Follow Jesus Christ

A tree grows in two directions at once. It is one of nature’s most astonishing images. When we look at a tree, it seems as if its life is directed upward: toward the sun, the sky, the light. The branches reach higher and higher, the leaves catch the light, the fruit appears up there where everyone can see it. But at the same time another work is going on—hidden. The tree is also growing downward.

Its roots go into the dark of the earth. They move not toward light but toward gravity, depth, moisture, the invisible source of life. And the higher the tree climbs, the deeper it must go. Otherwise the first strong wind will topple it. The beauty of the tree depends on what no one sees. That is why a small plant can shoot up quickly after a rain and then perish after a few hot days. It has no depth. No inner support.

This image is strikingly close to the teaching of Jesus Christ. Jesus very often spoke not about a person’s outward behavior but about their inner root. He seemed to want to shift people’s attention from the leaves to the base of the tree.

In the parable of the sower he speaks of people who “have no root in themselves.” They receive the truth quickly, they are quickly inspired, but they are just as quickly broken under life’s pressure. The problem is not a lack of emotion or religious enthusiasm, but a lack of depth.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus speaks of a house built on rock. Again the same idea appears: the crucial part of the structure is hidden. A storm tests not the facade but the foundation. Even the image of the vine in Jesus’ teaching is a story about inner connection to the source of life. A branch does not produce fruit by an act of will. It bears fruit only if it abides in living union with the vine.

That is why Christ continually calls people inward. Not to a role but to the heart, not to a religious mask but to the reality of the person. Not to the appearance of spirituality but to an inner condition. It is there that the roots grow.

Contemporary understandings of the Gospel are often focused almost exclusively on the outward justification of a person before God. Faith comes to be understood as assent to correct doctrine, membership in a particular religious system, or confidence in future salvation after death. But in Jesus’ teaching faith looks much deeper.

For Christ faith is not merely acknowledging certain truths. It is the rooting of a person in another spiritual reality.

That is why Jesus almost never talks about faith as a formal conviction. He speaks of abiding, following, inner birth, fruit, light, the heart, the treasure within a person. This is the language of inner transformation: “The kingdom of God is within you.” “Abide in Me.” “You will know them by their fruits.” “First clean the inside of the cup.” “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.”

These words do not fit well into a model where the Gospel is only a juridical act of justification. They describe a process of growth. Growth in Christ. This is the true Gospel: the proto-gospel. Or the organic, natural, living Gospel.

Even Paul, who is often seen primarily as the theologian of justification, uses the language of rooting: “that you, being rooted and grounded in love…” For Paul faith is not merely intellectual assent. It is the condition of a person whose roots are gradually sinking into a new reality—into love, into Christ, into the Spirit.

Therefore the central problem of the human person in the New Testament is not only guilt but inner brokenness. A person is divided within, dependent on fear, vanity, power, public opinion, and one’s own impulses. And Christ comes not simply to declare a person innocent, but to restore them from within. Salvation must be understood not only as an event but, first and foremost, as growth.

It is no accident that Jesus almost never seeks outwardly successful people. His path constantly goes through a person’s inner crisis. Peter is broken through denial. Paul through the destruction of his former identity. The rich young man meets his own attachment. Martha meets her inner anxiety and need for control. Roots often grow in the dark. Real spiritual growth is almost always quiet. It is rarely noticed by others. Sometimes it is not even noticed by the person themselves.

Roots grow in silence. When someone learns not to be vengeful. When they learn to bear uncertainty. When they stop living by other people’s opinions. When they stop obeying fear. When they learn to be honest with themselves. When they go through an inner crisis and do not become hardened.

From the outside in such times it may seem that nothing great is happening. The person does not look “more successful.” They do not grow louder. They do not make the impression of a spiritual hero. But it is in that moment that the roots go deeper. Salvation does not happen only at solemn services; it happens in the everyday, whether the day is sunny or gloomy.

The modern world is almost entirely focused on branches and leaves: image, success, display, outward results. But Christ spoke of another dimension of life—the hidden person of the heart. So spirituality in Jesus’ teaching is not merely an upward striving toward bright experiences or religious emotion. It is simultaneously a downward movement: into the truth about oneself, into the depths of personality, into the inner work of the soul.

Only then do the fruits appear. Calm. Stability. Gentleness. The capacity to love. Freedom from inner panic. Freedom from constant fear. Peace, love, joy, patience, meekness, mercy. Like the tree, a person truly rises toward the light only when they have learned to grow in what is unseen.