( EG 96 ) - [ Deutsch ]
Sermon on Hymn „Thou beautiful tree of life of paradise“ EG 96
Some places have the custom of completely wrapping the wooden cross in barbed wire on Good Friday. Then during the Good Friday service, this cross is decorated with flowers and fresh greenery, so that in the end a beautiful arrangement is created, in the shape of a cross.
I would like to reflect with you on this custom. The cross reminds us of a symbol of the painful death of Jesus.
Barbed wire reminds us of the suffering of many people. I think of the separation of people during the times of East and West Germany. Or the borders that countries reinforce, even today, to keep refugees out. I think of people who - like Jesus once did - have to endure torture and abuse. Barbed wire as a sign of suffering and pain makes sense to me. Then why is it decorated with flowers?
EG 96,1-2 „Thou beautiful tree of life of paradise“
In the first verse of the song, the cross of Jesus is called "Thou beautiful tree of life of paradise". And in the picture, branches grow out of the trunk of the cross with birds sitting in them. Isn't that completely inappropriate? What makes the Hungarian poet of this song and the artist of the picture depict Jesus' cross like this? How can the execution apparatus of the cross be called a "beautiful tree of life"?
Obviously, the trunk of the cross, by being given this title, and the custom of decorating the cross are to be placed in a certain context. The context is beginning and end. In the beginning, in paradise, the tree of life is the centre of the garden of paradise. Whoever eats from the tree of life will live forever. From this tree, Adam and Eve are driven out of paradise. Driven out because they transgressed God's commandment, because they did not live according to God’s will. The tree of life in paradise is the symbol of eternal life. Of life in communion with God. Of life at peace with ourselves, at peace with our fellow human beings and with all fellow creatures. The tree of life stands for the longing of life, for happiness, for a life of contentment and fulfilment.
It is therefore no coincidence that the tree of life is mentioned again at the very end of the Bible. In the last verses of the Bible, where the new world is described, which God will create at the end of time, there is again mention of the tree of life, or better: of the trees of life. Finally, when God has overcome all adversity, wiped away all tears, then those who have been justified by God will again have access to the tree of life. The gates of paradise will be open again, and God's creation will finally be as God had it in mind: no one will have to suffer any more, sickness and pain will be forgotten, death will be no more, people will live in peace and harmony, hatred and mistrust will be no more. All creation breathes a sigh of relief, and joy is infinite.
We hope for this future. The tree of life is a symbol of this hope.
But still: why is the cross called the tree of life? Isn't it actually just the opposite? A symbol of death and suffering?
Yes, it is, but it is even more. For in Jesus' death on the cross we do not only encounter the powers of death; there the powers of death are also defeated, victory over death is achieved.
Dying on the cross, Jesus suffers the full force of these powers of death: the hatred that we human beings can generate is unleashed on him. People who were cheering for him a moment ago, now curse him. They mock and jeer at him. They put a crown of thorns on his head and contemptuously worship him as king. And then they call out spitefully: he has helped others, now he should help himself.
The violence that people do to each other, Jesus suffers. Death on the cross is an agonising death. It occurs through heart failure due to exhaustion and suffocation. And this agonising death is preceded by the experience of being abandoned and even betrayed by all his friends. Lonely and abandoned, Jesus dies on the cross. Abandoned by his friends, even abandoned by God. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" he cries. His last words. Jesus was petrified, as the scene of his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane tells us.
Whatever hardship and suffering are endured in this world, Jesus has experienced it. Everything that burdens us, that takes away our strength, Jesus has tolerated. He drank the whole cup of pain, of fear, of death. Therefore, when we have to drink from that cup, we know that we are not alone in it. Jesus feels with us. He knows what we go through. When no one seems to understand us anymore, Jesus still does. He doesn't say: "It's not so bad. You'll see, you'll be better soon." He says, "I know how you feel. I know the fear. I know the pain. I have also drunk from this cup of suffering."
However, there is more: Jesus did not only suffer. He also conquered suffering and death. God raised him from the dead, He did not abandon him to death. So, the cross of Jesus, the place where death at first seems to be victorious, becomes in retrospect a place of hope. Because we know of Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection, therefore in the midst of death, in the midst of pain and despair, we can hold on to the fact that God is stronger than death. God creates in us a new life, a life that has overcome death.
Therefore, because on the cross and in the midst of death, Jesus defeats and wins the victory over death, it makes sense to decorate this cross and to see it as a tree of life. Here it becomes visible that God's goodness and power is stronger than the power of death. This cross is the sign of hope in all suffering.
With his death, Jesus has gone before us. Yet, Jesus also shows us the way to life. He conquers death for us, and he shows us what it means to live in and with hope. Amen.
EG 96,3-6 „Thou beautiful tree of life of paradise“