Similitude 2

As I was walking in the field and observing an elm and a vine, reflecting on them and their fruits, the shepherd appeared to me and said, “What are you considering within yourself about the elm and the vine?” “I am thinking, Sir,” I said, “that they are beautifully suited to one another.” “These two trees,” he said, “are set forth as a figure for the servants of God.” “I would like to know, Sir,” I said, “the figure represented by these trees you speak of.” “Do you see,” he said, “the elm and the vine?” “I see them, Sir,” I said. “This vine,” he said, “bears fruit, but the elm is an unfruitful tree. Yet if this vine does not climb up the elm, it cannot bear much fruit while lying on the ground; and the fruit it does bear is rotten because it is not hanging upon the elm. But when the vine is supported by the elm, it bears fruit both from itself and through the elm. You see, then, that the elm also gives much fruit—not less than the vine, but rather even more.” “How does it give more, Sir?” I asked. “Because,” he said, “when the vine hangs upon the elm, it gives abundant and good fruit, but when it lies on the ground it bears little, and that fruit is rotten. This parable, then, applies to the servants of God, to the poor and the rich.” “How so, Sir?” I asked. “Explain it to me.” “Listen,” he said. “The rich person has wealth, but in the things of the Lord he is poor, because he is distracted by his riches. His intercession and confession to the Lord are very slight, and what he does have is weak, small, and without much power. When, therefore, the rich person rests upon the poor person and supplies what he needs, he believes that by what he does for the poor person he will be able to find a reward with God, because the poor person is rich in intercession and confession, and his intercession has great power with God. So the rich person supplies the poor person with everything without hesitation. The poor person, being supplied by the rich, intercedes with God and gives thanks to Him for the one who gives to him. And the rich person becomes still more diligent in caring for the poor person, so that he may continue without interruption in his life, for he knows that the poor person’s intercession is acceptable and rich before the Lord. Both, therefore, complete the work. The poor person works through the intercession in which he is rich, which he received from the Lord, and he gives it back to the Lord who supplies him. In the same way, the rich person freely provides to the poor person the wealth he received from the Lord. This is a great work and acceptable to God, because he understood the purpose of his wealth, worked for the poor person from the Lord’s gifts, and rightly fulfilled the ministry. In the sight of people, then, the elm seems not to bear fruit, and they do not know or understand that when a drought comes, the elm, having water, nourishes the vine; and the vine, having a continual supply of water, produces double fruit, both for itself and for the elm. In the same way, the poor, by interceding with the Lord for the rich, make their wealth complete; and again, the rich, by supplying the needs of the poor, make their prayers complete. Thus both become partners in the righteous work. Whoever does these things will not be abandoned by God, but will be written in the books of the living. Blessed are those who have wealth and understand that the Lord has enriched them, for whoever understands this will also be able to perform some good ministry.”