Medieval Europeans had a proverb: “The cowl does not make the monk.” A cowl is a hooded robe worn in monastic communities. The proverb is a reminder that merely dressing like a monk does not make someone holy. It’s a religious way of saying, don’t judge a book by its cover. Jesus offers a similar warning in the Sermon on the Mount by drawing on the metaphor of trees. He compares those who belong to the kingdom of the heavens to good trees that will naturally and automatically produce good fruit. We are like healthy, thriving trees, and the life of God within us is revealed through the love, joy, peace, kindness, and mercy we produce. The key to this kind of life, Jesus said, is learning to abide deeply in communion with him the way a branch abides in a vine or a tree that is rooted in good soil. Our focus should not be the fruit on our branches but the depth of our roots. As we live deeply with Jesus, the fruit will take care of itself.
In many Christian communities, however, there are tremendous social pressures to appear godly; to wear the cowl even if we are just pretending to be pious. This focus on external appearances tempts us to fixate almost exclusively on our visible fruit rather than our invisible roots. Rather than developing a life of deep communion with Christ through prayer, we worry more about displaying the right behaviors and symbols in front of others.
To press Jesus’ tree metaphor even further, consider the spectacular appearance of a Christmas tree. Covered in tinsel, lights, and glittering ornaments, Christmas trees draw attention to themselves in a manner natural trees do not. In a way, all of the flashing, brightly-colored decorations on the branches function as artificial fruit intended to mask the unappealing truth that Christmas trees are corpses. They are dead, cut off from their roots, and unable to produce any real fruit. Their inevitable fate is merely postponed by a pot of water that must be regularly refilled; perhaps every Sunday morning.
Pop consumer Christianity has mastered the art of the spectacle. It knows how to grab attention, entertain, and impress. And people formed within these communities will learn the importance of appearances. They will fill the branches of their lives with tinsel, lights, and ornaments of religious piety, usually in the form of Jesus junk and Christian merchandise. They will parrot biblical clichés and fill their wardrobes with the Christian cowls affirmed by their community. But it’s all to distract from the truth that they have no roots. They have no life. They are just masking the effects of death by periodically filling the water pot in which their rootless stumps rest. They are Christmas tree Christians. They appear fabulous, but they are fruitless.
Like a living tree in good soil, those who belong to the kingdom of the heavens will display a more subtle beauty. They don’t draw attention to themselves with pyrotechnics and prosthetics. Instead, as Psalm 1 says, “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.” They possess a quiet dignity that comes from being firmly rooted in their communion with Christ. They are released from the worry of meeting the external expectations of others, because they trust that God’s life within them will automatically produce the good fruit of his kingdom.
Daily Scripture
Weekly Prayer
From Mother Teresa (1910–1997)
Lord, when I think that my heart is overflowing with love and realize in a moment’s honesty that it is only myself that I love in the loved one,
Deliver me from myself.
Lord, when I think that I have given all that I have to give and realize in a moment’s honesty that it is I who am the recipient,
Deliver me from myself.
Lord, when I have convinced myself that I am poor and realize in a moment’s honesty that I am rich in pride and envy,
Deliver me from myself.
And, Lord, when the Kingdom of Heaven merges deceptively with the kingdoms of this world,
Let nothing satisfy me but God.
Amen.
No generative artificial intelligence (AI) is used in the writing of With God Daily devotionals.