I’m sharing this image of a wonderful sculpture by local artist Dan Chen. His work is my sermon without words, showing how the Cross of our Savior is transformed for us into the Tree of Life, lost in the garden in Genesis and then restored at the conclusion of Revelation upon the new earth.
We come at Easter this Sunday to the end of our 90-day journey through some of the greatest chapters of the Bible, concluding now with Revelation 22. I was struck with what a wonderful Easter text this is, to look at the hope and promise secured for us in the Resurrection of our Lord. I thought of Dan’s sculpture and knew I had to focus on the Tree.
The promise that Jesus is coming soon is repeated over and over in Revelation 22. As we celebrate Easter, it’s a fine reminder that new life in Christ has a glorious dimension yet to be completed. As the Communion litany goes, “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.”
May we all be blessed by the grace poured out on the tree of the Cross to be raised with our Lord to eat the fruit of the Tree of Life.