Were You There When They Nailed Him to the Tree?

There is a passage in Acts where Peter gives a speech to Cornelius and those in his home about the gospel. Within the speech Peter describes Jesus' crucifixion this way: "We are witnesses to all that [Jesus] did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree (Acts 10:39)."

Why would Peter say they hanged Jesus on a tree when we know that Jesus was crucified on a cross? Peter knows this. Luke, who wrote Acts, also knows this and describes the crucifixion in great detail in his Gospel. So why bring up "a tree?"

The tree is symbolic of many things in the Scriptures. At times Jesus is described as the the Son of David, a new branch sprouting from the stump of Jesse (David's father). In the Gospels Israel is sometimes compared to an olive tree that is not bearing fruit. Will the olive tree be chopped down if it continues to bear no fruit?

But the most famous tree of all the Scriptures is the Tree of Knowledge between Good and Evil found in the Garden of Eden. God set boundaries in the Garden, allowing the human couple to eat of any fruit in the garden, expect from this special tree. "Nor shall you touch it, or you shall die (Genesis 2:3)." And that, of course, is what happened. Through Adam and Eve's disobedience... through the instrument of a tree... death entered the world.

Jesus changes everything though. Through Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross death no longer has dominion over us. He defeats death on the cross so that the morality we all face will not be the end of our existence. We will live again just as Christ lived again.

So why call the cross a tree? Paul helps us discover an answer. Paul compares Jesus and Adam in his letter to the Romans. Jesus stands in contrast to Adam for it is through Adam that death enters the world for everyone, but it is through Jesus that salvation is now offered to all. "Therefore just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all (Romans 5:18)." Poetically we can take that comparison beyond just Adam and Jesus by also comparing the instruments through which this all happened. Through the tree in the Garden mortality raised its ugly head, but through the tree in Golgotha salvation and the promise of eternal life is now available for all God's children.

So on this Good Friday remember how Christ twisted the tree of death into a tree of life by giving up his life upon pieces of wood.