There are quite a few trees in the picture, and they are all leafless. When we see a leafless tree, we know that one of two things might be true – they might be dead, or it might be winter. The leafless trees in the picture are not surprising; Christmas comes at the deepest part of the winter in the Northern Hemisphere. But however dead they look, they aren’t; these wintry trees will, despite their appearance, put out leaves again in the springtime.
Trees have a special significance in Christian belief. Eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden brought about Adam and Eve’s expulsion from paradise. But Jesus is often described as dying on a “tree”, a cross made of wood, to bring us new life, and an ever-bearing fruit tree stands in the New Jerusalem according to Revelation 22.2, whose leaves are for “the healing of the nations”.
For Reflection
Jesus said: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds,
but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that
the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’ Matthew 13.31
What do they mean to you?
How might they remind you of God’s love?
The whole picture:
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