Dearest e-votees-
In the appointed gospel text for this coming Sunday Jesus speaks figuratively in the image of a vine bearing fruit. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. For us to bear fruit we must remain attached to him. We just need to remain. It is as plain and simple as that—so why is it so hard sometimes?
Peace,
Karl
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1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just 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. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."
The driving image of Jesus’ teaching is a branch needing to be connected to the vine in order to bear fruit. The underlying message is remaining connected.
Perhaps if Jesus were teaching this to us today he would use something more contemporary such as he is the Wi-Fi access point and we are the wireless devices. The underlying message remains—stay connected.
Look at the verses again paying attention to the word abide:
1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just 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. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."
The New International Version (NIV) translates the same word in Greek as “remain”—the word is meh-no. This is a root of the word “remain” in English. In eight verses this word shows up eight times. The call, the invitation, the expectation, the challenge and the way to living a full a fruitful life is found in remaining in Jesus.
There are three places where Jesus can be consistently found. By remaining in those places we can greatly increase our chance of remaining in Jesus. Fortunately all three of these places can be found in your local congregation. The three places where Jesus is most certainly found are Word, Sacrament and Community.
Word: Luther talks about the Bible being the cradle that holds the Christ child. If we want to encounter Jesus, to understand Jesus, to be more like Jesus we need to spend time in the Word. Arguably this can be done by ourselves. How much richer, however, to draw near others who expound and process scripture perhaps differently than we? We can draw near others who may well make us look at scriptures we might rather leave out of the discussion. We can hear and support each other as we engage these holy words that Jesus came to inhabit and fulfill. When we remain in the Word it helps us remain in Jesus.
Sacrament: Jesus attached great promises of grace by commanding that we take simple elements and use them as he said. In many traditions there are two sacraments—baptism and communion. In some traditions there are more. In either case, we are called to be a sacramental people. As we recall the promises of God, we strive to be faithful to the commands he has given and we grow in being humble enough to receive bread and wine and water. We receive these as intended—as healing and good—we remain in Jesus. As we make room for others at the font and the table we invite them to remain in Jesus too. When we remain in the Sacraments it helps us to remain in Jesus.
Community: Jesus promises that where two or three of us are gathered in his name he is there with us. If we truly believe that each of us bear the image of God (imago dei) than we ought to receive one another as we might receive Jesus himself. When we love others as we would want to be loved we remain in Jesus’ command. When we learn how to love those who are hard to love—though we can see them—it shapes us into people who can love God who can at times be hard to see. What we may lack individually in terms of gifts, ability, stamina and vision we can find in community. As we welcome strangers and seeker and the “least of these” into our places and our ways we may find ourselves welcoming Jesus himself. When we remain in Community it helps us to remain in Jesus.
Bottom line: This part of the country takes a certain pride in individualism. We like finding our own way. We don’t necessarily like words from without shaping our ways. We might not choose to commune in a church but rather commune with nature. We are individuals and we must all walk our own lives and we can shun community and sacramental life if we wish—but we do so at our own peril.
Jesus says that to live a fruitful life we must abide in him. Jesus and the church make a compelling case that this is best done through Word, Sacrament and Community. Let us partake of this communal wisdom and life.
God, teach us to abide in you. Draw us back again and again and again. Teach and inspire us through your Word. Cleanse and sustain us through your Sacraments. Challenge and comfort us through your Community. Help us live into the simple yet hard truth that we need to remain in you in order to truly live the abundant life. Amen.
ps- I don’t usually go past the prayer but my mind is drawn to the book Outliers (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/outliers-malcolm-gladwell/1100030024?ean=9780316017930) by Malcolm Gladwell. He has a wonderful discussion early on in the book about the 10,000 hour rule (that basically to attain mastery of a craft a la the Beatles or Michael Jordan or Bill Gates) that the requisite time is on the order of 10,000 hours. That would mean that if one’s only experience with church/things of faith were once a week for an hour it would take 192 years (beyond most of our life expectancies) to attain mastery. (whatever attaining mastery in the faith means) Of course, we are called to be about the faith at all times but more particular focus/practice/learning is well facilitated by Word, Sacrament and Community. While I don’t buy the 10,000 hours as a hard and fast law I do think that a large part of abiding/remaining is showing up and being present at and around the activities of the local congregation. This makes the case to me for us to be more thoroughly and regularly involved well beyond the weekly worship opportunities. What think ye?
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