Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to him. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” (John 15.1-8)
In our electronic age, a time characterized by everyone being connected to some gadget and screen time no longer something just for movie stars, we are keenly aware of what it means to have a connection. If our internet connection fails, we’re lost like a castaway on a deserted island. If our phone conversation with someone is cut off or fades in and out because our connection to a cell tower is poor, we become frustrated like a child whose access to the cookie jar has been stymied by a tight lid.
So, the gospel passage that we hear on this Fifth Sunday of Easter should be a breeze for us to understand, even if the imagery may be somewhat foreign to some of us. It’s very clear that Jesus is talking to his disciples about a connection, specifically keeping a strong connection to him. Given the historical times in which he lived, it was sensible for him to talk about a grapevine that has branches and fruit, a common sight for the people of Judea in Biblical days.
Using this everyday image, Jesus wanted to impress upon his followers the need to stay close to, connected with him, in the same way that the shoots or twigs must stay connected to the trunk of a grapevine if they are to thrive. Even in our potted plant age, we get the idea. If we accidentally snap a shoot or break a branch off of a houseplant, we know it will wilt and wither, now separated from its source of nutrients and water. No longer connected to the main stalk, death is only a matter of time.
As we heard, the word that Jesus used to speak of this connection is “remain.” ““Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.” The actual Greek word can be variously translated as remain, abide, or stay.
Our translation chooses to use the word remain which works fine. So would stay. “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever stays with me and I with him will bear much fruit.” In other words, stay connected, stay close, stay in contact. Likewise, some translations prefer abide, but the word doesn’t resonate with us as well because it has fallen out of use in modern parlance.
For our purposes today, I would like us to think about the nature of our connection that we have with Jesus since the scriptures tell us we are incapable of bearing fruit on our own should we become disconnected from Jesus or don’t stay with him. Like shoots or twigs, we will wither and dry up without Jesus as our source of life.
At the start, it is fairly safe to say that most of us believe we have a connection to Jesus. After all, we call ourselves Christians, the name implying we are followers of Christ. So, at first glance, it may seem redundant to talk about our connection to him. It should be obvious. And, for the most part, we also try to show that we are connected to Jesus by our intentional acts.
All of that is fine and good and not open to dispute. The point I want to make has to do with the strength of that connection. As we surely know from personal experience with our cell phones and iPads, the signal strength of our connection can vary a great deal. Most of our devices even provide us with a readout of the strength, offering us bars or wavelengths to indicate how strong the connection is.
So, borrowing from that image and putting it simply, what is the signal strength of our connection to Jesus? How many bars show up on our screen of discipleship? How many wavelengths do we produce in our connection to Jesus? Would they point to a robust connection or would they suggest a slow connection, the signal weak because our staying close to Jesus is not strong?
As is apparent from the passage, the problem with the connection–if there is one–is on our end, not on Jesus’ end. He makes it very clear that he wants to stay connected with us. He wants his spirit to permeate our lives and our ways. “Remain in me, as I remain in you.” His words imply that a poor connection is because of us, not because of him. Simply stated, the cell tower isn’t the problem.
Here’s the thing that I think is often overlooked and may need to be spelled out for us. Just as we wouldn’t put up with a poor or mediocre connection on our devices, so we shouldn’t want a poor or mediocre connection with Jesus. Again, it would seem that we would want four bars on our discipleship just as we do on our iphone’s signal strength.
Obviously, the same principle applies to the image of the vine and the shoots. If there is not a strong bond or if there is a slight break between the stalk and the shoot, then there is a greater likelihood that the plant will not thrive. Should a strong wind snap a branch, it may survive for a while, but it isn’t going to produce much of anything. It’s on borrowed time.
Here’s my point. Our following the words and ways of Jesus is not something that can be interrupted, not if we’re faithful followers. We can’t connect and disconnect at will, deciding on Sunday morning to be connected to Jesus and then deciding on Monday morning that we’re going to disconnect from him. If his life is to remain strong in us, then it means we have to keep the connection strong.
And I think that’s where the big problem for most of us comes in. We claim a connection with Jesus through our baptism and probably through a church affiliation of some sort, telling ourselves that we are connected to Jesus in these ways, but we don’t take it the next step and ask ourselves just how strong that connection is. Does it fade in and out like a poor phone connection, or does it stay strong minute by minute?
