“Staying Connected”
St. Paul’s Church, Winchester
Sunday, May 3, 2015
“Staying Connected”
Today’s gospel lesson from John is all about staying connected – staying connected to the one who gives us life. Staying connected to Jesus the source of life. Jesus said (vs. 5): “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit… because apart from me you can do nothing.” These powerful words are part of Jesus’ parting words to his disciples on the night of the last supper. Chapters 14-16 of the Gospel of John contain those parting words…the conversation Jesus had with his disciples in the hours after washing their feet and sharing a meal with them…and in the time before Jesus’ arrest following Judas’s betrayal. In this lengthy conversation Jesus offers the disciples words of comfort and encouragement as he assures them that they will not be abandoned or left alone. “Do not let your heart be troubled.” “I will not leave you orphaned.” “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.” “Abide in me, as I abide in you.” These words of comfort and encouragement are offered on the eve of his crucifixion. Jesus knows what is going to happen…but they do not. Jesus assures the disciples that his death will not be senseless and that even after he is no longer physically with them that they will not be alone…that they will survive…and even flourish.
In the passage from the fifteenth chapter of John, Jesus refers to himself as the true vine. He prefaces the words with the phrase “I am”. I am the true vine. The gospel writer John records seven “I am” statements…words not recorded by the other gospel writers. The words “I am” recall the time when God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, recorded for us in Exodus 3. At that time Moses said to God, “Who shall I say sent me? What is your name?” And God replied “I am who I am.” Jesus uses the same words, “I am” with each of the seven statements describing an aspect of his person and ministry: I am the bread of life…I am the light of the world…I am the gate…I am the good shepherd…I am the resurrection and the life…I am the way…and I am the true vine. The image of the vine was not unfamiliar to the people. The vine had become the symbol for the nation of Israel and it was used to decorate the temple and used on coins. It was also an image used by the prophets and in the Psalms to describe Israel. Isaiah wrote that “Israel is the vineyard,” (Isaiah 5.1-7). The Psalmist writes “We were like a grapevine,” (Psalm 80.8). It wasn’t always a positive image, however. The prophet Jeremiah describes Israel as a wild vine and Hosea uses the phrase empty vine. So when Jesus used the phrase “I am the true vine” and he spoke to them about abiding in him as he abides in them, he was telling them to stay connected and in doing so they would be strengthened and bear much fruit.
As it was for the disciples…so it is for us today. When we are connected to Jesus we are strong – when we are cut off from him we are weak. When we are connected to Jesus the true vine, we are where we are supposed to be. We need to stay connected in order to grow and be fruitful. The purpose of the vine is to carry water and nutrients to the branches. Without water and nutrients the branches die. They need what the vine supplies to live and to grow and to make fruit. We need the spiritual nourishment that Jesus provides – both individually and as a church community – if we are to bear fruit. We need Jesus, the vine, to provide those things… and
staying connected is the only way.
At this spring time of the year when new growth is all around us, it is helpful to remind ourselves of who provides the growth. John tells us that Jesus is the vine…God the Father is the vinegrower – or the gardener – and we are the branches. Let’s think for a moment about the image of the garden.
This is the time of year when many of us are anxious to begin planting vegetable seeds, bedding plants, and tending to the perennials that have once again come back from their winter sleep. We welcome the spring and the warmer weather and for the most part look forward to working out in the garden. But even a novice gardener knows that just because you want something to grow doesn’t guarantee that it will. You need to tend to it – to lovingly care for it. So we provide good soil so the plant can establish good strong roots, and then we water the plant so that it doesn’t dry up and wither and die. And when weeds poke their heads through the ground we pull them. If a bush becomes too big we prune it. To encourage new growth, we take out the dead wood from bushes and cut off the dead blooms from flowers. Gardening can be hard work. If we want results we know we have to spend time in the garden. We have to get out in the garden and work – we can’t just sit back and hope the garden grows, or wish it would flourish like it did years ago. It is difficult work. And sometimes despite all our very best efforts, the garden doesn’t produce the way we expected it to.
