SermonStudio

Chapter 14

Gravensteins

Mark 12:28-34

He could smell them, almost see them in a bucket sitting at the foot of the ladder. He loved Gravenstein apples. That's why he planted the tree fifteen years ago. Now the tree was producing wonderfully, filling the late summer wind with the smell of its sugar; but, Bert was on the wrong side of the seven-foot board fence. The tree stood now in Eve's backyard -- Eve, his ex-wife. All he had in his backyard was a peach tree, dripping with late fruit. Peaches made the inside of his mouth break out with sores, so even their smell made him a little sick.

How he loved Gravensteins. As an only child he did everything with his mother -- a single parent -- from picking the apples, to peeling them, to squashing them through the colander. His mother said, "Would you like a taste?"

Bert, nearly salivating into the bowl, answered, "Yes, please." His mother gave him a spoonful. He closed his eyes as he swallowed and always said, "Mmmm, thank you. You want a bite?"

His mother answered, "Yes, please." His spoonful to her automatically brought the required, "Thank you, would you like a bite?" They ate their fill of Gravenstein applesauce a spoon to one another at a time.

Gravenstein applesauce was the best applesauce on the planet. That's all he could think about every afternoon when he came home from work and walked into his high fenced backyard. Over the fence he saw the top of the ladder against the tree. Eve surely thought of him when she set the ladder up. She must remember he loved that tree. His side of the barricaded yard offered only mouth-destroying peaches.

The divorce had been as civil as possible. The children were grown and married. The finances were simple. All they really owned was the duplex, one side of which they lived in and the other they rented out. The mediator made the obvious suggestion. If they didn't want to sell, they should evict the tenant, then one of them live in one side and one in the other. It was logical. It was economical. It was stupid, Bert thought. But he nodded his head yes, signed the papers, and three weeks later Bert Junior helped him move his things from the small apartment he was renting over a drugstore into the empty side of the duplex. There he began living as his ex-wife's neighbor.

Because they would live so close, he decided in advance how to behave when they met. The wisest course would be never to talk. If they didn't talk, they wouldn't argue. For seven months, the arrangement worked. They saw one another a few times; but, when Bert walked by without speaking, Eve adopted the same pattern.

Now the Gravensteins -- in the spring he smelled the blossoms constantly. Then as the fruit set on he walked out of the house into the backyard and stepped backward from Eve's fence to see higher and higher up the tree. Those fruit were beautiful, but they made him feel as lonely as an only child on an empty playground.

He heard a door open on the other side of the fence. Rustling sounds filtered through the fence as Eve walked from her backdoor to somewhere near the tree. He froze. For a few moments he forgot to breathe. He tried to see her movements through the tight slats. He was unprepared to hear her voice.

"Bert," Eve spoke from her side of the fence. He wasn't sure where Eve stood in her yard. He tried to spot movement through the fence's tiny cracks. "Bert," she spoke louder. "I know you're there." He'd heard that tone for over thirty years. It always angered him. "Bert, I'm picking apples. You want some?" He breathed fast now. She was shuffling the ladder and he saw the top lowered, knocking a couple apples off. When he heard them bounce on the sidewalk he answered almost in a whisper, "Yes, please."

"Did you say something?"

"Yes, please," he said a little louder.

"All right. Pick all you want. Just make sure you shut the back gate so Iris doesn't get out. She ran away last week. Okay?"

Bert's thoughts seemed mashed together like apples in a colander. He spoke almost automatically, "Thank you." Through a couple cracks in the fence he thought he saw her move. By the sound he pictured her dragging the ladder toward the house. Almost in spite of himself he said, "Eve?"

"Yes."

"You want some peaches?"

"Sure. Thanks."

"Yeah," Bert said, swallowing hard, "thank you."


Discussion Questions

1. What immediate responses do you have to the story?

2. Do you identify with a character in the story? If yes, how and why do you identify with the person? If no, why don't you identify with anyone in the story?

3. Would you like to have a conversation with a character in the story? What would you say, ask, or suggest to the person? Why?

4. How does the story bring the biblical text into a clearer focus for you?

5. How would you improve or modify the story? Why?

6. When have you felt the sting of the command to love your neighbor?

7. Have you experienced estranged neighbors settling a problem amiably?

8. Why is one's neighbor so difficult to love?

9. What further depths of meaning, symbols, connections with, or applications of the biblical faith do you find in the story?

10. Since Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and is alive among us through his Holy Spirit, what of this story would you like Christ to activate in your life?