Text: John 15:4-5a
Words of Jesus: 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.
Prayer: from Psalm
19:14
May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable
to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.”
It is the last of the “I am” sayings recorded in the gospel of John. You know the other “I am sayings.” Jesus said:
And the last of the “I am” sayings, today’s text, “I am the vine.”
Jesus was undoubtedly speaking about grape vines. I don’t know much about grapes, and vineyards. But I know a lot about ivy. Over the years I have had a close and intimate relationship with ivy. I am particularly close to poison ivy. Just mention the word and I break out with a rash. As I have gotten older I have become more sensitive to other ivy as well. I trimmed the English ivy in our yard and broke out with such a rash that I had to go to the doctor. I assumed that I had been in touch with poison ivy. It took me some time to realize that I had developed the same sensitivity to English Ivy.
But the ivy I know best was the Boston ivy that climbed the walls of the manse of the church that I served for twenty years. The manse was a beautiful Tudor home with cream colored stucco and dark brown trim and shutters. When I first moved to that home the ivy grew up one side of the house. I loved that ivy. I nurtured it and trained it. When we left that home the ivy covered all the walls of the house from top to bottom.
It was a maintenance headache, however. Every year, when the growing season ended I trimmed the ivy. It was a whole day’s project. I had to get the stepladder, and the twenty foot ladder and the forty foot extension ladder to reach the ivy. I trimmed the ivy away from the roof and the soffits and gutters, and the windows, and the doors, and the shutters, all the while keeping a close watch for bird nests and bee’s nests in the ivy.
But I loved the ivy. And I learned that the more I trimmed it and trained it the stronger it became and the better it grew.
Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” Jesus also said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.”
Those words grew in meaning and importance for me as I trimmed and trained that ivy year after year. I loved that ivy, and our heavenly Father loves the vines and the branches. From time to time we are trimmed, clipped, and trained so that we might grow strong and grow the way our creator wants us to grow, because our heavenly Father loves us.
When things don’t go the way I think they should, when I can’t reach a goal that I have set for myself, when a door is closed to me, when I face a dead end in my life I need to remember that God is in charge. God may be clipping me; God may be training me, because he loves me, because he wants me to grow the direction he wants me to go.
Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.” The God we worship, the God we call the Creator, is not just some higher power, or “the man upstairs”, or a supreme being. The vinegrower has an intimate relationship to creation. The vinegrower has an intimate relationship with us. God has an interest in us. God loves us and wants us to be all that we can be.
To prove it God sent Jesus into the world. God sent Jesus into the world to be one of us. God sent Jesus into the world for an even closer connection, an even closer relationship.
Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” That’s a close and intimate relationship.
Today is Mother’s Day, and in this service of worship we also celebrate the festival of the Christian Family. Today we celebrate close relationships. In particular we recognize mothers and our relationship to our mothers. Our mothers gave us life.
Our mothers along with our fathers gave us our genetic inheritance which has molded and shaped our lives, our looks, our size, and our predispositions. Our relationship with our mothers continues to be determinative even if, as is the case with me, we left home decades ago, even if our mothers have been deceased for many years. That relationship continues to be important. The care and nurturing we received from them still affects us. And who can forget the lessons our mothers taught us. They still rumble around in our memories.
Our relationship with our mothers is about as close and intimate as you can get.
The Outer Banks is one of our favorite places for vacation. We get there at least once a year. One time Mary and I were exploring the town of Manteo and we saw a sign that pointed to “The Mother Vine”. We drove around and around but we never did find it. But “The Mother Vine” which is, ostensibly, the original vine in America that produced Scuppernong grapes. It gave life to all other Scuppernong grapes. Mothers are like vines in that they give life and nurture to their children. Our relationship with our mothers is a matter of life and breath. In that sense it is not that different from the kind of relationship that God has with us. He is the vinegrower and he sent his son who said, “I am the vine, and you are the branches.”
It is the vine that gives nurture, and growth, and strength to the branches. It is the vine that gives life to the branches. Without the vine there is no branch. Through Jesus Christ, God gives us life and breath and all that we need to be the people he wants us to be.
Today we recognize
our mothers. Today we celebrate our relationships in families. We belong, however,
not just to a human family; we belong to a divine family. Through Jesus Christ
we are children of God. Through Jesus Christ we are the family of God. Thanks
be to God!