|
Parable of
the Thorns Thank God that there are no thorn-free gardens. We pull the thorn because it’s ugly, and doesn’t produce a fruit that we eat. But it does. Its fruit teaches. God doesn’t discipline us to hurt us, but to teach us a better way to act. When God disciplined Adam, he gave him the thorn for all of Adam’s labor and toil with the ground. Let’s no longer ignore the teachings of the thorns. Here in the Southwest, we have the hickory burr, or the goathead, which grows up looking just like grass, and gives a false promise of grass growing in around our yucca or Spanish daggers. When it gives off its "fruit" (which is a cluster of sticker thorns), we pull them, burn them, and even sweep the ground to get rid of them. But if one gets away, it grows countless more. The thorn can be likened to an idea, and when it looks like grass, we accept it, but when it bears fruit that we deem undesirable, we quickly remove it. The thorn can also be likened to the prophetic forerunner, who starts out like every other person. When his idea bears fruit, or speaks out, he doesn’t fit in and may be shunned. The thorn is different, and so its teaching gets overlooked because of its appearance, or unpleasant ideas. Thorns grow inside the yuccas’ blades where it is protected, and inside the cactus where no hand is safe to pull it. Similarly, "the thorns" are those who are willing to be spiritual pioneers. The "cactus" of the church protects them from being plucked out. Though the thorns are protected, the cactus is ashamed of them and hides them. But the second Adam who mastered the way, wore "us thorns" as his crown. And when Paul asked God to remove the thorn in his side, God preferred him to keep it. There’s much more the thorn will teach us in our garden-like lives. If we will only listen to the unpleasant. -Jacob
Have you always felt that you are a "weed" or "thorn" in the garden of the Church? Consider the poem, "Identity," by Julio Noboa Polanco:
|
