B, Pentecost 16 Proper 20 - Psalm 1 "The Desert Oak"

Travelling into the central Australian desert one might be surprised to discover just how many trees grow in the red arid sand. The environment is inhospitable during the summer months; a choking dusty dry and searing heat would fry an egg in an instant. The winter, too, is just as harsh as the night time temperatures plummet to near freezing.

In this type of climate it's a wonder that anything lives. One might describe it as a "Godforsaken" or "good for nothing" kind of country. But one will find clumps of trees which seem to be defying the odds.

These trees are the Australian desert oak. They are common in deserts of the Northern Territory, South and Western Australia. For the first twenty years of their lives they grow like a poorly shaped pencil pine. After that the evergreen canopy majestically spreads over their thin dark trunks. They produce a woody fruit loaded with seed and the needle-like foliage is tolerant to fire. Although they live in such a harsh environment the tree's ability to produce nitrogen, like a legume, allows this she-oak to thrive.

On its appearance there's nothing that suggests the desert can support this tree. But establishing the desert oak outside this environment can also be a futile exercise. And vice versa, planting other trees in the desert habitat will see them struggle to survive in comparison to the desert oak.

To find such abundant life and longevity in the midst of desert desolation is a picture of hope for us who also wait in our worldly wilderness, helping us to see that we can live, indeed grow and flourish, despite the drudgery and despair we always seem to face.

The Psalmist uses this picture in Psalm 1: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 1 ESV)

The desert oak is blessed where it grows, it does not wither, and it yields its fruit, producing, woody cones of seeds on its branches, and, nitrogen below in the sand. It does not live like other trees and, therefore, in the Australian desert, it not only grows but prospers.

The secret of the desert oak is its long tap root which grows down some thirty metres to find desert streams of water. But this tree also supports life around it as parasite plants tap into its horizontally spreading roots to draw their nutrients. Not only is it a blessing in itself but others also are blessed in its presence.

In your life there are times which appear to be desolate and as a result you're faced with the reality of despair and depression. Your environment is harsh — geographically, physically, mentally, and even spiritually! The daily grind of living seems desolate, and at times you feel stifled and choked by the pressures of life. Or, on the other hand, your body is frozen with suffering, pain, loneliness, or grief.

In this everyday reality you're planted, like a tree. You don't have much of a choice to pick up and move — geographically or physically. And even if you do, on planting yourself in a new location, the reality of your past, and your mental and spiritual being, still remains the same.

Yet like the desert oak, in you is given another nature or being, which enables you to survive the most inhospitable of environments. The desert oak in the western desert lives and breathes in forty-five degrees. It has no choice, that's its position in life. But from its being a root extends and grows down into life-giving water.

So too with you! You're planted in your reality. You have your intellect, your body, your mental capabilities — you are who you are, good and bad! But that's only half of it. You have also received a new nature which places you in Christ — you are made who he is, holy! With Christ transplanted in you you're called to trust him to sink his roots into the stream of life giving water and you are blessed in God's counsel, judgement, and righteousness.

Isaiah foresaw Christ who is planted in you and he says of him: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. (Isaiah 11:1-5 ESV)

Elsewhere, Isaiah speaks of God's control over our environment: He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. (Isaiah 40:22-24 NIV)

So for us living in our situation we are called to know two things: That God has placed us where he has placed us. That is in Christ through baptism. He also places us where he wants us in the world and there we're called to trust him as we're tested so we might nourish those who live around us with the same nourishment which continues to give us life.

It often appears that we're not blessed because of this testing. However, you're called to trust and believe Christ is living in you, rooting you into life despite what your situation might seem. Rooted in Christ we can delight in God's word. We can consume it, trust it, and let its nutrients fertilise and daily revitalise us, just as the nitrogen does for the desert oak living in its testing environment. And from that tap root of trust, we send out horizontal roots of love and service to those around us.

How does this all happen? How do I know God will sustain me? Jesus tells us: Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38) And again he says: "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." (John 4:10) And he also promises for the future: "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7:16-17)

Therefore, let us not be like the weeping willow languishing beside a dry river bed, but like the desert oak trusting in the hidden waters of God that flow into us through the Word of God, en-fleshed and made alive by the Holy Spirit who always flows from Christ in the living streams of God's Word.

Without being rooted in the nourishment of Christ you will fail to receive God's blessing. On turning away from God's Word in favour of sitting with scoffers and mockers, standing with those whose sin is not trusting God, and choosing the counsel of those who lead you away from God, there is only a fearful expectation of fatal eternal judgement. Your testing environment will surely make you weep like a willow without water, and like chaff those not rooted in Christ will be blown away.

But it doesn't have to be that way! Christ allows us to stand in the assembly of the righteous, through his righteousness won on the desolate tree of Calvary, at the Godforsaken Place of the skull, called Golgotha. Like the desert oak that survives the bushfire, the fires of hell did not overcome Christ, nor did he become frozen in time. But Jesus lives at the right hand of the Father and in you who believe and trust in him for life.

God knows you better than you know yourself. He saw you at creation, he knew you at the crucifixion, he knows you in your baptism, and he watches over you planted in the desert today. Let him sustain you in Christ, in his Word, and the stream of living water from the Holy Spirit will continually cleanse you as he washes you in the Word, so that you prosper in hope, faith, and love, in peace with God and one another, now and forever, Amen.