Title: The Vine and the Branches
Scriptures: Acts 8:26-40, John 15:1-8
5/18/03 Fifth Sunday of Easter
Rev. Joy R. Haertig
For early Christians, Mediterranean people were keenly aware of the importance of grapes and wine for family life and community celebration.
Over and over again one can find references to vines, fruit and wine throughout the Bible. Vines were the source of life and prosperity, the metaphor was used in prayer - prosperity imagined a wife as a “fruitful vine and children as olive shoots.” Prophetic utterances of doom foretold languishing vineyards and vines with withered leaves. The house of Israel was the Lord's vineyard, the soil from which the divine gardener longed to harvest good fruit. The Old Testament alludes to vineyards both literally and metaphorically as precious possessions and sources of wealth and livelihood. It is no surprise then that the New Testament writers took up the images of the vine and the vineyard and wove them into their theological vision. In our reading today from the Gospel of John, Jesus identifies himself as the full harvest of the vine that is Israel. (Wendy M. Wright, Weavings, Sept/Oct 2001)
Thinking metaphorically helps us understand something we don't quite understand, it can help us form a picture/an image that can bring our relationship to God to life in a new way. Comparing our lives to the branches of a vine, and God and/or Jesus as the “parent vine” as well as the vineyard caretaker gives us a vivid image of the nutrients God, the Parent Vine, gives to us.
When I was in graduate school in the Bay Area it was not unusual to take a Saturday and drive up to wine country for the day (searching for the perfect communion wine, of course). The rows of vines, pregnant with ripe grapes were lovely to behold as they stretched across the peaceful rolling hills of Sonoma or Guernsville. Metaphorically speaking, like the generous image of vines pregnant with luscious grapes, there is something beautiful, thirst-quenching, generous and peaceful about a person that is well connected to God.
In the reading we heard this morning from the Book of Acts, I see the disciple Philip's behavior as reflecting his connection to the Life-giving Vine. Philip is reaching out beyond Jerusalem to share Jesus' teachings; he has even gone as far as Ethiopia. From the point of view of Jerusalem, Ethiopia was considered “the end of the earth”. It covered “the western third of what is now Sudan, all of Eritrea, Yemen and Ethiopia and most of Somalia. It was considered an exotic place that exported such luxury items as gold, incense and ivory.” (Seasons of the Spirit curriculum study guide)
In this exotic place, Philip encounters an Ethiopian eunuch. Eunuches were excluded from congregating in the temple, most likely “because of their association with pagan worship.” (Seasons…) He was also the queen's treasurer, so he represented those in power. It was a new concept to see Christ's message “touch the lives of the high and mighty.”(Seasons…)
But like Jesus himself, when a person is well attached to the Vine, there is a greater chance of openness and mutual respect to new encounters with all humanity. Philip does not turn away from the eunuch, instead he welcomes the opportunity to talk with him and broaden Philip's own understanding of God's love. Philip joyfully baptizes the eunuch without looking over his shoulder and worrying about what the neighbors might think.
The more we nurture our connection with the Source of Life, the more we come to discover and celebrate that God's love is working “in all the world at all times.” (Seasons…) To abide in God means we branch out, not close in.
Laura Tsang is a psychotherapist at Presbyterian Counseling Service, she has learned the depth of what it means to abide in Christ in her work as a therapist.
On April 15, 1989 Laura became a Christian, went to Sunday school, Bible studies and other church functions. She thought she knew and understood the love the Bible talks about. In time she came to realize that her understanding was superficial. When she went to the university to become a therapist, she learned about theories and skills to help her clients, but in her work she felt empty and a lack of connection. She eventually hooked up with a supervisor that has helped her through her growth as a Christian and as a therapist. With his words, actions, and support, he demonstrated to her that to become an effective therapist, she must not be afraid to love another person. She has come to believe that she must learn to apply the unconditional love of Jesus in her work as well as her private life. She has come to believe that all the skills and theories in the world will only help her clients somewhat, but when she combines it with love, her clients have a whole different experience.
When we stay close to God the Vine, I see other abundant fruit come forth from our branches as well. Over a lifetime of abiding in God we learn the value of slowing down so that God can penetrate through our dense armor of activity. We increase the chance of detaching from our own agendas of how things “ought to be” in our lives and learn to trust in God and in turn ourselves. We come to understand that God's Spirit is flowing through us and with practice we might even come to recognize it! By abiding in God through Christ's example we even learn how and when to say yes and how and when to say no. And perhaps most importantly, we learn to open up our hearts and become more willing to give to others and be with others in their suffering. (Journey into Freedom newsletter, March 2003)
The beautiful metaphor of the vine and the branches reminds us of how closely connected we are to God and how Jesus is our best example of that intimacy and its ultimate fruitfulness. Let us pray -
Lord God, Vine of Heaven -
We long to abide in you, a living and fruit-bearing branch of the true vine. Grant that we may learn from all the experiences of our lives - the “pruning” ones, the changing ones, and the seemingly dead ones so that when the renewing sap flows through the branches of the vine, we may rejoice and bear fruit for the joy of the world. Amen. (Re-write of prayer by Brother Ramon, The Way of Love)