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Grafting - September 18, 2006
Romans 11:7
When I was growing up in South Florida, my mother did something I thought was rather strange and useless. She called it "grafting", and today, "grafting" has an entirely new meaning for me.
We had hibiscus bushes behind our house, and each spring mother would start her procedure with them. She began by placing some moss on the stalk of the bush and wrapping it in plastic wrap. She would check the progress regularly, making sure the plastic wrap had not fallen, that the moss was moist, and that no bugs had gotten in her graft. After a certain amount of time, the graft would be complete. Eventually, when the time was right, she would cut the graft and from it and a new plant would begin. The same was possible if she wanted to add a graft to the existing plant. She would carefully follow the program and graft something into the hibiscus. The new shoot would thrive and grow out of the nourishment sent from the main stem of the bush.
In Romans 11:7, Paul compares the Gentiles to a wild olive shoot, grafted into an olive tree. The trunk of the olive tree symbolizes Abraham who was the father of the Hebrew nation. The dead wood represented the Jews, and as they chose to turn their hearts from the Gospel, and were pruned away. The newly grafted Gentiles "took" when we believed the Good News of Christ, as Paul spread it throughout the early Christian church.
As Christians, we need to be mindful of our Hebrew heritage. We also are from the seed of Abraham, father of our faith. We must be humble and mindful that the trunk of the tree conducts the nourishment into the new branches, but the nourishment comes from the root that is God, the Father, Son and Hold Spirit.
Contributed by Marion Smith: [email protected] Comments/Feedback are welcome.
Romans 11:7
When I was growing up in South Florida, my mother did something I thought was rather strange and useless. She called it "grafting", and today, "grafting" has an entirely new meaning for me.
We had hibiscus bushes behind our house, and each spring mother would start her procedure with them. She began by placing some moss on the stalk of the bush and wrapping it in plastic wrap. She would check the progress regularly, making sure the plastic wrap had not fallen, that the moss was moist, and that no bugs had gotten in her graft. After a certain amount of time, the graft would be complete. Eventually, when the time was right, she would cut the graft and from it and a new plant would begin. The same was possible if she wanted to add a graft to the existing plant. She would carefully follow the program and graft something into the hibiscus. The new shoot would thrive and grow out of the nourishment sent from the main stem of the bush.
In Romans 11:7, Paul compares the Gentiles to a wild olive shoot, grafted into an olive tree. The trunk of the olive tree symbolizes Abraham who was the father of the Hebrew nation. The dead wood represented the Jews, and as they chose to turn their hearts from the Gospel, and were pruned away. The newly grafted Gentiles "took" when we believed the Good News of Christ, as Paul spread it throughout the early Christian church.
As Christians, we need to be mindful of our Hebrew heritage. We also are from the seed of Abraham, father of our faith. We must be humble and mindful that the trunk of the tree conducts the nourishment into the new branches, but the nourishment comes from the root that is God, the Father, Son and Hold Spirit.
Contributed by Marion Smith: [email protected] Comments/Feedback are welcome.
