Don’t Eat of the Bitter Fruit
Photo by Priscilla du Preez on Unsplash
I thought, thought that I could find a way
To beat the system
To make a deal and have no debts to pay
I'd take it all, I'd take it all, I'd run away
Me for myself first class and first rate
But all that you have is your soul
So don't be tempted by the shiny apple
Don't you eat of a bitter fruit
Hunger only for a taste of justice
Hunger only for a world of truth
'Cause all that you have is your soul
All you have is your soul, Tracy Chapman
Each week, on Sunday morning, we pray in various ways and traditions for forgiveness for the evil done by us or done on our behalf. Various ancient and modern day prophets have warned us of the dangers of eating of bitter fruit.
I found myself wondering today what that means. Does it mean, as my evangelical upbringing taught, to hold jealousy or contempt in my heart?
Does eating of bitter fruit reflect the Buddhist understanding of negative repercussions of evil actions? Essentially, that ignorance is not justification and that bitter fruit invokes the surprise unpleasant outcomes stemming from actions executed by individuals lacking proper understanding of their consequences?
Certainly, bitter fruit calls to mind Abel Meeropol’s “Strange Fruit” which ends with the lines:
“For the sun to rot
For the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop”
Sang and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939, fruit and crop here are metaphors for lynched bodies as a product of violent racism.
Or does it mean participating in systems of economic disparity as described by Solomon? In Proverbs 1:10-15,31 we read:
My child, if sinners entice you,
turn your back on them!
They may say, “Come and join us.
Let’s hide and kill someone!
Just for fun, let’s ambush the innocent!
Let’s swallow them alive, like the grave;
let’s swallow them whole, like those who go down to the pit of death.
Think of the great things we’ll get!
We’ll fill our houses with all the stuff we take.
Come, throw in your lot with us;
we’ll all share the loot.”
My child, don’t go along with them!
Stay far away from their paths.
Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way,
choking on their own schemes.
Friends, I am hungry and beginning to wonder if part of living is the constant feeling of hunger that resides not in my belly but draws down energy from all my limbs, and bears straight down to my soul.
My hunger is for a justice—a justice that I am not sure I will see in my lifetime. When I was younger, I thought hunger for justice was purely a beatitude meant to stir the soul. But these weeks, these years have left me starving.
I am not starving for hopeful quotes or other’s opinions about the state of things. I am not starving to be right or for someone to finally see the error of their ways. I am not starving for a petty meme or a caddy comeback.
These things do nothing for our souls.
I recently saw an online tracker that monitors, in real time, how much money American taxpayers can expect to save as a result of the federal government severely cutting funding or entirely ending federal and state programs we dearly need.
Or rather, I saw bitter fruit in all its forms of pain and hurt.
How contempt for those unable to pull themselves up by their bootstraps leads to making decisions based on interpretations of efficiency rather than care. How humanity hides behind words of intent rather than outcomes so that ignorance remains our fall back excuse to unintended consequences. And how systems of disparity kill in the name of perceived sustainability.
Don’t you eat of this bitter fruit, my friends.
All you have is your soul.
Rather, come to a table where there is room enough for us all to be fed. Let us hunger together and feed on a God, whom by faith, will bring justice. Whose deliverance meets each of us at our bodily need and asks only that we bring our soul.
