The Orange Blossom Special

​4th Sunday after Pentecost – B (Proper 6)                                               LSB #’s 803, 540:3-6, 802
Text – Ezekiel 17:24a
 
Then all the trees of the countryside will know that I, Yahweh, bring down the high tree & exalt the low tree, that I make the green tree wither & I make the withered tree blossom. 
 
THE ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL
 
 
What comes to mind when you hear the phrase, “…make the withered tree blossom”?   Is it an image of returning life & vitality?    That’s what the Orange Blossom Special used to bring to mind from 1925 to 1953 as it ran from New York to Miami. 
It was a luxury passenger train operating only during the winter months, taking people from the cold & dreary northern coast of the Atlantic  to the warm & sunny  southern coast of Florida.   Obviously,  people took that train because during those harsh winter months they were searching for the renewed life & vitality that a warmer climate offers. 
Ben Brotemarkle, executive director of the Florida Historical Society wrote of the Orange Blossom Special: “It’s hard to imagine now, but this was a huge deal.  This train had brand new diesel electric locomotives & Pullman cars.   During an exhibition tour between Washington & Miami  it stopped in every city of any size along the way  for people to look at it.  
Now we think ‘It was just a train,’  but at the time it was like the space shuttle coming through town.  When the Orange Blossom Special stopped in Jacksonville,  schools closed so children & their families could visit.  In the two days the train was parked there, approximately 30,000 people came to see it. 
They were awestruck because of its design & technology & everything it represented.  Two men, Chubby Wise & Irvin Rouse were not immune.  They visited the train when it came through &,  as the story goes,  they were inspired to write a song – The Orange Blossom Special.”   “She’s the fastest train on the line  It’s that Orange Blossom Special  Rollin’ down the seaboard line.”    Did you know that June 27th is National Orange Blossom day?  It’s not far off.  Over 400 years before a train was named the Orange Blossom Special,  Ponce de Leon arrived in Florida, from Spain,  searching for the fountain of youth,  &  life & vitality.    In the OT reading, Yahweh Himself promises, “…I make the withered tree blossom.”  (Ezekiel 17:24a) 
I’m certain that many of us have felt withered  at numerous times in our lives.  Nothing in this world has been untouched by the corruption of sin.   You cannot live on earth  without experiencing  the effects of sin  that,  at times,  literally suck the life out of you. 
Whether it’s  a polar vortex swooping in from Canada  or experiencing betrayal by someone you trusted, people are searching for life & vitality.  Whether it’s a cancer diagnosis or a child that has rejected faith in Christ, people are searching for life & vitality.   That is exactly what Ezekiel promises in the OT reading.  It’s just not very obvious to the casual reader. 
The committee that chose this morning’s OT reading seems to have plucked three verses out of the book  with no context whatsoever.   Ezekiel is presenting a much larger picture in chapter 17 that is entirely ignored, & that picture will help you tremendously in understanding what the prophet is telling us. 
The northern ten tribes had been eradicated several hundred years earlier for their complete rejection of Yahweh as Lord & God.  Now, discipline is coming to the two southern tribes.  In V. 1, of chapter 17, the Word of Yahweh came to Ezekiel: “Son of man, pose a riddle & compose an allegory for the house of Israel.” 
To summarize, Nebuchadnezzar is sent by God to conquer Jerusalem.  However, the leader he installs,  over the people left there,  rebels against Nebuchadnezzar & seeks help from the Egyptian Pharaoh.  As Ezekiel explains it, the people are rejecting even God’s discipline, which is always for good, but like the people of Jerusalem, we also, often struggle to accept it.  As the OT reading begins, Yahweh is now describing Himself as the controlling force behind the work of Nebuchadnezzar: “…I myself will take part of the high crown of the cedar & set it out.  From the topmost of its shoots I will pluck off a tender sprig,  & I myself will plant it on a high & lofty mountain.”  (Ezekiel 17:22) 
In the historical application, the cedar tree is unfaithful Jerusalem.  Nebuchadnezzar is sent to take off the top of the tree, meaning the last of the earthly kings in the line of David.  That king, Zedekiah, would see all of his sons slaughtered, have his eyes plucked out, & then be taken to Babylon to die.  Zedekiah had refused to humble himself under God’s direction. 
