Grafting Grace

 

Date: March 22, 2026

Location: Stetson Memorial UMC 

The Mystery of Grafting

Friends, have you ever imagined a single tree bearing 40 different kinds of fruit? Professor Sam Van Aken, a sculptor from Syracuse University, created a "Tree of 40 Fruit" using the technique of grafting. On this single tree, you can find peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, and nectarines. By choosing the biblical number "40"—reminiscent of the 40 days and nights of Noah’s flood—he artistically expressed growth, hope, and resurrection rising out of hardship.

This principle of grafting was a very familiar agricultural technique in the ancient Near East. In Romans 11, the Apostle Paul uses this imagery to explain the salvation of the Gentiles. Normally, farmers graft a high-quality branch onto a sturdy wild olive root to increase the yield. However, Paul presents a stunning reversal: God took us—the "wild olive branches" who could not bear good fruit—and grafted us into His life-giving covenant, the "cultivated olive root."

"But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree..." (Romans 11:17)

This declares that the fruit we bear is not a result of human effort, but entirely the grace of God flowing up from the root. Just as the Lord is the vine and we are the branches (John 15:5), life-giving sap begins to flow only when we remain attached to Him. Today, through this mystery of grafting, we will explore how we, though born with a sinful nature, come to share in God’s infinite character and the fruit of the Spirit.

The Grafting of Grace in Galatians

Following our look at the emotionally charged 2 Corinthians last week, we begin today with Paul’s astonishment toward the Galatians. He skips his usual thankful greeting because the situation is urgent.

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.” (Gal 1:6)

After Paul left, the Galatians were swayed by a "different gospel." In response, Paul clarifies the essence of the true Gospel. Though Galatians is only six chapters long, it contains a powerful message forged through Paul’s three years in the Arabian desert and fourteen years of ministry among the Gentiles.

Paul emphasizes that both Jews and Gentiles are saved by faith alone. In the famous verse Galatians 2:20, he speaks of the "death of self" required to be grafted into God’s covenant tree. But this death is not a tragedy; it is the beginning of a victorious life lived with Christ.

“It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20)

Paul also describes this grafting process as "adoption into God’s family." God took us, who were orphaned by sin, and through the sacrifice of His Son, made us His children and heirs to everything He owns.

“And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.” (Gal 4:6-7)

As children grafted into God's tree, we begin to bear fruit that we could never produce on our own. While God has "incommunicable attributes" (like being eternal and all-powerful), He also has "communicable attributes" (wisdom, love, holiness, mercy, and faithfulness) that He shares with us. These act like the "sap" that produces the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

“By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control... If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.” (Gal 5:22-25)

For grafting to work, both the tree and the branch must be wounded. God is perfect and lacks nothing, yet He chose to be wounded to be in a relationship with us. Theologian Daniel Migliore describes this as a love that is “vulnerable yet unconquerable.” God opened Himself to rejection and loss, proving His suffering love through the cry of His Son on the cross and the groaning of the Spirit.

The true love of God—wounding Himself to graft us in—is the Grace of Grafting. We are now partakers of His holy nature, empowered to bear the infinite fruit of the Spirit in our lives and our church.

 

Grafting Grace in our lives

A few nights ago, I was writing in my journal, repenting for my own endless sinful nature. I clung to God, crying, "Lord, please forgive the judgment, anger, selfishness, and sensitivity deep within me." Right at that moment, I received a video message from a member of our congregation.

It said, "Pastor, you’ve made everyone’s life in this church warmer and better. You showed us how much you value our faith. You taught us with love to know God deeper. Thinking of you leaving makes me cry. We will miss you so much." I wept as I watched it. I felt God’s heart comforting me in my weakness, reminding me of the Grafting Grace that produces fruit I could never bear myself.

We see this grace vividly in our church. Now, let's be honest—Patten is a bit tucked away. It’s the kind of place where a GPS might just give up and say, "Good luck!" Because it’s so remote, it’s been hard to get pastors to move here. But what people don't realize is that Patten is like a velvet trap: once you’re in, you fall so deeply in love with this community that you can’t find the exit!

That "wound" of being isolated has actually kept us grafted more tightly to God’s tree. We’ve seen for years that God is the one in charge here. I was amazed at first that we still leave the church doors unlocked every day! This building is used constantly: the food pantry, exercise groups, AA meetings, karaoke, and after-school programs. When the Patten fire happened, we turned this church into a collection center for over a month. Yesterday’s dinner for the fire victims was a beautiful testament to that spirit. I want to applaud everyone who participated. We have a leadership that truly loves God and one another.

Lately, I’ve been praying, "Lord, the more I know You, the more I realize I'm trying to fit the ocean into a teacup. I thought I was a big basin, but I’m just a tiny teaspoon. I’m worried about leaving."But God showed me He is already working. Several of you have come to me saying, "Pastor, when you leave, I’ll step up for this ministry," or "I’m going to step out of my comfort zone." I realized then how highly God values us. Sometimes we focus on what we lack, but those "wounds" are exactly what keep us attached to the Root.

I will never stop telling people what I have seen here. The Grafting Grace—this is the Gospel Paul spoke of, and it is the Gospel we are living. Amen.