Evenings with Bede: On Bearing Good Fruit

A Lesson from the Gospel according to S. Luke 6.43

In teaching His disciples, Jesus said: “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

A Lesson from his commentary on S. Luke by the Ven. S. Bede

I believe that the thorns and bramble bush are the cares of the world and the pricking of vices, concerning which it was said to Adam who sinned: Your ‘earth will bring thorns and thistles forth to you.’ But I believe that the figs and grape are the sweetness of the new way of life, which the Lord hungers for in us, and the fervour of love, which gladdens the heart of a man, concerning which, in the gleaming light of the Gospel, ‘the voice of the turtle-dove’ resounded far and wide ‘in the land, the fig-tree has put forth her green figs, the vines in flower yield their sweet smell’ (Song 2.12-13). But the figs are not gathered from thorns, nor the grape from a bramble bush, because the mind, when it is still weighed down by the customary behavior of the old man, can imitate the fruits of the new man, but cannot bear them. . . . Let us also understand that the treasure of the heart is the same as the root of the tree, and what is brought forth from the heart is the same as the fruit of the tree. He, therefore, who has the treasure of patience and of perfect love in his heart, bringing forth without doubt the best fruits, loves his enemy, does good to the one who hates him, blesses the one who curses him, prays for the one who bears false witness, does not resist the the one who strikes and robs him, gives to everyone who asks, does not seek to recover things taken from him, desires neither to judge nor to condemn, correct the one going astray with patience and love, and does other things that the Saviour taught.

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