Do you ever read a passage of scripture that you know is deeply significant, you can feel its importance, but you can’t quite grasp it entirely? You read it over and over again and it keeps giving, a little insight here, a little insight there, but the big Ah Ha! of it doesn’t quite come. Instead, you’re left wondering at what more is there. “What am I missing?” is usually what I find myself asking. “What am I not seeing?” “What am I not feeling?” Jacob 5 is like this for me. It is the allegory of the olive trees. The grafting. The nurturing. The planting… There is so much there!
Jacob is sharing Zenos’s teachings. The master of the vineyard and his servant notice an olive tree beginning to decay. The master decides he is going to prune it and nourish it so it’ll shoot out some new branches etc. The tree does just that, but they notice that the main top of the tree is dying. At this point, the master expresses his deep concern and grief over the potential of this tree. “It grieveth me that I should lose this tree.” A version of this phrase is mentioned at least 7 times in this chapter. Then the master instructs the servant to graft wild branches into the tree and cut out the decaying top, while the master himself takes the tender shoots and grafts them in different places throughout the vineyard. Their work begins. They graft, dig and nourish. The master comments, “perhaps I might preserve the roots thereof that they perish not.” Throughout the chapter, they work and work and never give up.
Time passed. They went to check on the trees. The original tree that they grafted wild branches into had produced good fruit. Verse 18 says, “And he said unto the servant: Behold, the branches of the wild tree have taken hold of the moisture of the root thereof, that the root thereof hath brought forth much strength; and because of the much strength of the root thereof the wild branches have brought forth tame fruit.” At this point, I couldn’t help but take not of the word ‘root’. The grafted branches took moisture from the roots, which where good and produced good fruit from them. I’ve always believed that our roots in the gospel grow deep. People stray, life gets hard or complicated etc and they wander away, but their roots, if they were given a chance to really take hold through testimony and teachings, are still good. I think we need to remember that. Roots are strong. I have a wild rose bush in my yard that I have tried to slaughter over and over again, but those roots beat me every year. I just can’t get all of them and they continue to produce. Roots grow deep. It is important to have healthy roots and if you do, I think there is no need to fear, but to simply pray and be patient.
The master and the servant go to the other parts of the vineyard to check on the other grafted branches. They find one that has grown well and produced good fruit. It was planted in the poorest soil and the servant asked why. “Counsel me not,” says the master. “I knew that it was a poor spot of ground.” This makes me think of people who are much less fortunate than myself and are doing their best in very difficult places and circumstances. Our Savior knows their situation. He knows their potential and heart and it will be enough. Growth is mostly individual.
They find that the tree planted in the best soil is only producing partial good fruit. This contrast between the good fruit in bad soil and bad fruit in good soil makes me think of the Nephites and Lamanites and how often it was a Nephite turned Lamanite that was causing the war. There are no guarantees of our success, only choices to be made. Good soil, bad soil, we choose what grows from it. The master tells the servant to pluck off the bad branches and burn them. Here is a part I love: the servant says, “Let us prune it, and dig about it and nourish it a little longer, that perhaps it may bring forth good fruit unto thee, that thou canst lay it up against the season.” This time it is the servant pleading to the master to give the tree a little more time. Two things here: 1, How the Lord pleads for us. 2, Learning by example. Originally it was the Master who taught the servant to nurture with patience and care, but now it is the servant. Makes me think of parenting and how our children are always learning from us. I have not been a good parent lately. I hide my pain and anger from my kids … mostly, but my oldest daughter (14) sees it anyway and has begun to openly resent her dad for it, and I have not stopped it. I should not allow her to treat him that way – even if he and I are not well – he is still her father and has always provided well for her and she should respect that with gratitude. . . As should I. I have not been a good example to her in that regard. I see other peoples’ children grow and become successful in different things and I see how they attribute that to their parents and I wonder if my kids will ever say that I did anything for them? I watch my sister and how she pushes her children in their strengths. She’s willing to spend all sorts of money that she doesn’t have to send her daughter all over the place to play ball. She schedules private lessons of all sorts in addition to her many regular practices etc. She schedules her time so thin that she is constantly running. She gets migraines and some of that has got to do with the fact that she never slows down to breathe. But, without doubt, her kids can easily say they owe it to their mom. I don’t push my kids. I try to guide them toward things that I think they’ll be good at, but I want their motivation to come from within. I want them to discover it themselves. I get terrified, though, that they never will. That they’ll just float through life at mediocre. I hate that thought! They are so much more than that! Should I be pushing them? I’m really doing my best here as a parent. I just hope that it is good enough.
Sorry for the tangent. Back to scripture. So the Master takes counsel from the servant this time and they keep working. After a while they go to check on the tree and taste of the fruit and find that it is not good. “What should we do unto the tree, that I may preserve again good fruit thereof unto mine own self?” asks the Master. They decide that the roots are still good, it’s just the wild branches grafted in that have taken over, so they decide the gather back all of the original branches and graft them back into the original tree and pluck off all of the bad stuff. At this point, verses 52 on, the Master gets very strategic and specific in his planning. It makes me think of how the Lord is in the details of our lives, strategic. Those talks of Rasband’s and Maxwell’s just keep coming back to me.
Well, the plan works and the tree again produces good fruit. Now, I know this story is about the scattering and gathering of Israel, but I can’t help but collect more personal insights from it. In addition to those I’ve already mentioned, this allegory makes me think of how much the Lord really loves us. “It grieveth me that I should lose this tree,” mentioned 7 times. He does not want to lose any of us, and His work shows for it. Over and over and over they nourish and prune and pluck and dig to preserve the trees. They work and work and work for us. It makes me feel bad at how hard I must make them work for me. I should just be a little more obedient.
“Perhaps I might preserve the roots …” His hope for us never dies. Constantly optimistic for us.
The idea that the wild branches eventually took over makes me think of how the company we keep really does matter. I learned this the hard way as a teenager. I hung with a group of friends that were into a lot of bad things. I always just told myself that I wouldn’t do those things but that it was okay that I still hung with them. I was wrong. Eventually they wore me down and I joined in. It matters with whom we surround ourselves.
The final thought that came to me when reading this was the joy and healing in going ‘home’. The original branches were finally brought back to their original roots and began to thrive. I can’t help but think of how the familiarity between the two must have been a refreshing and spiritual reunion, a healing, a rest. That is how going home will be for us.
I’m certain there is more in this set of scripture that I’m not getting right now, but I’ll be patient and be happy and grateful with what I’ve got for now.
