May 10, 2009 - The 5th Sunday of Easter

The Lessons Appointed for Use on the

Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 10, 2009
Year B
RCL

Acts 8:26-40
Psalm 22:24-30
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8


The Collect

Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


The First Lesson
Acts 8:26-40

An angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it." So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

"Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth."

The eunuch asked Philip, "About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.



The Psalm
Psalm 22:24-30 Page 611, BCP
Deus, Deus meus

24
My praise is of him in the great assembly;
I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.

25
The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
and those who seek the LORD shall praise him:
"May your heart live for ever!"

26
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.

27
For kingship belongs to the LORD;
he rules over the nations.

28
To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship;
all who go down to the dust fall before him.

29
My soul shall live for him;
my descendants shall serve him;
they shall be known as the LORD'S for ever.

30
They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn
the saving deeds that he has done.


1 John 4:7-21

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.


The Gospel
John 15:1-8

Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 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. 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. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."


EXEGESIS:

13:31 –– 14:31: THE CONTEXT

These verses serve as the foundation for chapter 15, and introduce several themes on which Jesus expands in chapter 15:

• The commandment to love (13:31-35; 15:12).
• The possibility of denying or not abiding in Jesus (13:36-38; 15:6).
• The use of the word meno in its various forms (vv. 4-7; see also 14:2, 23; 15:4 ff).
• The vital nature of the disciple's connection to Jesus (14:6; 15:5-6).
• The promise of fulfilled prayer (14:14; 15:7).
• The importance of keeping Jesus' commandments and bearing fruit (14:15; 15:8).

"One new theme is introduced: the world's hatred (15:18-25; 16:1-4a)" (Williamson, 194).


VERSES 1-8: OVERVIEW

These verses are an allegory (a work in which the characters represent other things and symbolically express a deeper meaning). There are four actors in this little drama.

• The Father is the vinegrower (v. 1).
• Christ is the vine (v. 5).
• The disciples are branches (v. 5).
• Those who do not abide in Christ are useless branches (v. 6).

Where is the church here? The fruitful church is the branch that the vinegrower prunes, but the unfruitful church is the branch that the vinegrower removes and throws into the fire.

The vine imagery is familiar. The Old Testament frequently pictures Israel as a vine or vineyard, but typically these references are negative:

"My beloved has a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes" (Isaiah 5:1b-2).

"For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice, but saw bloodshed;
righteousness, but heard a cry!" (Isaiah 5:7)

"Yet I planted you as a choice vine, from the purest stock.
How then did you turn degenerate and become a wild vine?" (Jeremiah 2:21).

"Therefore thus says the Lord God:
Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest,
which I have given to the fire for fuel,
so I will give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem" (Ezekiel 15:6).

"Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard transplanted by the water,
fruitful and full of branches from abundant water….
But it was plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground;
the east wind dried it up; its fruit was stripped off,
its strong stem was withered; the fire consumed it" (Ezekiel 19:10, 12).

But there is something new here. "The Father is still portrayed as the gardener, but Jesus is the Vine, not Israel, and the disciples...are pictured as branches. (This) insertion into the old image...changes it radically. The 'vine' (here) is hardly in any danger of judgment as in the Old Testament texts. That possible scenario is ascribed only to the branches. Jesus, the Vine, appears to stand between the vineyard keeper/gardener and the branches as a kind of 'mediator' of life and sustenance" (Borchert, 139).

Vineyards are familiar. People pass vineyards as they walk from place to place. Some own their own vineyard or work in a vineyard. They are able to discern fruitful branches from those that will drain the vine's energy. They trim unfruitful branches, all the while feeling good about the surgical purpose of their work. The pruning might seem cruel, but it renews the vine's vitality. Useless vines drain the plant's strength. To leave them in place serves no purpose and reduces the value of the vineyard. The vinegrower cuts away unfruitful branches and, finding them unusable, burns them.


VERSES 1-3: I AM THE TRUE VINE

1"I am (Greek: ego eimi) the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2He removes (Greek: airei) every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes (Greek: kathairei) to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed (Greek: kathairoi) by the word that I have spoken to you.


"I am (ego eimi) the true vine" (v. 1a). In this Gospel, Jesus uses "I am" (Greek: ego eimi) on a number of occasions:

• "I am the bread of life" (6:35).
• "I am the living bread that came down from heaven" (6:51).
• "I am the light of the world" (8:12).
• "I am the gate for the sheep" (10:7).
• "I am the good shepherd" (10:11).
• "I am the resurrection and the life" (11:25).
• "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (14:6).

