Thoughts on Discipleship by Dr. W. A. Dillard - HTML preview

THE REPROACH OF A PICKED TREE

The orchard owner looks with great expectation at the trees under his care. He nourishes, protects, and defends the trees from pestilence and anything else that would prevent full fruition. He is happy with the many blossoms, small buds, and developing fruit. Harvest time is truly filled with great anticipation, but once harvest is over, then what? The tree is still valuable, but it has given all that it can give. There will be no more fruit to glean, and the eye of anticipation no longer sees as it did before. It is a tree, now ordinary and fruitless, having given all. It is interesting to note that this idea is presented in the Word with reference to our Lord and Savior.

In Psalm 22, which is prophetic of the life and sacrifice of Jesus, the word used to describe Him in verse six is “reproach.” The verse states, “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” The word “worm” here is the “tolah” worm that was crushed to yield the blood used to dye fabrics with the color of royalty. The term “reproach” is a translation of the Hebrew word “Charaph.” which conveys the idea of a picked tree with nothing more to give. That term used here of Jesus describes how many people see Him as He has given all for the harvest of the souls of men. The people expected that the miracles He invoked for others would surely be invoked for Himself thus giving them a super personage in which to glory in the flesh. Those who so hoped were sadly disappointed.

However, the crushing of the “tolah” worm, wrought robes of righteousness for the royal children of the King, and those who avail themselves of the fruit yielded by that tree find eternal, spiritual sustenance, and a white robe of royal righteousness in which to stand before the Creator.

So, how do you see Him dear reader? Is He a disappointment, or a wellspring of eternal joy? Is He a picked tree to be turned away from, or is He the Living Tree of Life with the fruit of eternal righteousness to all who receive Him in repentance and faith? My prayer is that you see Him as the latter, even the bread of life that one may eat and not hunger again; as the fruit of all righteousness that one may receive and have not sin imputed by the heavenly Father. There He is, the TREE at the crossroads of time of everyone.

FOR THOUGHT: In Eden, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was noted as pleasant to look upon, good for food, and desirable to make one wise. Have you ever noticed that the Tree of Life, also in the garden, had no such physical appeals to it? What do you think is wrong with Christians who Jesus, His Word, and worship as “Old hat, routine stuff?” Is Jesus a “Picked tree” to them? What is He to you?