Pastor's corner

“Remain Connected”

John 15:1-8

In this paassage Jesus is speaking about grapevines, and he’s also speaking about discipleship. He challenges those who would follow him: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me, and I in them, bear much fruit.” Should you, a beloved child of God, make your home in Christ, just as he has made his home in God, you will bear fruit that is worthy of him. What God plants and tends is tremendously productive. A woman named Sarah Henrich puts it this way: “Bearing fruit does not create disciples. Bearing fruit reveals disciples.”

That people of Israel knew all about vineyards.

Just as in America we embrace the symbol of “amber waves of grain,” in Israel people think of their nation as a grape vineyard.

Over and over in the Old Testament the nation of Israel was pictured as “God’s Vineyard.” Just as folks living in the Palouse can understand the image of how a grain of wheat must die so that more wheat can be produced, folks in Jesus’ time understood vines, branches and grapes.

They knew that when branches were broken (disconnected,) they needed to be taken away and burned.

They knew that it was critical that even pretty good branches be pruned.

They knew that the best grapes (the fruit) were always found closest to the vine.

Those in Jesus’ audience, just like all their fellow Jews, were raised to see Israel as the “true vine.” Their nation’s roots went all the way back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

But on that day Jesus offered his listeners something brand new.

In this passage Jesus likened himself (and not Israel) to the vine, and he likened the fruit-bearing branches to his disciples.

They would receive their nurture and strength through him, and if they were to disconnect themselves from him they would fail to bear fruit.

In this passage it’s pointed out that Jesus abides in God, that is to say he has an extremely close and fulfilling relationship with God.

In the same way Jesus wants those who would follow him to abide in him.

This is about closeness and being fulfilled — and it’s about fruit.

Picture a grape vine if you can. Many entwined branches wind around one another in intricate patterns of tight curls. It’s nearly impossible to see where one branch begins and another ends. In this vineyard branches are branches. Fruit is fruit. Whereas the Apostle Paul sees branches as having their special gifts, Jesus sees them as one united people — connected to him, and through him to God. It’s hard to see — and to Jesus it doesn’t really matter — which branch is Methodist and which is Catholic or Baptist. The mark of Christ’s family lies in the fruit it is able to produce and not in who its individual members are. We are all the body of Christ.

God has planted a vine which we call “Jesus Christ” right in the midst of a hurting world.

If we are willing, God grafts us into that vine. And through that vine God provides us with all we need to grow in God’s likeness. Our job is simply to remain connected to the vine. God does the rest. Abide in Christ and you will become all that God created you to be: one who produces fruit and a real blessing in the world.

Rev. Bob Ingalls, pastor

Malden Community Congregational Church