Bramble

The Lord Jesus taught in Luke 6:44:

For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.

Quite right. But the British Rubus fruticosus gives us the blackberry. Its flowers are plain and its spines sharp, as any September picker will testify. Its fruit, however, is rather delicious. As I walk to chapel, I stain my fingers with the juicy fruits of the bramble. Although the Lord’s point is perfectly valid- only fruit trees give fruit, only good hearts produce goodness while bad hearts produce evil- many of us are like the bramble. Though naturally nasty, prickly and out of control, by grace, rain and sunshine, we may produce the most pleasant fruit. We were wild olives, fruitless vines, unpromising spiny bushes. Yet even the worst of Christians will produce goodly fruit.

Enjoy this autumn’s blackberry crop.