is seen as a prefigure of the Cross. After

Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection is

complete, humanity may partake of its fruit.

Jesus is often portrayed as a “divine cluster” of

grapes hanging from the Cross, the Tree of Life,

which we partake of in the Eucharist.

The cross like those dead trees in the winter is a

symbol of what we think is death turned into a

sign of life.

Christianity is counterintuitive. It is difficult, even

for believers, to accept its core principle: as

Disciples of Jesus Christ we stand in the face of

mortality and enmity and choose to live and

love.

When we learn to love and to seek hope where

others see only despair, then we open ourselves

to the Spirit. In the Spirit we receive visions and

insights which will lead us to healing and

reconciliation. And then we are empowered to

bring healing and vision to others.

St. Paul received his vision to go to Macedonia.

A man appears to him pleading for him to come

and help the people there to know Christ.

Paul finds Lydia and her household. Paul

teaches them the Good News. The whole

household is baptized. They ask Paul to stay for

a while. They are hungry for more catechesis.

They want to know more about the Gospel

because they are beginning to see life where

others see only death; hope where others see

only despair.

It is a full circle: we foolishly walk away from the

Tree of Life thinking that we know better,

thinking that we know what we see. And when

that fails and we fall we repent and return to the

Tree of Life. Then we ourselves become a

strong tree planted by the love of God.

As the Psalmist sings, those who delight in the

law of the Lord, “are like trees planted by

streams of water, bearing fruit in due season,

with leaves that do not wither.”