If I’m hearing Jesus correctly in what he tells his disciples today, the answer will be uncovered in the fruit that we bear. Listen closely and we find that he continually talks about bearing fruit in this particular passage. “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.” In fact, in these eight verses, he refers to fruit at least five times, surpassed only by the word remain that occurs eight times.
So the strength of our connection to Jesus is found in the quantity of fruit we bear. A close reading of the passage shows that Jesus quantifies our fruitfulness, either calling us to bear more fruit or to bear much fruit, in both instances indicating that discipleship is quantifiable by the fruits we bear. And, the way to get a greater yield, says Jesus, is to stay close to him. The stronger and steadier our connection to Jesus, the more fruit we will bear. It is almost too obvious to need pointing out.
But, we would be right to ask exactly what Jesus means by his use of the word fruit. When he says that his Father will be glorified when we bear much fruit by being his disciple, how should we understand that word? Anybody can look at a grapevine or at a fruit tree and see immediately if it is loaded with fruit. But how do we do the same with our own lives?
The first thing I want to clarify is that one size does not fit all. In the same way that there are countless varieties of grapes and innumerable types of fruit, so it is with the fruit that we bear. Much depends on us and where we are planted, meaning the opportunities that come our way because of the specifics of our place in the world. So, it is near to impossible to name all the types of fruit that we can and should bear.
However, it is also safe to say that the fruits–however different in type–all bear a remarkable resemblance to the fruit that Jesus bore in his time on earth. We don’t have to puzzle over what we are supposed to do or in what ways we are called to bear fruit. As followers of Jesus, the template is set for us. When we live our lives in the same way that Jesus lived his, then we are being fruitful.
And how did Jesus live his life so that it might be fruitful? He lived for others, not for himself. He put the needs of others before his own needs. He reached out to those in distress, those who were depressed, those who had despaired, and offered them comfort, consolation, and compassion. When he saw someone who was hungry, he offered food. When he saw someone who was thirsty, he offered a drink.
As he walked the roads of Galilee, opportunities came his way each and every day to show to others the love of God his Father. He embraced sinners, never laying even heavier burdens upon their backs by his condemnation, but invited them to sit at table with him, in this way showing them by his actions that they were still loved even if their lives were not picture-perfect.
He insisted that no one was an outcast, no one was so removed from God that he or she was irredeemable, no one was beyond hope. Not the leper, not the prostitute, not the tax-collector. While higher-ups and the haughty were quick to hold their noses high, looking down on the hapless and the homeless, he did the opposite, treating each and everyone as a beloved child of God, however smudged their faces or however stained their souls.
In the end he was nailed to a cross, not that he wasn’t crucified many times before for living and loving in a way the world would not tolerate, now strung up between two outcasts, at one with the the lost and the last even here, put to death not for his littleness of heart, but because of his bigness of heart. As he drew his last breath, he asked his Father in heaven to forgive the men who had murdered him, his heart finding a place even for his enemies. His life bore fruit to the very end.
A few decades ago, the doctor who had directed the development of Tylenol tablets, shared that after he had retired to a good life in a gated community surrounded by golf courses, he gradually came to see firsthand the disparity of medical care that was available to the rich and to the poor as he offered rides to maids, gardeners, groundskeepers and construction workers who worked for the rich folks in the big houses in the community and who he saw walking home on the road that led to the other side of town. He was stunned to see how little access to medicine the “little people” had.
So, he set out to remedy the situation, coaxing and convincing other people in the medical profession to come out of retirement to provide free clinics in communities around the country. He called the project “Volunteers in Medicine.” The response on the part of retirees and people in need was immediate and impressive, resulting in the project getting legs and slowly sweeping across the country.
He explained that the reason for starting the project was simple. Recalling his days growing up, he said that his dad had been a Methodist preacher during the Great Depression. He had a routine when all seven of his children had sat down at the table for their evening meal. Taking turns, each child would have to answer the question that their dad posed to them each and every day. The question was “And what did you do for someone today?” His life was formed and moved forward by that question that stayed with him throughout the years.
“And what did you do for someone today?” If we want to know how fruitful our life is, that is about as good a place to begin as any. Our answer to the question will tell us two very important things about our lives–how closely connected we are to Jesus and how much fruit we are bearing as a result. Then, with that answer, we can decide if we need a stronger connection.
–Jeremy Myers
Sunday Brunch 