THE PARABLE OF THE RIPE TOMATO

By Frank E. Henrich

    It was the morning of August 4, 1981. I was up in the kitchen when I heard the noise of the garbage truck down the street. I remembered that one of the cars would have prevented the garbage man from getting to the cans. I dashed out, moved the car so he would be able to do his work, and then returned to the house. I used to talk to one of the garbage men and I was curious to see if he was still serving our area. So, I waited and watched for him to walk down the driveway by peering through the curtain over the front door window. After a bit, he came and went to the garbage cans, which were on the side of the house.
   He started back up the driveway and then he stopped, set down his large roller container and went over to my vegetable area. We had an abundance of ripe tomatoes, as I was the only one in the family who ate them. I had been meaning to pick them for they all seemed to come ripe at once. Three or four days had gone by and I hadn’t been out picking the tomatoes. It seemed like there was always something more important to do. As I saw the garbage man go to the tomato patch I thought, well, that’s fine; why shouldn’t he have a couple of tomatoes; there are plenty there.” However, as I watched, he stayed and stayed and kept picking and picking. I began to think that he was picking too many and so I stepped out of the front door and said to him, “Can I help you?” He turned around and then turned back and kept on picking. I noticed that he had a brown sack that he was filling.
   This really irked me and I walked over to within 10 feet of where he was standing. I said to him in a firm, stern voice, “That’s enough!” He turned away from the tomato patch but didn’t speak. He offered the sack of tomatoes to me; I thought for a moment thinking perhaps he has a family to feed? So, I refused the sack saying, “You can have them, but next time, ask first.” His expression never changed nor did he show the slightest emotion. He never spoke. He turned around and walked up the driveway. I was very mad and thought of calling the garbage company and as the day went forward, my mind remained angry over the situation. I immediately went out and picked the tomatoes and my wife made tomato soup.
   The event remained in my thoughts throughout the day. Suddenly the story unfolded with a new meaning, slowly as a flower unfolds its beauty. It was a parable that came to my understanding in a beautiful, peaceful way. I grew more and more excited as each meaning unfolded. The tomato bush was a Christian Church. I represented a pastor of a denomination. The ripe tomatoes were those Christians who had been trained and were ready now to do the Lord’s service. The blossoms were new Christians and the green tomatoes of various sizes were Christians not yet mature. The garbage man was a pastor of another church where mature people, ripe tomatoes, were used as laborers in God’s work in accordance to their calling.
   I, as a pastor, didn’t care that the other churches would pluck one or two of my earnest Christians away. I was sure that I didn’t want him to come and pick all of my ripe tomatoes. Oh God!, it was as if You were warning the churches to provide a space and a time for their ripe tomatoes to function in Your will and for Your glory, and if not, they will be picked away. I, representing the Christian leader of the church that was losing the tomatoes, accepted the fact that I would lose some tomatoes by reasoning that it was more important to maintain a Christian community in stability and order than to use all the mature Christians. It would be more difficult for me to control it.
   Oh! I forgot, it’s Your church, Jesus. God, it is as if You’re saying I’ll not let my ripe tomatoes fall to the ground and rot for lack of a director, a leader. Reader, are you a ripe tomato? Are you a church leader encouraging and directing the Christian work of others? Did the Holy Spirit reveal something to you as you read this parable? Are you a ripe tomato not used in your church ministries? Fear not to move where your gifts from God can be used to His glory. May I encourage you to act upon it. Read Scriptures Psalms 146:1-2, & 139:1-2