Gospel in Art: You could say to this mulberry tree: "Be uprooted"

Mulberry Tree, by Vincent van Gogh, Painted in Saint-Rémy, October 1889 © Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 5 October 2025
Luke 17:5-10

At that time: The Apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith!' And the Lord said, 'If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, "Be uprooted and planted in the sea", and it would obey you.

'Will any one of you who has a servant ploughing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, "Come at once and recline at table"? Will he not rather say to him, "Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterwards you will eat and drink"? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, "We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty." '

Reflection on the painting

In today's Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that if their faith were even as small as a mustard seed, they could command a mulberry tree to uproot itself and plant itself in the sea. The point is not about horticulture or impossible stunts, but about the power of trust placed in God, however small our trust initially may be. The mustard seed was the tiniest seed familiar to Jesus' listeners, yet from it could grow a large bush. In the same way, even the smallest spark of faith, when rooted in God, contains a surprising potential. Faith is not measured by size, but by surrender... by allowing the seed to be planted and nurtured.

What Jesus is reminding us of is that faith does not depend on our own strength, eloquence, or ability to control outcomes. It is God's power that brings growth and transformation. If we place even a mustard seed of trust in him, he can move what seems immovable in our lives. The mulberry tree with its deep roots symbolises all those things we consider fixed, impossible to change. Our task is not to have 'great faith', but simply to have faith in a great God.

Painted in October 1889, Van Gogh's Mulberry Tree captures a single, splendid mulberry illuminated in vibrant shades of orange and yellow against a luminous blue sky. Created during Vincent van Gogh's time at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, this fiery tree grows from a rocky, nearly barren hillside, its gnarled branches awash in thick paint. We can feel Vincent's inward turbulence reflected in this canvas. On 8 May 1889, van Gogh voluntarily entered the asylum, where, over the course of the year, he painted some 150 canvases. This is one of them. In the midst of his personal turbulence, Van Gogh found solace in paint and nature: he wrote to Theo of "superb autumn days" and focused his brush on that glowing tree, which became, in his own words, perhaps "the best one" among his autumn studies.

LINKS

Gospel in Art: https://christian.art/
Today's Reflection: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/luke-17-5-10-2025/