1I am the true vine, and my Father is the
vinegrower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no
fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more
fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word that I
have spoken to you. 4Abide 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. 5I 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. 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away
like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into
the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words
abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for
you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much
fruit and become my disciples.
Rebecca and I have lived in a number of different places in the almost ten years we've been married and every location that we've lived has something in common. The weather's pretty different from place to place. For the most part, people are similar. Each place has highlights as far as native plants and animals go, but no matter where we have found ourselves, every spring, one thing is constant. Dandelions, they pop up all over the place as soon as the sun comes out… Most places we've lived, they stick around throughout the summer, maybe it gets too hot here, I guess I'll learn about that soon. But dandelions are the bane of lawn care because they're so hard to get rid of and they come back so quickly. So, it appears to me that dandelions are pretty successful little weeds.
Now for some members of my family, you might be able to guess which ones, dandelions aren't weeds at all… they're flowers… and they're special flowers because they're the only kind of flowers that you're allowed to pick. The neighbors have told my daughters to pick all the flowers you want to. When we went to the park the other day, they were so excited to see a whole field of flowers. There have been times when I've walked back to the car with a bouquet that would rival some bridal bouquets that I've seen. Who knows, if it stops raining long enough today, we might even go out to pick some for mother's day. Won't Rebecca be pleased.
Lately we've been learning a lesson that when you pick these flowers they don't last very long. Last Sunday, before Christian Ed started, they lovingly gave me some flowers they picked on the walk in from the parking lot. The flowers started to wilt by the time church was over and they were pretty sad by the time I made it back out to my car to head home. We've found that we can extend the time frame of their beauty by putting the picked flowers into water, and so we do that at home to keep them fresher until bed time. But even when we put them in water, we know their time's limited because at that point they've already stopped growing, they've already been disconnected from their sustenance and disconnected from their source of life.
Of course all the gardeners and all the people who have to take care of big lawns say that's a good thing because they know that if a dandelion stays connected, it continues to grow and it changes. It undergoes a transformation and it's almost certain to produce fruit in the way dandelions do. I don't know if my girls fully understand that the little puffballs with a million seeds are the same thing as the flowers that they're allowed to pick. When we' re out for walks we call the puffballs wishes. Now we would never do it at the church or in any one of your yards, but when we see wishes out in nature, we pick them up and blow them. The million little seeds go out, caught by the wind and each one goes on to produce a new dandelion. Part of the reason I say that dandelions are pretty successful little weeds is that there's great potential in each one of those wishes to produce a hundred new flowers, and when a dandelion stays connected long enough to grow to maturity, the potential is relatively easy to realize… They're everywhere and every dandelion you see originated because of another dandelion's potential. Wishes and flowers and wishes and flowers, much to chagrin of the lawn care provider, it's an endless cycle.
Our first scripture reading today came from the book of acts and part of the goal of the book of acts was to show how the good news of Jesus Christ spread into the world. This story is about Philip, one of Jesus' disciples interacting with and baptizing an Ethiopian eunuch. Now remember, in the worldview of the Jews the temple was sacred and central, it was where God lived. The rest of the world was understood in relationship to that… The fringes, the places that were distant or the people who were different were considered unclean. This person that Philip ran into who was a eunuch and so he would have been considered unclean… Likewise as an Ethiopian he was a gentile so again he would have been considered unclean… But his reason for being in Jerusalem, according to our text was to worship. As one new testament scholar suggests, The man Philip met on the road to Gaza is a representative of two classes of marginalized people; and yet, Philip presents the good news of Christ to him, and puts no hindrance in the way of baptism. So, he reasons, this passage may be a subtle but significant means by which the author declares the coming of a new age, and the end of an old one. On this fifth Sunday of the Easter celebration, we remember that Jesus is risen and that's good news for everyone.
The role Philip plays really is an incarnational ministry. And here' s what I mean by that. Jesus entered into the world as a person, incarnate, to know and be known by people and to share God's love because it flowed out of him. There weren't ulterior motives, there weren't unrealistic expectations, but there was hope that people would be transformed by coming to know God's love. An incarnational ministry is one that goes to people where they are in order that they might know God's love. Philip went out to meet the Ethiopian eunuch. He went into his chariot. Philip responded to his openness and receptive attitude by opening doors for him to know Christ. And as soon as there was water he was baptized. The fruit was in Philip's action of going out into an incarnational ministry.
