Trees of the Passion
'He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree'
Peter Carruthers
The Garden of Eden was full of trees, but only three are named: the ‘tree of life’, the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ (Genesis 2:9) and the fig tree (Genesis 3:7). A fourth, the thorn tree (or bush), appears after the Fall outside the Garden (Genesis 3:18).
These four trees re-appear in the account of Jesus’s Passion, marking His progress, as the “second man” (“from heaven”), ‘back through the Garden’ to recover, renew and redeem what the “first man” (“from the earth”) lost (1 Corinthians 15:47).
Before His crucifixion, the Roman soldiers make a crown from the branches of the thorn bush and put it on Jesus’ head, in mockery of his claim to be king (Matthew 27:29; John 19:2-3). Little did they know! The thorn tree represents the curse resulting from Adam’s disobedience (Genesis 3:17-18). In contrast, Jesus was obedient even to death on the cross (Philippians 2:8), and “became a curse for us” in order to “redeem us from the curse” (Galatians 3:13). The symbol of the curse of death becomes a crown of life.
After their disobedience, Adam and Eve covered their shame with fig leaves (Genesis 3:7) and were cast from the presence of God. At His crucifixion, Jesus ‘set aside the fig leaves’ (Matthew 27:35), “despising the shame”, and was exalted to “the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). Interestingly, some days before, Jesus had symbolically enacted this by cursing a fig tree because it had no fruit (Matthew 21:19).
Among other ways, the tree of knowledge is represented by the two crosses either side of Jesus’ cross. In Eden, it marked the point of decision: to obey and “eat from the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7) or disobey and be ejected from paradise. One thief chose the first way; the other chose the second (Luke 23:39-43).
Finally, the tree of life is both the cross of Christ and the Lord Jesus Himself. As the fruit of the tree of life gives eternal life (Genesis 3:22) so, through His death on the cross, Jesus opens the way to eternal life for all who are joined to and feed on Him (John 6:53-58).
Almighty God, who in the passion of your blessed Son made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us to glory in the cross of Christ that we may gladly suffer for his sake.
Almighty God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross, who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
What a precious life giving word from Peter
Excellent article. I was particularly taken with the mention of the fig tree. Nakedness was the first time that humanity encountered shame. I was struck by the thought that Jesus had to be crucified naked, in order to pay the penalty for the root of all shame.