The Tree of Life

Jesu Juva

Revelation 22:1-6, 12-20                                      

June 1, 2025

Easter 7C                                   

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        Today we’ve landed at the end of the Easter season.  Seven Sundays sounds about right for remembering and proclaiming that the tomb is empty, that Christ is risen, that we shall go where He has gone.  This joyful Eastertide will come to a fiery fulfillment next Sunday at the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.  Of course, we like to say, every Sunday is a little Easter.  Every Sunday the resurrected Christ appears here among His people.

        Not only have we come to the end of the Easter season, but we’ve also come to the very end of the Bible—the last chapter of the last book.  We’ve been hopping and skipping through Revelation for six Sundays now.  We’ve marveled at the marriage of Christ and His bride, the church.  We’ve gawked at gates of pearl and streets of gold and saints in white robes too numerous to count.  Today we hear one final vision—one last glimpse of the glory to be revealed:  And in this final vision there is a River and a Tree.

        It’s interesting that the Bible not only ends with a river and a tree, but it also begins with a river and a tree.  In the book of Genesis a river flows out of Eden and divides into four rivers.  And in the center of Eden are two trees—the tree of life and the forbidden tree of knowing good and evil.  You know what happened there—how Adam and Eve chose what God had forbidden—how they bit into the notion that they could be like God—how they initiated a sad sequence of sin and suffering that stretches all the way down to us—which will eventually land each and every one of us six feet under.  Their disobedience got them expelled from the garden and banned from the tree of life.

        Today’s reading from Revelation shows how what began in a garden called Eden is fulfilled in a city called Jerusalem—the city built by God that comes down from heaven.  And just as in Eden, there is a heavenly river—the river of the water of life, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.  This brings to mind how Jesus once promised the woman at the well springs of living water welling up to eternal life.  It brings to mind the river of water and blood that flowed from Jesus’ side when He died.  It brings to mind the river of Holy Baptism that makes us into children of God.  And it all flows as a bright, sparkling river running right through God’s holy city.

        There in the center of the city, on the banks of the river, is the Tree of Life.  It’s no longer guarded and off-limits.  Everyone now has access.  It’s open to the public, free for the picking, life for all is available.  The Tree of Life is in-season every season—yielding twelve kinds of fruit on a regular basis.  Twelve, of course, is probably symbolic here; but it shows that there is no monotonous sameness in heaven.  Instead there is a fruity variety adding to the spice of eternal life.  And not only does it bear the best fruit, but even its leaves will bring healing to the nations.

        But when we hear “Tree of Life,” it should take our thoughts to the tree of the cross—the blood-stained tree where the Son of God was lifted up, crucified and cursed—the tree where Jesus earned life and forgiveness for the whole world.  There, on that tree, He became our Savior.  Already now, today, we eat the fruits of the tree of the cross—our Savior’s body and blood—and in eating and drinking we have life in His name.  By the tree of the cross Jesus overcame sin and death and the lie of the devil.  He became our sin.  He died our death.  On the tree of the cross, Jesus took the placed of damned humanity.

        But in between the tree of the cross and the heavenly tree of life comes Easter—the resurrection of Jesus, the open tomb, His ascension to the Father’s right hand, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.  The curse is ended.  Death is done.  In God’s city there is no sin, no death, no condemnation.  There is, instead, the river of life and the tree of life.

        St. John tells us who lives there in God’s holy city: Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life. . . . There’s a subtle reminder here of our sinfulness.  Our robes are stained by sin.  Our robes must be washed.  There’s no saint who has walked through this life whose robe is not soiled by sin.  Our robes must be washed by the blood of the Lamb which alone can cleanse us from every stain and sin.  There is nothing else—no other cleansing agent—that can wash away our immoralities, our murders, our idolatries, lies and falsehoods.

        Note carefully—some are “outside” God’s eternal city.  Some will never get in.  And that’s a source of sadness for us on this side of eternity.  God does make an eternal distinction between those whose robes are washed in the blood of the Lamb, and those who have refused and rejected that cleansing.  Jesus died for all; God wants all to be saved; but all will not be saved.  Sexual immorality and murder and idolatry and lying—these are not unforgivable sins.  But you cannot unrepentantly immerse yourself in a sea of sin and, at the same time, claim the cleansing of Christ.  

        Repent.  Turn.  Come to Jesus who justifies freely.  He lives and He longs to wash away every sinful thought, word, and deed.  He washes away your sin and clothes you with His own righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.  Through faith in Jesus, the city of God is open to you.  You have a share in the tree of life.  You are justified by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith.  This is the gospel—the good news.  It’s what St. John and all the other apostles taught and preached.  It’s what led them to a martyr’s death.  It’s what carried them through death to the beginning of real life—life with God and the Lamb where they will reign forever and ever. 

        Who are we to change this good news, to amend it, to edit the glorious truth of what God has revealed to us in the Scriptures from Genesis chapter one to Revelation chapter 22?  If only Christians of every age would take seriously the warning not to add to God’s words and not to take away from God’s words.  To deny what God has said—or to preach what God has not said—will always lead people away from Jesus, away from the gospel, away from life.

        And so the church says what God says.  The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.”  That’s the church’s invitation to the whole world until the Last Day:  Come.  That’s also your invitation to those you know who are living—and dying—apart from Christ:  Come.  Like a tall glass of ice water on a hot afternoon, we throw our doors wide open to offer cool refreshment to all who thirst for righteousness and life to the full.  Come, drink freely, [and] without price.  The water of life is free for you and free for all, but costly to Christ who paid for every drop with His very life.

        Jesus says, “Surely I am coming soon.”  It’s His last Biblical Word to the church and the world.  I am coming soon.  To the world it’s a threat.  To the church it’s a promise.  It’s what we all long for.  It’s what we pray for every time we pray:  Thy kingdom come.  Jesus comes already today in unseen ways to give us His goodness and mercy.  But on the Last Day Jesus will come visibly, and you will see Him with resurrected eyes.  Then He will welcome all the redeemed into the city of God where life is the order of the day—where the party never ends—where the river of life and the tree of life will welcome us—not to the end of all things, but back to the beginning of all things—back to Paradise, and a River and a Tree.  I’ll see you there! 

        In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.