5th Sunday after Easter
John. 15:1-8
"Are YOU Attached???
15:1 ¶ "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
2 Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
3 You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.
8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.RSV
"A dusty traveler walked up the steps of a small, neatly kept farmhouse. "Hello, what do you want?" asked the farm wife greeting him at the door.
The stranger answered only with a question, "Does God live here?"
The woman was startled. She thought she might have misunderstood. Once again she asked:"What is it that you want?"
The tired-looking man’s reply was the same: "Does God live here?" With that, the woman slammed the door shut in the visitor’s face and ran out to the back of the house to see her husband....
He became incensed when he heard of the stranger’s question. "Didn’t you tell him we attend church without fail every Sunday?" he asked his wife.
"That wasn’t what he asked, John," she replied, "He asked, ’Does God live here?’"
"Well, didn’t you tell him we are heavy contributor and that you are active in the guild, while I’ve been an elder for 8 years?" he asked as his voice was now becoming more distraught.
"That wasn’t what he asked, John. He asked, ’Does God live here?’" she said again, this time more softly.
They just sat down on the back step, looked quietly into each other’s eyes, and thought more and more about that man’s question. Then John said, "Yes, Mary, God does live here, behind all the busy activities of our life in the church is the firm foundation of faith which believes God does dwell in our hearts."
Mary smiled at John and said, "Ours might be a poor farm, our lives might be difficult, but yes, yes, John, I believe God does live with us. We are attached to Him and He to us. Yes, John, God does live here."
"Does God live here??" That is a particular difficult question for anyone to answer. For in answering that question, one might want to possess God so much that God becomes not the omnipotent creator and king of the world, but a God which is pulled out of one’s pocket like a handkerchief. Or God can be so distant that one feels alienated from Him with no personal attachment.
It is just this kind of question, "Does God live here?", which is addressed by our gospel lesson this morning. Jesus is using the story, the illustration of the grape vine to describe how we are His children, His followers are attached to Him, how we abide in Him and He abides in us. Jesus says: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."
Jesus, I think, is addressing three groups in His statement concerning the vine and the branches. And to each group is implied the question, "Does God live here?", or "Are you attached to the vine, to Christ?"
The first group Jesus is addressing is that group which bears no fruit. Jesus says:"Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away....and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned." This group is the so called dead wood. The dead wood on a grape vine was cut away and burnt. It was good for nothing. Jesus is saying something about judgment here.
A pastor tells this story." He and his son were cleaning out wild grape vines one day. They were lush and profuse and had climbed to the tops of the oak and maple trees. They were lovely to look at, but they were choking out the hardwood trees. They were useless, for they bore no fruit. Not even the wood was good for burning in the fireplace."
Sometimes Christianity is portrayed as such a lovely religion, such a sweet religion, that we forget about the judgment of God. God can be harsh. Jesus is reminding us of the harshness of God in this parable. If we are separated from God by our own choosing, then God’s judgment will be upon us. As we separate ourselves from God, we tend to rely upon him less and less and eventually, we come to the conclusion that we do not need a God at all. And according to Mark 3:29,as it says: 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"-- that is the only unforgivable sin, the one against the Spirit of God, the one which will be judgment.
The next two groups Jesus is speaking to in this parable are the most common groups, because I believe most Christians fall into these groups all at the same time. Jesus is addressing part of the vine which needs pruning and the part which bears fruit. I believe it is one and the same group only at different times along the long spectrum of our faith walk. Jesus says: "and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you."
Notice it is the vine which bears fruit which is pruned. It is that word pruned which causes confusion in this text. What does it mean? Jesus gives us a clue when he says: "You are already made clean," prune means to make clean and don’t we need to be made clean by God from our sinfulness?? Cleansing is no more than forgiving. God prunes, forgives, cuts out the sinfulness of our lives so that we might continue to grow in Him and bear much fruit.
This morning in the service we have a visible and real way we encounter the forgiveness of God, or cleansing of God through the bread and wine of the Lord’s supper. Today, as you come to eat and drink, you will be reminded again, you will experience in a very physical way, through the body and blood of Christ, God’s love for you, His forgiving power in your life. In this meal, your sins are forgiven and you at the same time are given the power of almighty God to continue to bear his fruit as part of the vine of Christ. Communion is a both/and experience. At one and the same time, God through Christ’s body and blood, comes to you in a personal way, and assures you of forgiveness of all those things which remind you daily you are not what God intended for you to be, then at the same time, because it is God Himself which is encountering you, you are filled with His power to continue to bear fruit as part of the vine of Christ.
