(36.) On Christ as the Green Tree
(36.) On Christ as the Green Tree.
“If they do these things to the green tree, what will happen to the dry?” (Luke 23:31).
When He moaned these words, Jesus was going through excruciating pain, trudging along on the bloody road to Golgotha. He had just been beaten with fists and sticks, and flogged to within an inch of His life. Looing up to the hill of Calvary, it must have looked a million miles away from where He was doubled over in exhaustion. At this point, the streets were lined with everybody from mourners to those who jeered at Him. He spoke a word of prophecy at this point to the women who were wailing nearby. He addressed them as “Daughters of Jerusalem,” a term of endearment. He told them not to mourn for Him, but for themselves and all those in Jerusalem who would suffer destruction in a time that was coming soon enough. And then He asked those grieving women that curious question about the green tree and the dry tree. Students and scholars of Scripture have been paraphrasing His question ever since, trying to unpack what He meant.
There is little doubt that Jesus is the Green Tree He is referring to in His pain. The green tree at that time was a symbol in Jewish circles of a living tree running freely with sap, a young fruitful tree, and so it symbolized innocence, righteousness, uncorrupted by time or disease, a tree that is not meant to be burned for wood yet. So Jesus is calling Himself the Green Tree that was innocent, righteous, and seemingly cut down and used for firewood. This particular title for Christ is beautiful and offers an image of Jesus that is full of life. A 12th century saint by the name of Hildegard loved this image of Christ and called Him “Greenness Incarnate,” and described Jesus as “the green figure itself who came down from heaven” to bring life back to creation, to revitalize the earth back to the Garden of Eden.
So Jesus is the flourishing Green Tree, miraculously growing from a rooted stump (Is. 11:1, 53:2), becoming a righteous Branch of the Lord (Is. 4:2-3; Jer. 23:5-6; Jer. 33:15; Zech. 3:8; Zech. 6:12). He is the Tree of Life who promises growth and fruitfulness from His Spirit, giving us hope of new life because of His death-defying Resurrection. Jesus is the Green Tree who refused to die, even if cut down.
There is not much debate about who the Green Tree is. But what about “the dry?” Some say that the dry tree is the one who is wicked and doomed to die as firewood fit for the fires of God’s judgment. Others say that the dry refers to the Roman authorities who unjustly put the innocent Jesus to death, and that therefore should expect an even more disastrous death in God’s vengeance. But this doesn’t have to be that complicated. In the context, Jesus is referring to the judgment coming soon upon Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans in 70 AD. Perhaps God is using the Romans as He did the Babylonians, as the hands of judgment because of religious unfruitfulness, of rejecting the Messiah, of being spiritually dead as a result. We aren’t sure at this point what God was thinking, but there is no question that Jerusalem was demolished.
There have been many attempts from scholars to put Jesus’ interesting question into other words to help us understand what He meant:
If the Roman government was willing to torture and crucify a righteous and innocent man like Me, how much more would the Romans do to a nation that they think is guilty?
If they treat me like this when I am full of life and unseasoned wood, what will they do to a nation that is ready to be used as seasoned firewood?
If evil like this can occur in My presence, how much more will it occur in My absence?
If someone who has done no wrong can be tortured to this degree, what will they do to those they think are guilty?
If this green wood is burnt down which is not even meant for burning, what is to happen to the dry wood that is ready to go up in flames?
If this is what they do to Me, the Messiah, the Living Branch, imagine what they will do to any dead branches?
If the Romans are willing to do this to Me of all people, then imagine what they will do to Jerusalem?
There are those biblical scholars who agree with Chaim BenTorah, who believes that Jesus is referring directly to Ezekiel 20:47. In this prophetic passage, the Lord offers a vision concerning God’s judgment on Jerusalem, in which He will send a forest fire, burning up the entire forest, even the vibrant green trees. In this vision, the green tree was understood by the rabbinic sages to be a symbol for the righteous and pure and undefiled, while the dry trees in the forest were symbols of unrighteousness. This was considered a messianic passage, and the green tree was the Messiah. So Chaim believes that, when Jesus here in Luke called Himself the Green Tree, He was once again declaring that He was the fulfillment of Scripture, that He was the Messiah.
Soon after Jesus addressed the Daughters of Jerusalem and warned them of the miseries that were about happen, the people along the road would read the sign that Pilate commanded to be put at the head of Jesus on the Cross. It was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek, just so everyone could read it… “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.” (John 19:19). Did Pilate realize that the word Nazareth actually meant “Branch” and that that was a messianic title? So ironic and wonderful, Pilate made sure everyone could think about a perfectly apt title of Jesus on the Cross, “Jesus the Branch, King of the Jews.” Jesus, the righteous Branch, the Green Tree.