This "I am" language hearkens back to Moses' encounter with God at the burning bush when God identified himself to Moses as "I AM WHO I AM," telling Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you' " (Exodus 3:14). In other words, "I AM" is God, and these "I am" metaphors identify Jesus as God. This is in keeping with the opening statement of this Gospel, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1:1).

This is the last of the "I am" metaphors in this Gospel. Like the other "I am" metaphors (bread, light, gate, shepherd, etc.), the vine metaphor is reassuring –– comforting. "For a nomadic people, a vineyard is a natural symbol of settling down, calling a place home" (Howard-Brook, 330).

When Jesus identifies himself as the true vine, he implies that there is a false vine. The Old Testament passages cited above make it clear that Israel has been a false vine.

"and my Father is the vinegrower" (v. 1b). This suggests that the Father is the superior, but it also suggests great mutuality. The vine is dependent on the vinegrower for its care and feeding, but the vinegrower is also dependent on the vine for its produce. Each gives life to the other and takes life from the other. While this might press the metaphor overly far, we cannot overstate the mutuality that exists between the Father and the Son. Jesus says, "The Father and I are one" (10:30).

The Father/vinegrower performs two services to enhance the productivity of the vine. First, "He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit" (v. 2a). Second, "every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit" (v. 2b). It is important to note that, whether the branch is productive or not, the vinegrower wields a sharp knife. If the branch is not productive, the vinegrower removes it, but if the vine is productive, the vinegrower nevertheless prunes it to enhance its future productivity.

This should be instructive to us. We would like to believe that the Father will remove the unproductive branch but will spare the productive branch. However, the Father's loving care means being subject to the vinegrower's sharp knife. This means that we, as faithful disciples, can expect pain as a normal part of our lives. This can be difficult to accept. "Is it not the case that pruning (severing of debilitating relationships, loss of burdensome things, cessation of meaningless pursuits) is often understood by those suffering the pain as being cut away from God, leaving believers hurt, confused and angry?" (Craddock, 260).

The author of Hebrews explains it this way: "The Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts" (Hebrews 12:6). He goes on to say that "discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it" (Hebrews 12:11). The parent's discipline and the vinegrower's pruning are painful but beneficial. That is important to remember, because life involves pain, and this text assures us that our pain is not necessarily a sign of God's displeasure. On the contrary, pain may well be a sign that God is still working to mold us –– to shape our lives –– to help us to become the best that we can be.

Jesus further reassures the disciples, "You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you" (v. 3). At the Passover footwashing, he told them, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you" (13:10), the exception being Judas, the one who would betray him (13:11). Now, once again, he pronounces them clean. "The disciples have heard, believed, and obeyed Jesus' word, although they may not even yet have comprehended it fully" (Smith, 283). Jesus' word has cleansing power when we believe it and obey it. This, too, is instructive. The closer our relationship to Christ, the more "cleansed" we are and the less pruning/cleansing we will require (the Greek, katharoi, means both pruned and cleansed).

There is a word play in verses 2-3 that is apparent only in the Greek. The vinegrower "removes (airei) every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes (kathairei) to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed (katharoi) by the word that I have spoken to you." It seems clear that the author chose these words with their literary value in mind.


VERSES 4-8: ABIDE IN ME AS I ABIDE IN YOU

4Abide (Greek: meinate –– from meno) 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.


"Abide (meinate –– from meno) in me as I abide in you" (v. 4a). This verb, meno, in its various forms (including the equivalent noun form), occurs in a number of passages in this Gospel. In most cases, they describe an important relationship or spiritual condition:

• John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained (emainen) on him" (1:32).

• Jesus rebukes the Jewish religious leaders, saying, "You do not have his word abiding (menonta) in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent" (5:38).

• Jesus says, "I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain (meine) in the darkness" (12:46).

• Jesus says, "In my Father's house there are many dwelling places (monai). If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" (14:2).

• Jesus says, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home (monen) with them" (14:23).