In his book The Hand That Holds Me,, Pastor Michael Rogness says on p.99, "The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is the most sublime moment of the Christian life, the most awe filled moment, but also at the same time the most human. There at the Lord’s table, God comes to us----the over-whelming, majestic, creator of all the galaxies--right where we are most human and worried about so many mundane and human thing, there through the bread and wine, God comes. He stoops way down and comes to us in the common elements of bread and wine as we try, but do not success as being, standing, thinking, and praying right at that moment." It does not matter that we are not "perfect" at that moment of encountering God, because God chooses to come to us in our sinfulness to forgive us, to cleanse us, to prune us, to make us able to bear more fruit for Him.
God says to you this morning, come to me as you are, come to my table, come to my supper, come to partake in bread and wine, body and blood and through this experience I will change you, I will cleanse you, I will forgive you, I will make it possible for you to bear fruit. Just come and receive.
Then Jesus says because we abide in Him and He in us, because we have been pruned, cleanse and forgiven, we can bear fruit. He says: "Abide in me, and I in you. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit."
Now the question can be asked, "How do I bear fruit?" "What does it mean to bear fruit as part of the vine of Christ?" I think the answer to that question is very complex and could take another 50 sermons to answer for there are many ways you and I bear fruit for Christ.
I would like to focus in one just one way as members of the vine of Christ, the church we can bear fruit and that is our support for each other in our faith walk. The lessons this morning point to that emphasis. Philip proclaiming his faith, John telling us we should love one another as we abide in Him and Jesus emphasis on the vine itself, all point to the area of bearing fruit for each other as members of the body of Christ.
In other words, one way to bear fruit as members of the vine of Christ, is to help each other, to reach out to each other, to encourage each other in our faith pilgrimage.
Ecclesiastes 4:9,10 says: "Two are better than one, because...if they fall, one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and has not another to lift him up." The image in the simplest form has to do with physically falling, but I also think it can apply to one’s faith walk. It two people help each other in faith, if two people study scripture together, if two people share faith stories, if two people come to worship together regularly, then if one happens to fall away, if one happens to have moments of doubts, then there will be another to help, to guide, to encourage the other in faith. We need each other in the body of Christ. I need your faith and you need mine. I need to see the example of your faith to make mine stronger.
A song which I enjoy while in high school comes to mind as I think about needing others, it says: " No man is an island, no man stands alone, each man’s joy is joy to me, each man’s grief is my own. We need one another and I will defend each man as my brother, each man as my friend." We do not stand alone in our faith walk, as part of the vine of Christ we need and do rely on each other.
Not only for strength in faith, but in acts of love. For John says in our second lesson that as members of the body of Christ, as part of the vine of Christ, we ought to love one another. Loving another means many things to many people.
But I think the following story can sum up what in general we mean by love:
"A man watched a group of workers tear down an old building. He watched them pull down the walls as a large ball swung from a crane began to pound over and over again into the walls. He asked the foreman, " Are these men skilled , so they need special training to tear down this building?"
"No," replied the foremen, " with these men I can tear down in a day or two what it took builders who are skilled in each of their crafts a year or more to build."
Simply, love means building another person up, not tearing them down. As Paul says in Corinthians, "Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." In other words, love meets a person where they are, takes them for what they are, accepts a person for themselves, and then gives the person freedom to grow and mature in themselves and in Christ.
It is always too easy to be negative about someone else, but to love them is to be positive, giving the other the benefit of the doubt, to be accepting, kind, and compassionate.
Someone wrote: Love is:
Slow to suspect--quick to trust.
Slow to condemn--quick to justify.
Slow to offend-- quick to defend.
Slow to reprimand--quick to forbear.
Slow to belittle--quick to appreciate.
Slow to demand--quick to give.
Slow to provoke--quick to conciliate.
Slow to hinder--quick to help.
slow to resent--quick to forgive.
A closing true story about love as found in TIME magazine (April 4, 1954), tells of a Korean orphan named Ronnie who was abandoned by his soldier-father when his tour of duty was complete and left alone by the death of his Korean mother was found by some missionaries lying in a cold shack on the bare floor, hardly breathing. He was nursed back to some degree of health by a kindly Christian Korean nurse, appropriately named Grace, who eventually adopted him.
Grace made sacrifices for Ronnie and denied herself so Ronnie could have the needed food and vitamins needed by his fragile body. Despite Grace’s love, kindness and compassion, Ronnie’s health continued to fail. He had developed tuberculosis of the spine and the doctors said the only way his spine could become strong was to have a delicate bone graft.
Grace insisted that the bone which was to be used in the graft come from her leg. The doctors protested. She had just recovered from severe kidney surgery, but Grace insisted.
The doctors agreed. For 5 months Grace wrote a cast, and limped for years following the surgery. But each time she saw Ronnie running, jumping, playing like the other children, she knew her sacrifice, her love for this adoptive children was worth all the sacrifices she had made. And every time Ronnie saw his mother, he knew of the love she had for him, as her limp was a constant reminder of that love.
Jesus says: "As the Father has loved me, and I have loved you, you are to love one another."
amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale May 12, 2003
