Bells and Pomegranates
Good Morning Friends,
Yesterday I portrayed John the Baptist during the children’s chat at church and I looked the part in brown. I brought a big brown box as a present. It was not fancy wrapped for Christmas but something of the everyday. It was not the focus of the message, still the kids and adults wondered what was inside and some thought it was grasshoppers and others honey because that is what they unfortunately remember most about John the Baptist. When I finished the message about repentance I opened the box, and something amazing happened. The small water bottles inside shimmered and glistened reflecting the light from the stain glass windows. One young boy whose eyes were on the box joyously said, “Wow!” And another shouted out, “Awesome.” God’s grace at work. Later the pastor preached on the message of a pomegranate, a fruit that John the Baptist might have eaten, like locust and honey both sweet and crunchy, both bitter and sweet… like life….shimmering and glistening blood red on the inside. Later in the day, (now stay with me here because this is the way my mind works) as we practiced playing English handbells for Christmas music, it got me to thinking about the connection between Bells and Pomegranates.
Scripture: On its lower hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, all around the lower hem, with bells of gold between them all around— a golden bell and a pomegranate alternating all around the lower hem of the robe.
Exodus 28:33-34 (NRSV)
He made the columns with two rows around each latticework to cover the capitals that were above the pomegranates; he did the same with the other capital. Now the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars in the vestibule were of lily-work, four cubits high. The capitals were on the two pillars and also above the rounded projection that was beside the latticework; there were two hundred pomegranates in rows all around; and so with the other capital.
1 Kings 7:18-20 (NRSV)
And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
Numbers 13:27 (NRSV)
Your lips are like a crimson thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.
Song of Solomon 4:3 (NRSV)
Message: God instructs Moses concerning the creation of the High Priestly garment for Aaron, requiring gold bells to be sewn onto the hem of the ephod so that the sound of the bells, as he moved inside the Holy Place, would indicate that he was alive and had not died! So here we see the first Biblically recorded use of bells in worship. But there is more. Bells have been used throughout history for all kinds of occasions – for worship, for war, for peace, to warn of danger, to sound an alarm, to announce death, to proclaim liberty, to celebrate joy, to tell the time and to make music. Their presentation with pomegranates is an amazing combination for together the image is of a marriage. With every step toward the Altar, the ringing of bells with the symbol for “fertility of life” bears witness to the sight and sound of life. When a couple gets married the church bells ring out the glad news. The pomegranate shows the fertility of the flesh of the fruit but also the mind, the crown of creation, where good seed is planted and a harvest is sure. Here in the image of the church, the true bride of Christ, comes with a mental state that matches the King’s. Here the Holy Spirit finds a welcome depository for the things that are to come. Sometimes the fruit of the Spirit that controls our lives is veiled and hidden from the world for only the Lord to behold and a few to witness…Like the symbol of the pomegranate and the ringing of the bells we can imagine the fertility of life and abundance in the Savior’s bride….the glistening of the Spirit in bottles of water pointing to the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord… and yes even to our marriage in the baptism of life.
Pray we realize that life is a bit of a contradiction…both sweet and tart…tough and wrinkled and smooth and silky. Pray we realize that indeed the pomegranate may be the fruit on the tree of life…symbolizing the fertility and seed of abundance…the fruit of paradise but also the fruit of the underworld. Pray we rejoice in the inner beauty of the pomegranate as a symbol of the bride of Christ…the church. Pray we realize that bells ring out at weddings but also funerals. Pray we repent so we might enjoy life the more.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 