15:1-8, with its emphasis on abiding in Jesus, "is the Johannine counterpart of the Pauline view of the church as the body of Christ and of believers as 'in' Christ. Both are ways of bringing out the vital connection that exists between Christ and his own…. (However,) Jesus does not say that the church is the vine but that he is. The church is no more than the branches that are 'in' the vine" (Morris, 593)

In 15:4-7, Jesus makes it clear that our relationship with him –– our abiding in him –– is the key both to our fruitfulness and to our destiny. The Christian finds strength and purpose through relationship with Christ. The weak person becomes strong when grafted onto the Christ-vine, and the strong person becomes vulnerable when detached from it.

Furthermore, Jesus has promised his disciples that the Father "will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. I will not leave you orphaned" (14:16b-18a).

C.J. Jung says that Christ "adds a new rung to the ladder of evolution, producing a new creature who lives in a new way to which the natural man can no more attain than a crawling thing can fly…. And… this daring claim cannot be laughed out of court. For (Christ) has done it. And we meet such new creatures every day upon the streets. And we are meant to be one of them; are intended so to live that others, meeting us, will look at us, and look again, and then from us to Jesus Christ…. And that perhaps is the most signal way in which we can help Christ" (quoted in Gossip, 717).

"Abide in me as I abide in you" (v. 4a). These words are also addressed to the church, "whose communal life and ministries of social justice are no more than branches to be tossed into the fire, apart from the indwelling Christ" (Cousar, 315). "Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me" (v. 4b). The church is always tempted to look elsewhere –– to politics or wealthy donors –– for strength, but Jesus tells us that fruitfulness starts in a very different place. As long as we are in his presence, his strength becomes ours. As soon as we turn our back on him, our strength begins to drain away.

We are tempted to believe otherwise. Our prayer life gets swallowed up in busyness. Our true values are revealed in the way that we set priorities –– or allow priorities to set themselves. For clergy, many things are Priority One. We must conduct worship, weddings, and funerals –– console the grieving –– visit hospital patients –– attend board meetings –– supervise staff –– counsel –– teach catechetical classes –– answer the phone –– prepare the bulletin –– attend civic activities. We know that we must also pray, but prayer too easily gets lost in the rush. We hope that a quick cry for help is enough, but Jesus says, "Abide in me."

We are also tempted by other loyalties. We know that abiding in Jesus is central to our ministry, but we also know that loyalties to denomination, bishop, and theological heritage help us to get ahead. It is all too easy to make these our abiding places, but Jesus says, "Abide in me."

"Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me" (v. 4b). Abiding in Jesus enables the branch to bear fruit. What fruit?

• Jesus commands us to love one another (13:34; 15:12), so love must be one of the fruits.

• Jesus calls us to obey his commandments (v. 10), so obedience must be one of the fruits.

• Jesus promises joy (v. 11), so joy must be one of the fruits.

• But perhaps the fruit involves more than is revealed in this chapter. Paul mentions the fruits of the Spirit –– love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22). Surely abiding in Jesus must produce each of these in some measure.

When asked to measure our fruitfulness, we look to baptisms –– attendance at worship –– funds raised for a new building –– or other statistics. True fruitfulness, however, flows from our abiding relationship with Jesus and the Spirit whom Jesus promises (v. 26). It follows, then, that our fruit will be that which we are given, and will be specific to each disciple. Bultmann says, "The nature of the fruit-bearing is not expressly stated; it is every demonstration of vitality of faith, to which, according to vv. 9-17, reciprocal love above all belongs" (quoted in Smith, 283).

I am reminded of a young woman of limited circumstances whose ministry consisted of reading the daily newspaper and praying for newborn babies, newly married couples, bereaved families, and others in need of God's help. I believe that she had a fruitful ministry. The fruit need not be things that fit neatly on charts and graphs. The acid test is whether it gives glory to God (v. 8).

But we are faced with the practical question of how to go about the business of abiding in Jesus. What must we do? There are at least three disciplines to which we need to attend.

• Service to God through public worship and support of the church.
• Service to others, in particular service to the needy.
• Service to self through personal prayer, devotions, and scripture study.

"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" (v. 5). Jesus does not say, "I am the tree and you are the branches." The branch of a tree might have some value as firewood even if detached from the tree. The branch of a vine, however, "is suitable only for one of two things, either the vine or the fire" (Augustine).

Rather than becoming simply mediocre when not connected to Jesus, we become absolutely powerless. Rather than the value of our work and witness being just diminished, it becomes completely worthless. We can no more function spiritually when unconnected to Jesus than we can function physically when cut off from the air that we breathe. Being unconnected to Jesus is being cut off from the source of life. Without our connection to Jesus, we are completely dependent on our own resources, resulting "either in total unfruitfulness or lapsing into the wild growth that is no longer shaped by his word, into activism or idealism that is neither derived from nor directed to him" (Ridderbos, 517).

"Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned" (v. 6). This echoes the tone of judgment in Jesus' metaphor of the sheep and the goats. We would prefer that Jesus affirm our goodness and assure us of life. Instead we learn that, apart from Christ, there is no goodness or life.

"If you abide in me, and my words (Greek: rhemata) abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" (v. 7). "The 'words' (plural) here are rhemata; the 'word' (singular) of verse 3 is logos. The logos is (Jesus') teaching in its entirety; the rhemata are the individual utterances which make it up. He himself is the living embodiment of all his teaching" (Bruce, 309).

"If...my words abide in you" (v. 7a). "Mutual indwelling involves more than just obedience...; it also entails a growing absorption of Jesus' teaching in one's understanding and life practice that issues in the bearing of much fruit" (Kostenberger, 455).

Verse 7 sounds very much like the "Ask and you will receive" passage in the Sermon on the Mount, but verse 7 establishes an important condition. It is only the person who abides in Christ who can expect to receive whatever he or she asks. We have great power, but only as we are connected to the source of power. Such connectedness shapes our asking. If we abide in Christ and his words abide in us, our asking will be in accord with his will. Jesus says, "Ask whatever you wish," but the person who abides in Christ will not wish for frivolous or evil things. As we abide in Christ, our hearts will be focused on Christ's concerns and our prayers will sound more and more like his prayers.

"My Father is glorified by this" (v. 8a). The word "glory" is used in the Bible to speak of various wonderful things –– but it is used especially to speak of God's glory –– an aura associated with God's appearance that reveals God's majesty to humans.

Christ shares God's glory. The glory of the Lord was revealed at his birth (Luke 2:9; John 1:14). His disciples, Peter, James and John, were privileged to see Christ's glory on the Mount of Transfiguration (9:28-36). Christ's cross was necessary so that he might "enter into his glory" (Luke 24:26; see also Philippians 2:5-11). The Gospel of John in particular speaks of the cross as Christ's glorification (John 12:23; 13:31-32). Jesus spoke of returning "with power and great glory" (Luke 21:27).

This verse tells us that we, too, can glorify God by our actions and fruitbearing.

"that you bear much fruit and become my disciples" (v. 8b). This is puzzling. Jesus is speaking to people who are already disciples. Why does he speak of their "becoming" his disciples? Perhaps the answer is that our discipleship is always imperfect and we are always learning (the word "disciple" means one who learns). Our fruit bearing helps us to grow as disciples. Growth in saintliness brings glory to God.


THOUGHT PROVOKERS:

"The branch severed from the vine means paralysis and death.
But it means also an impoverished vine.
The healthy branch is a vehicle for the expression of the vine.
Paul said, 'I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.'"

John Henry Jowett

* * * * * * * * * *

The big end of the branch is always toward the vine.
The fruit comes on the little end.
When we daily direct the big end of our lives toward Christ and his Word,
an amazing thing takes place.
The fruit comes on the little end.
It will come in a way that will let us know
that it was because of him and in spite of us.

Lane Adams

* * * * * * * * * *

We ask the leaf, "Are you complete in yourself?"
And the leaf answers, "No, my life is in the branches."
We ask the branch,
and the branch answers, "No, my life is in the root."
We ask the root,
and it answers, "No, my life is in the trunk
and the branches and the leaves.
Keep the branches stripped of leaves, and I shall die!"

So it is with the great tree of being.
Nothing is completely and merely individual.

Harry Emerson Fosdick

* * * * * * * * * *

In Christian service
the branches that bear the most fruit
hang the lowest.

Anonymous

* * * * * * * * * *

Living with...handicapped people, I realize how success oriented I am. Living with men and women who cannot compete in the worlds of business, industry, sports, or academics, but for whom dressing, walking, speaking, eating, drinking, and playing are the main "accomplishments," is extremely frustrating for me. I may have come to the theoretical insight that being is more important than doing, but when asked to just be with people who can do very little I realize how far I am from the realization of that insight.... Some of us might be productive and others not, but we are all called to bear fruit: fruitfulness is a true quality of love.

Henri J. M. Nouwen in Lifesigns

* * * * * * * * * *

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