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Devotion for Wednesday, April 7th
The Vine
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Branches and beauty if not exactly a vine.
WPPC, April 7th, 2021
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This morning's reading comes from the Daily Lectionary Readings.
John 15: 1-17 (NRSV)
15‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide 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. 9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
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Dear Friends,
"I am the vine, you are the branches" is a beautiful metaphor for our relationship with God through Christ and with each other through Christ. It is one that lends itself to creating in art: many times I have created out of construction paper with a group of children a vine and branches and leaves. And upon the branches and leaves we right names: our own names, those of family and friends, those of people in the church, people who we like and those we have a hard time liking. And as the construction paper turns into a vine that grows like kudzu as it takes on more and more names, the children (and I) have always been struck by the image. Like the image of the Body of Christ in 1st Corinthians, it emphasizes our relationship to each other. Just like Paul says in 1st Corinthians, we cannot say to each other, "I have no need of you." We are all part of the same vine, the same living being.
But Jesus saying "I am the vine, you are the branches" is about far more than our relationships with each other, it points to our need for Jesus. Jesus is the fount of our life. Relationship with Jesus is not a mere bonus. It is not something pleasant to add on to an already full life. Relationship with Jesus is life - whether or not we recognize that fact. From Christ we draw grace, hope, life, light, courage, compassion, and love. Life is not just richer with Jesus, life is not complete without Jesus - and ultimately life is not without Jesus. Though, I wonder if even when we are doing our best to cut ourselves off from Jesus, if God doesn't show us grace and let us think we have cut ourselves free even as we are very much still a part of the vine. I hope God gives us that grace despite ourselves.
Jesus talks of following his commandment, but the commandment is relational. The commandment is to love one another. Here, Jesus echoes himself as he had spoken in John 13:34-35: "34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’"
In the practice of loving each other as Christ has loved us, we are ourselves drawn closer to Christ. As church family, we seek to love each other. Sometimes its complicated, but there is an amazing grace in being loved by the other who is seeking to love you just as you are seeking to love them. Christ is in that grace. In loving the other person, you are loving Christ. In being loved by the other person, you are being loved by Christ. The love that we share with each other is far from the entirety of the love that we encounter with Christ, but it is inseparable from that love and that grace.
It means so much to be loved by your church family, and sometimes when you express love - through care, concern, a simple gift, an act of service, a kind word or gesture, a card, a call, encouragement - it may be received by the other at a time when they need it more than they can express and more than they feel they can tell you.
Friends, love one another. We are all in this together, and we are all connected to each other.
Grace and Peace,
Emile
May I recommend for this day John Michael Talbot's song "I Am the Vine"?
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"I Am the Vine"
John Michael Talbot
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