But bigger even than Philip's role, was the role of the spirit of
God. Three times in this passage, at key points, the spirit leads
Philip's action. In verse 26 the angel of the Lord said Get up
and go
so Philip got up and went
to the road where the story
takes place. In verse 29, The Spirit said to Philip, Go over to
the chariot and join in
So Philip ran up, and in due time, he was
invited into the chariot. Finally verse 39 says that the spirit
of the Lord snatched Philip away
to attend to other business
elsewhere. The implication in all of this is that Philip was in the
right place at the right time because he was in touch with God who
led him there. He undertook the right action because he was in
touch with God who led him to do so. When it was time to move on to
other ministry opportunities, Philip was also ready to do that
because he was in touch with God who was leading him all the way.
The fruit of Philip's action came because he was ready to follow
when and where God led. And he was ready to follow because he
remained connected to the one who was the source of the love to be
shared, and who was at the heart of the ministry he undertook.
That's part of what Jesus meant when he said In our gospel text,
the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the
vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine you are
the branches.
It's a familiar text with clear imagery, it's
often quoted and nearly as often as it's quoted, the context is
overlooked. In the flow of the gospel, Jesus and the disciples sat
down and had their last supper. Jesus predicted Peter's denial, he'
s told them that he's going to his father's house to prepare a
place for them, He's promised that Holy Spirit will come to guide
and counsel them. The disciples still don't really understand what
he's talking about but their way of being is about to be shaken up.
The last words before our passage are come now; let us leave.
I
imagine them getting up from the table and walking outside, Jesus
pointing to some nearby vines and starting in, I am the true vine
and my father is the vinegrower.
The Old Testament is full of
texts which refer to Israel as the vine or a vineyard, but Jesus
changes the image. Now He is the vine. He speaks of the branches
that don't bear fruit being cut off… he speaks of branches that do
bear fruit being cut back, pruned so that they will produce more
fruit, it's fascinating that in the second verse he even talks
about himself being pruned by the father in order to produce more
fruit.
The Sonoma valley was about 45 minutes north of where Rebecca and I used to live in California. It's wine territory, endless vineyards as far as the eye can see, dotted with local and national wineries. When people came to visit we would often take a trip up to Sonoma and it was surprising to me how little of the vines were left after pruning season. They cut the vineyard down so much that it almost looked like the only thing there was the vine support. It was hard to see any branches at all and it was only when you get closer that you could see that they did leave one thing. The vine itself was left running along the support. The only thing left was the vine because that's the source of the fruit. To go all the way back to the vine is the way to make it so that next year, the most fruit possible will grow. There may be much work to be done between now and then: pruning, working the soil, maybe even praying; but in Sonoma, they know that the work they do now is why next year's harvest will be bountiful.
According to Charles Cousar who's a new testament scholar: The talk about abiding in the vine in order to bear fruit isn't meant for a community that is at rest. Jesus spoke these words to his disciples on his last night, when he was about to die. It's not meant for a community that's settled into business as usual. It's meant for a community engaged in service, a community that is both distinct from and involved with the world it serves. He continues To a church that's seeking new life, abiding may represent essential connectedness, permanency, and vitality and fruit may represent growth in spirit and service, it may represent usefulness and nourishment for people who are a part of the church, as well as the people in the community served by the church who don't know the church.
And it brings up the question for me, what kind of incarnational ministry might we be engaged in? What kind of incarnational ministry might you be able to engage in? Whose reality can you enter into and what fruit (what connection with god) can you take with you? We're all in different places on our journeys so the answer is necessarily different for each of us, but the process—the process is the same. Remain connected to the source of nourishment and the source of life, remain connected to the source of growth, and listen to where the spirit is leading
To abide in Christ, leads to growth and maturation, which in turn, leads to fruit. That's the way it is with flowers and wishes… that's the way it is with Philip, the spirit and the eunuch, that' s the way it is with vines and fruit, and that's the way it is with Jesus Christ and us. When we abide in Christ, the potential is nearly endless for you and me, and for all of us together to go into our community and into our world and bear fruit. May it be so. Amen.
The foregoing sermon was given by Rev. Dan Holland on May 10, 2009 at the United Parish of Bowie.
© 2009 Daniel Holland
