We Are Citizens of One Kingdom

A Tree in Which to Perch 

An impressive California Sycamore tree used to grace our village. It rose majestically by the water’s edge, a few yards away from the wooden bridge that spans the lake which divides our neighborhood from east to west. The California Sycamore can grow up to 80 feet tall. Ours had. It can also span a width of some 50 feet. Again, ours had. If you were a cormorant, this tree was the hip hangout spot. When I used to walk my children to school, I’d occasionally count how many of these sleek, black birds were perching on the branches. Usually dozens! 

It was the kind of immense tree that looked like it would last forever, a haven for all sorts of birds to nest in and raise their young, to escape from predators, and shelter from the sun. 

Photo credit: Clementp.fr (CCSA-4.0 Int)

From Mustard Seed to World Tree

There were probably trees like that in Galilee. [1] The climate where Jesus grew up is even pretty similar to California’s. When he needs to illustrate the kingdom of heaven, he borrows this image, saying that it is like a small mustard seed that grows into a large tree, “so that the birds [can] come and perch in its branches.” Inspired by this parable, generations of Christians have imagined the kingdom as a world tree for the people of the nations to find perch. 

In Whose Branch Do We Trust? 

We just had an election in the United States. As a result, there are many folks who are elated and many who are deflated. I imagine there are some from both camps within our TPW community and certainly within our churches. There are a number of reasons for why that is so, but should it be? Indeed, Christians ought to concern themselves with moral and ethical public policy and with whom they believe is best suited to enact it, but those politics should not define us. 

But too often, we succumb to the temptation to put our trust in politics, policy, and earthly government to provide a “secure” perch as was the crowd with whom Jesus compared the kingdom to a mustard seed. In fact, a lot of the people wanted exactly that from Jesus. They wanted to exchange Herod or Pilate for a better model. But that’s not what Jesus was offering. Political promises, whether to usher in a golden age or to preserve a certain way of life, are merely the glitter of political pyrite. We, as Christians, are supposed to know that. At least we should, if as Jesus says, “we have ears to hear.” So, in what tree do we find our perch, the tree of the kingdom or the tree of our party, faction, government, or municipality? Or better put, in whose branch do we trust, the executive or the eternal?

Secure in God’s Kingdom in Battlefield or Bed

A friend of mine who is a veteran shared with his daughter’s class this week about his experience in the military. His work was precarious, but because he was fluent in the tongue of the nation in which he was deployed, he had the opportunity to break bread in the homes of young men with whom there was assumed to be mutual mistrust. 

It was peacemaking work, finding a place for them both to perch together in safety and mutual respect, aware of their common humanity. One of the school children who heard him speak asked him if he was afraid to enter into the homes of his supposed enemies. He said, “Yes, but I’m secure in my place in God’s kingdom whether I’m on the battlefield or in bed.”

Right now there may be some of us who feel we are on the battlefield because our party lost power and others may feel securely comfortable, as if they were snuggled up in bed. But like my friend who rightly summed up his own security in God’s kingdom come hell or high water, no matter who wields power in the executive branch, we put our hope in the strength of the mighty branches of God’s kingdom tree and in no other. 

Maybe like my buddy and the people who were supposed to be his enemies, we can remember those on “the other side” are fellow birds of a feather who, like us, are in need of a perch on God’s kingdom branches. Can we break bread with them like my buddy in search of common ground serving our one, eternal king?

All Kingdoms but One Pass Away

The “kingdom” of the sycamore didn’t last forever. One sad day, our brilliant and beautiful tree had a chainsaw taken to its trunk and branches and the cormorants lost their perch. The tree in which they trusted and in which they perched was diseased and had to be cut down. Now, a decade later, there is no longer evidence of the spot in which the sycamore once soared save a memory of its glory. 

And such has always been and will always be the case for earthly kingdoms, political parties, and elected officials who promise us a perch in a secure tree. As with any kingdom, its days are numbered, and our vision needs to be bigger. As 1 John 2:17 says, 

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (ESV)

Because we rest securely on the branches of the everlasting tree (the cross), submitting to God’s reign, we have real freedom to do the will of God, the work which Jesus has called us to. And that is the kingdom work Christians everywhere and always have been called to do: loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

[1] Coincidentally, Allen Thompson discussed sycamore fig trees a couple of weeks back on this blog. Oddly, though they share the same name, they are unrelated species.