How many of you have planted a garden and then have it eaten up by rabbits, or something as small as a slug. There is a simple story told by an avid gardener and the trouble he had with a cucumber plot he had planted. “He had been very careful to select the best seeds, and plant each one at its proper depth. He fertilized and watered the plants, he worked the soil faithfully each week to prevent weeds from encroaching and he sprayed to prevent bugs and blights from afflicting the young plants. The season was a good one – just the right amount of rain and sunshine, and on the vines appeared broad green leaves and in due course the blooms. It looked magnificent. One day he noticed that here and there certain leaves were dying, certain blooms fading. Most of the leaves remained a healthy glossy green, but scattered among them were those turning brown. Why, he wondered, would some die in the midst of all the living? So he investigated. Stepping carefully among the tangled mass of vines he traced the ones on which the leaves and blooms were dying, until he found that they were all connected to a single stem. There, just above the ground, cut-worms had severed the stalk. The entire vine above that point was dying because it was not longer attached to the roots and the stem that had produced it.”
I expect we all have a similar tale to tell. Frustrating though it is – it certainly reminds us that we die if we are not attached to the vine. We must stay connected to the roots which nourish us. It is the vine that is essential to our good health. Remaining in…abiding in…staying connected to the vine is crucial. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit if it is disconnected from the vine, neither can we as Christians bear fruit if we are disconnected from Jesus. Staying connected is the only way.
When we are connected to the vine, Jesus also reminds us of the need we all have to be pruned. We all accumulate so much baggage and miscellaneous things that can quickly take us away from the vine and make our connection tenuous. Vines need lots of pruning, that’s true. But the good thing about pruning a vine is that when it is pruned it doesn’t mean it will die – it will grow again.
Every time I read this story of Jesus the true vine I am reminded of an incident with my oldest son, who was just a young boy at the time of the incident with a vine. He was helping me pull out wild vines that had grown up amongst the evergreen trees on our property. As he saw it, vines were nothing but weeds that should be pulled, whenever…wherever. Well, as it turns out my neighbour had planted a vine along his fence line. And one day when I was over talking with my neighbour…young son William in tow…when he spotted the vine and decided it needed to be pulled. Well thankfully vines…even tame vines…are not that easy to pull and his attempt at eradicating the vine was thwarted by a ‘no…stop’…along with the roots of the vine. That vine was connected and thankfully, remained so.
As branches on the true vine, we too need to stay connected. We need to stay connected in order for growth to take place. But we need to remember that the growth can only occur if the connection is to the vine.
One of the hallmarks of the Presbyterian Church is that it is a connectional church. The church is the body of Christ and we are connected to each other…as congregations…because we are a part of the same body. We are not held together by what we do…but by our connection in Christ. We are connectional because God, in grace and mercy, has called us together.
A couple of years ago when the General Assembly considered whether to move to meeting every other year rather than every year as is the current practice, all the synods, presbyteries, and congregations were invited to give reasons for or against such a move. One of the most common reasons against moving to a biennial assembly was that the Presbyterian Church is a connectional church and we need to meet more frequently, not less frequently. It is good to meet…but why we meet must never be put aside. What is our connection? Is it the people that make up the church that is our connection…or is it the one in whose name we are a church? The church is the body of Christ and it is Christ that connects us. We gather in Christ’s name. We gather for worship, for fellowship, for study…and we do so because of Christ…and the grace freely offered to us.
Retired Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu wrote these words about Christianity and grace: “Christianity is not a religion of virtue; it is a religion of grace. And there's a difference. A religion of virtue says, 'If you are good, then God will love you.' A religion of grace says, 'God loves you.' God loves you despite your foibles and failures, not because you're so good but as a sinner in need of mercy. God loves you; live then as one who is beloved, who has been forgiven.”
We are connected. And we stay connected by grace and our response is to live as one who is loved and forgiven.
The words in the first letter of John are full of love. The word love, or loves or loved, appears no less than 48 times and in the passage from chapter 4 that we read today the word appears 24 times – almost half of the total number of times it is found in the whole of the letter. No one has seen God, John says, but as we love one another we allow the world to catch a glimpse of God’s true nature. God’s love is incomplete until we manifest that love in our lives.
Love is a blessing and a responsibility. We must work together to share the love of God. Sometimes is hard to keep going when you look around and see only a few feet. But even when the feet are few, we need to stay connected. We need to stay connected in order to know God’s will. We need to stay connected and be willing to show the world who Jesus, the true vine is. By staying connected to Jesus the true vine, we can do his will and help others to come to know Jesus as well. Remain with Jesus always. Stay connected. It is the only way. Amen.