In the theological application, “From the topmost of its shoots I will pluck off a tender sprig…” is a reference to Jesus.  In a similar vein, Isaiah prophecies, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, & a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.”  (11:1 ESV) 
Jeremiah adds, “In those days & at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, & He shall execute justice & righteousness in the land.”  (33:15 ESV)   Where all the previous kings of Israel had withered & failed, Jesus would succeed in ending the effects of sin.  As you may have noticed, the final & complete fulfillment of that  is yet to come. 
Nevertheless, Ezekiel is describing a kingdom that is also among us here & now.  Yahweh is at work in our lives just as He has been  throughout human history.  When we get too big for our britches – God works to bring us down.   When we are withered & crushed by the weight of sin – God works to lift us up. 
Ezekiel closes chapter 17 by allowing the trees to witness what Israel had failed to see, “Then all the trees of the countryside will know that I, Yahweh, bring down the high tree & exalt the low tree, that I make the green tree wither & I make the withered tree blossom.”  (17:24a)  God had brought down the kingdom of Israel because it was unfaithful to Him,  but in the tender shoot of a baby born in Bethlehem, Yahweh is rebuilding His kingdom in a permanent fashion that can never again be damaged by sin.  He is making the green tree wither  in order that He might make the withered tree blossom.  Getting more personal, Jesus has the same authority & power to make you & me  wither or blossom. 
When we receive the discipline & the blossoming of the Lord, then He will work through us as Ezekiel describes in V. 23 of the OT lesson: “On the high mountain of Israel I will plant it.  It will produce branches, bear fruit & become a magnificent cedar.  Every kind of winged bird will live under it; in the shelter of its branches they will nest.” 
Today, Elliot was brought to God’s house to receive the waters of Holy Baptism.  As a little child he is nesting in the shelter  of the branches of God’s kingdom.   God has put this congregation here as a magnificent cedar to produce branches & to bear fruit.  Elliot’s mother confirmed her faith in Jesus Christ here & now he has received the Holy Spirit in the same place. 
As king David wrote in Psalm 51, all human beings are conceived in sin.  In essence, all of us are born as withered trees, void & spiritually dead.  Yahweh sent His Son Jesus to reverse our fortune & to make the withered tree blossom.  That is what God accomplishes in Baptism.  He enables a withered tree, corrupted by sin, to change course, to blossom & bear fruit. 
In the OT lesson, Ezekiel is describing the nature of God & His work throughout Israel’s history.  It is also a description of the nature of God’s work in our own personal history.  He takes down the proud & haughty  that He might raise up the humble & lowly. 
As Paul acknowledged in 2 Corinthians, “…in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling.”  (5:2 ESV)  Because of the effects of sin, many of us will eventually know the full effect of being a withered tree.  The resurrection on the final day of time will be the ultimate in lifting up, the final & complete fulfillment of God’s promise, “…I make the withered tree blossom.”  (Ezekiel 17:24a)  Until then, as Paul wrote, “We live by faith, not by sight.”  Nowhere does Holy Scripture say that will be easy, but the final & complete fulfillment will make all of this life worthwhile. 
Florida was a place that people longed to be & they could take the Orange Blossom Special to get there.  But trains made by human hands can break down & derail.  Jesus will not fail in getting His brothers & sisters into heaven, & He is constantly at work to comfort & encourage us along the way.  Amen. 
 
 
 
Christ, the shoot that springs triumphant  from the stump of Jesse’s tree;  Christ, true vine,  You nurture branches to bear fruit abundantly.  Graft us into You, O Savior;  prune our hearts so we remain  fruitful branches in Your vineyard  till eternal life we gain.     Christ, the Alpha & Omega,  Christ, the firstborn from the dead,  Christ, the life & resurrection,  Christ, the Church’s glorious head:  praise & thanks & adoration  & unending worship be  to the Father & the Spirit  & to You eternally.  Amen.  LSB 540:3, 6.