From Hebrews To Gentiles Being Grafted In Part Three

Grafted Into His Love

Continued from Part Two... (Part One)

The further one goes away from the roots,  

   further from the main trunk of a tree,  

     as the limbs turn into branches and ever smaller, 

       the view from one tiny branch when looking at the other, 

         may consider those far branches to be very dissimilar, 

       yet all the branches and limbs draw from the same trunk, 

     all are fed from a single root system, 

   all have inside them the very same substance of the other.

People talk too much about outer appearance, and thus pass judgment on things they do not understand.

Since we are a single humanity, who do people speak in terms such as 'us' and 'them'?

Our forefathers have simply sojourned to parts far and near, yet we all had the same origin.

If we can truly make a judgment according to things believed, or things spiritually reflective in the physical, perhaps one would be able to 'see' who is not part of the tree (and who is).

This is what religious people attempt to do.

The righteous go about their lives loving everyone, forgiving everyone, seeing everyone as their brother and sister...knowing God will sort out who is who at the harvest.

You are the seed, not the harvester,

   you are the worker, not the owner,

      you are a brother / sister, not the slave. 

Although you've inherited the earth, 

   you act as though you are a servant. 

Although tribute is rightfully yours,

   you kindly pay tribute to those who demand it. 

You love in place of hate,

   you embrace in place of strike, 

     you bless in place of curse,

       you walk in peace while others cower in fear,

     you forgive while others condemn,

   you are from Above, they from below.

What is understood regarding the many who have been made one as He is One?

What can be said about the root that helped the branches flourish, even those grafted in who were seemingly not of the same tree?

What can we say about what God has planned and done for us?

If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either. 

Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! 

- Romans 11: 17-24

Enjoy this video about 40 fruits grafted onto a single tree, a physical metaphor speaking to a spiritual reality.

Continued in Part Four.