I have to be honest but…

given the events of the past few days…

it seems a little bizarre to be celebrating “Harvest Thanksgiving” today…

if not…

almost… 

a little obscene.

Russia has invaded Ukraine.

Already, hundreds are dead…

thousands are fleeing…

there has been significant damage to the country’s infrastructure…

and we don’t know where or how it’s all going to end.

Needless to say, the sufferings of the Ukrainian people are far from over.

But what’s ironic––

in the context of our situation, here, today–– 

is that Ukraine has been described by many in recent days…

as one of the “agricultural powerhouses” of Europe.

Aside from what they produce for their own domestic consumption…

they are responsible for about fifteen percent of the world’s total corn exports…

about ten percent of its wheat exports…

and about forty percent of its sunflower oil exports.

And much of that…

apparently…

goes to Africa.

Already agricultural economists are warning of “significant consequences for global food stability”…

as a result of Russia’s invasion.

Alongside the humanitarian crisis that’s unfolding in Ukraine itself…

this is only going to exacerbate the ongoing humanitarian crises in parts of Africa.

 

And, amidst all of the images coming out of Ukraine these past few days…

there was one that stood out for me:

a brief video of an elderly Ukrainian woman…

in one of the southern cities that’s been overrun…

confronting some young Russian soldiers in the street…

and, after scolding them for what they were doing to her country…

she offered them some sunflower seeds to put in their pockets…

so that…

when they died on her country’s soil…

at least some flowers might bloom.

And while anger and hostility clearly seep through her words… 

there is…

still…

something of a desire to see something good come from this.

And…

in a way…

it’s perhaps another example of how we frequently resort to agricultural metaphors…

when we want to make a point about actions and consequences.

According to the old proverb, “You reap what you sow”.

Now, that’s taken to mean––

either––

eventually, you will experience the treatment or behaviour that you have shown to others;

or, you’ll eventually have to face the consequences of your actions.

And, of course, there’s that similar one––

which actually comes from the prophet Hosea––

“sow the wind and reap the whirlwind”.

Our actions have consequences…

over which we seldom have control;

and those consequences are often far worse than we can imagine…

or if we had chosen another course of action.

And, at this point in time… 

significantly negative consequences are probably the only thing that could stop Putin’s madness.

 

In our reading this morning from Luke’s Gospel…

Jesus offers us another, slightly different, agricultural metaphor.

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit…each tree is known by its own fruit”. 

And, as the author expands on and explains this saying…

he suggests that a good person produces good out of the goodness of their heart…

while an evil person is known by the evil that they speak.

And, in so doing, the author seems to mix, not his metaphors but his meanings.

He seems to suggest that a good person is recognised by the good that they do;

while an evil person by the evil that they say.

And yet…

in the world of the first century…

these two aren’t actually that far apart.

In both cases, he links these to “the heart”…

and…

as I have mentioned to you before…

within the first-century worldview, the heart was the source of one’s will, one’s intent, and one’s attitudes…

which were manifested in what one said…

and what one did.

Both what someone says…

and what they do…

tells us who they are.

Within the first-century worldview, the external was critical.

They had complex rules and guidelines for understanding a person’s character based on the way that they looked.

And they believed, wholeheartedly, that function followed form.

As you appeared––

in terms of how you looked…

what you said…

and what you did––

so you were.

Within the first-century worldview, you could, indeed, judge a book by its cover.

And, here, Luke’s Jesus is applying that to people who claim to be his followers.

There ought to be…

he suggests…

a consistency between appearance, word, and action.

Together, they testify to a person’s faith.

 

Now, within the Christian tradition…

and especially since the Reformation…

we have come to emphasise “belief”––

usually in the sense of intellectual assent––

over everything else.

“Faith” not “works”––as Luther’s dictum is usually understood.

And, indeed, this Church comes from a tradition that stresses “believer’s baptism”;

while, generally, Christians are often referred to as “believers”.

But none of that is consistent with the witness of the New Testament…

and we have distorted the meaning of its language.

In the original Greek, the language that is usually translated or interpreted as “to believe”…

doesn’t refer to intellectual belief.

It refers to affectual belief.

In other words, it means “trust”.

And yet, even that doesn’t really get the full sense of it.

Because, within a Hebrew context, this was the language of the covenant.

Its primary sense was “to be faithful”––

to God…

and to God’s covenant with Israel.

And that meant living appropriately within the covenant;

living in such a way that you honoured the relationship with God…

and did what was pleasing to God;

not as a means of earning God’s approval––

as Luther wrongly thought––

but because God had already graciously and lovingly chosen Israel and blessed it.

Jesus’ sayings, here in Luke’s Gospel, come from…

and are to be understood within…

that context and that framework.

A true follower of Jesus––

a faithful follower of Jesus––

is someone whose words and actions reveal a heart… 

that’s attuned to what God has revealed of God’s nature and God’s will…

as manifested to us by Jesus.

In a way… 

what Jesus is saying here is similar to another agricultural metaphor that we commonly use:

“an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”.

We inevitably share character traits or qualities from our parents…

or progenitors…

by nature and by nurture.

And that’s as true of us in terms of our spiritual lives––

and our spiritual Parent––

as it is with the rest of our lives.

 

Now, granted, that’s not really a “Harvest Thanksgiving” sort of message.

But as we stand here today––

with all that has happened;

and at the conclusion of the whole Advent-Christmas-Epiphany cycle…

which…

more or less began with John the Baptist urging us to “bear fruit worthy of repentance”;

and we look ahead to the season of Lent…

which begins this Wednesday––

these sayings of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel are a challenge to us to reflect upon how we live…

what we do…

and what we say;

and what they reveal about what we really believe…

to whom we really give our allegiance…

and what ‘god’ we are actually serving.