Audio of the sermon is here:

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

If they do these things when the tree is green, what will they do when it is dry? If they kill their Creator, what will they not do? Green wood is not good for burning; it just smokes. It’s dry wood that is good for burning. And things appear to be getting pretty dry. We heard Jesus tell us in the Gospel last week that there would be wars and rumors of war; famines and earthquakes; disasters; signs in heaven and on earth. These are the birth-pains as this age, this creation, comes to its completion. And what Jesus says to the women lamenting His death about things in their days, He could just as well say to us in our day. Don’t weep for Me; don’t mourn My death. Weep, instead, for yourselves and for your children. Weep for the havoc sin wreaks. Weep for your sin and the sin of others, that overwhelms you. And weep for the death that causes all this grief. Weep because everything’s upside down. The days are coming when people will say, Blessed are the barren. Blessed are the breasts of a mother that have never nursed a child. They will say to the mountains, Fall on us. And to the hills, Cover us. When the gift of children is changed into the blessing of barrenness, and the blessing of life is exchanged for the longing for death, things are upside down. The tree is dry and ready for burning.

But things have been dry for a long time—ever since Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, unsatisfied with being creatures of a good Creator. And it didn’t take long for the carpentry of sin to take over. We’re barely into the story when it’s necessary to take the dry lumber of this creation and construct an ark to save eight people by means of the same water that destroys. And from then on, most of the great evil in this world has come from people trying to build heaven on earth by means of wood from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Trying to construct some ideal fantasy, some utopia, here and now. And how much evil has come from worshiping the work of our own hands, on smaller or larger scales? What we have built, what we have accomplished, what we have done, whom we have elected. If they did those things when the tree was green, what will they do when it is dry? If they killed the Son of God in flesh, what will be impossible for them? So we keep on building our Babels, trying to make a name for ourselves at the expense of the Name of God.

It is overwhelming and exhausting, living in this world. And this world is in us, exhausting us. There is an exhaustion that says, who, in their right mind, would bring a child into this world? People say things like that all the time. Who would want to bring a child into a world like this? Blessed are the barren, right? Who would bring a child into this world? God, for one. God brings a child into this world, by means of a virgin’s womb. He plants a tiny, newborn shoot that grows from the dry and dusty stump of Israel, faithless, idolatrous, rebellious. He plants a tree in the dust and ashes of this creation, east of Eden. And it grows and grows. Its branches spread so that all people might find shelter under them. And it cannot be killed, even when it’s cut down. Those among whom He grew up tried to cut Him down. They tried to throw Him into the fire. But like the bush that Moses saw, He could not be consumed. He sent out roots from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And the day is coming when this Tree will cover the entire earth, and the nations will find their shelter in its branches (Matthew 13:32).

That tree still grows, and the fruit of that tree is offered to all people. Even there, where it was planted, paradise bloomed. Jesus, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom. There, in the midst of that man’s crimes and sin, in the midst of great suffering, dying, weeping and shame—right there—the tree of life was planted, its roots watered by the blood of Life itself. Today, I tell you, you will be with Me in paradise. You can’t go back to Eden; the angel still bars the gate. But wherever Jesus is, there is paradise. There is the tree of life. Just as by a tree the serpent overcame, so by a tree the serpent will be overcome, its head crushed on Calvary.

 I have no good answers for the devastation we see in this dry world, but I do know that the tree of life grows in this place. His fruit was plucked roughly from Him as He hung on a cross, but death has no hold on Him. The life that He gave for the sin of the world is here for you to eat and drink so that you may have life in the midst of a dying world. Here is the Body broken for the damage you have done. Here is the Blood shed to wash away the dust of your sin. At the coming of the Lord, all dry wood will be gathered and burned. But the branches that have been grafted into the true vine will live on forever beside the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Revelation 22:1-2). In that holy city is the tree of life, the leaves of which are for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:2). But we have been given to eat from the tree of life here, and those who eat of it will live, even though they die. Those who live and believe in Jesus will never die (John 11:25-26). Take and eat; take and drink. It is the very flesh and blood of Jesus with the bread and wine, and it is here for you as a pledge and seal of His promise to return for you some day and remake this old world.

Here, too, He is doing this work; even here, in the midst of so much weeping; amid suffering and shame, death and dying; in the middle of disease and depression and difficulty; here is paradise, because the tree of life is here. The tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations, planted at the mouth of the river of life, so its fruit can be found even in the driest desert. Come, eat and drink. No cost to you. No price that you can pay. The water of life, and the fruit of that life-giving tree, here for all who need it. He promises: “[A]ll the trees of the field shall know that I am [Yahweh]; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am [Yahweh]; I have spoken, and I will do it” (Ezekiel 17:24). Jesus Christ, the green tree conceived in Mary by the Holy Spirit, was dried up on the cross and forsaken of God so that He might make you, dry tree that you are, flourish in His courtyard. You may not be able to see it now, but know that He is Yahweh, the Lord; He has spoken, and He will do it. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). There is no doubt: the day is coming when you will be with your Lord in Paradise. And when He returns in glory, Paradise will give way to the full glory of the resurrection: green and flourishing trees reborn out of dead, dry wood. And the Lord will go before His people into the New Jerusalem. “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:12).

And so, miraculously, even when the wood is dry and ready to burn, the branches keep spreading, more and more branches grafted in to the true Vine. More and more eating that fruit. More and more finding paradise right beside them, in the crucified one. Today, I tell you, you find paradise where Jesus is. Today, salvation has come to this house. Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV).  Amen.

–Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 11/21/25