Wood

Thursday 24 June 2021

Wood

The God of our ancestors resuscitated Jesus, whom you killed by nailing him to wood. Acts of the Apostles 5.30

What is wood ? According to the dictionary, it is "a material of plant origin, which performs a role of conduction of the sap but also a role of mechanical support of the tree. "We can use it for anything : to make a chair, to use it for a barbecue, to admire it in the form of a tree in its natural element...

2,000 years ago, the wood of a tree was used as an instrument of torture and death. Could this tree imagine that it would serve as a crucifixion stand ? Without this tree, we would not have the beautiful certainty of being forgiven of all our sins : Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, since it is written: Every man hanged on a tree is cursed. (Galatians 3:13).

Wood is also present in the story of Abraham and Isaac (see suggested reading). This account clearly foreshadows the sacrifice of Christ, with the enormous difference that Jesus himself went to the end of his sacrifice in order to save us.

So, as we walk through our beautiful forests, let us remember the wood in the form of the cross on which Jesus died to give us eternal life. Let us remember the blood of Jesus that soaked this wood. Let us remember that without Jesus' sacrifice on this wood we would have died, separated from God, for eternity.

Jose Petrocchi

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Proposed reading : Book of Genesis, chapter 22, verses 1 to 14.

Source (Live Today)