Tomaties, Sin, Glory

Tomatoes, Sin, Glory

Pruning and training tomatoes yesterday taught me a lot about sin and glory.

I had neglected my tomatoes because, you know, I like to sleep and read fiction.

So I was in the garden yesterday rescuing plants. This is what reminded me of sin. There were two kinds of rescue. I had to cut and disentangle the bindweed from the plants. This is sin from without, "crouching at the door" as God says to Cain. It's the sin of the serpent in the (other) garden, sin that holds us captive, as Paul puts it.

And then there is the rot of green tomatoes on the wet soil. Or the wild vines that spread everywhere and pull precious resources from fruit. This is sin from within, the sin we are all responsible for, but still need help/pruning/support to overcome.

These two kinds of sin are rarely, if ever, jointly emphasized. Sometimes it's all our fault; sometimes it's all their fault. But in the Bible it's both. We are both responsible and attacked. And both are wrapped up in salvation.

But what impressed me most was the point of my rescue operation. Fruit. And the fruit of a tomato is its glory. My snipping and supporting was all guided by glory.

Glory returns is the fruit of God's gifts. His gifts in creation and redemption have results. His creative word, his grace, his mercy -- they all go forth and do not return empty.  That return is called glory.

We were made to be fruitful. To be our whole selves, truly human, that is the fruit of God's work. And so the problem with sin is not that God is mad because we transgressed an imaginary line; it's that we are not the tomato plant we were made to be.

God's pruning and tending and nourishing makes us truly human, bearing the fruit of glory.

For me, as the tomato grower, I don't deserve any credit, any glory. Unlike me, God is not too busy to tend. God is the constant gardener who redeems, heals, tends. And also unlike me, he is the Source, the giver of life.

Soli Deo Gloria. Glory to God alone.

- Pastor Eddy