Fifth Sunday of Easter 

 

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

Every year the image, or metaphor, Jesus used in John 15:1-8 takes on flesh in the Okanagan Valley. There are several vineyards  a five minute walk from my home.
 

During the winter months grapevines are a pitiful sight. The vine begins as a small gnarled stump that emerges from the snow-covered ground.  The vine narrows like whip. It is bound to posts and wires. Bare little sticks protrude from each vine. These are the branches. It seems impossible that these sticks could come to life and bear fruit. Yet, every spring lifegiving sap emerges from each vine’s root system and courses through the vine and branches. The vine and branches literally change color and they swell and grow. Large luscious leaves emerge from buds formed on the branches. Then blossoms emerge from the branches. Over the spring and summer the blossoms turn into bunches of luscious grapes.
 

It is important to remember that Jesus spoke these words on the first Maundy Thursday evening. The very next day (Good Friday) he would be tried and found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to death by the Jewish Sanhedrin and a Roman Governor. He would immediately be nailed to a cross, suffer, die and be buried in a tomb. He would rise from the dead three days later on the first Easter Sunday. Jesus had told them all this would happen.   
 

The disciples Jesus had addressed that night were connected to him. They had been baptized. They had lived with Jesus during most of his three year ministry. He had taught them daily. They had witnessed his miracles. They truly were “in Jesus.” Yet, the very next day the connection that they had with Jesus was going to be broken. On the evening of the first Good Friday, like a grapevine in Kelowna, BC, in January, the vine would be barren. Like the sap trapped in the root of the grapevine, Jesus would be laid low and buried in a tomb. However, like the sap in the root, Jesus would emerge and breath new life in the vine and branches.
 

Jesus promised that he would establish a new connection with his disciples.  He promised that he would come into them, just like the sap comes into a branch each spring and brings new life, growth and fruit. This connection would be established by the promised Holy Spirit. In baptism we are joined to the death of the vine, Jesus Christ. Our sins are forgiven when we die with him. In the same baptism we receive the Holy Spirit and new life courses into us. Thereafter, the Holy Spirit uses the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached and proclaimed as more lifegiving sap that causes us to grow in grace and faith and trust  in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We receive the bread and wine of Holy Communion. Through these elements we receive the forgiveness of sin, the dead leaves shoots are removed,  real presence of Jesus in us. The Word and the Sacrament produce the fruit of faith in us, that we are able to love one another as Jesus loved us. We bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit: peace, love joy, forbearance, goodness,  kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Jesus promised:  “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24).
 

Pastor Olaf Latzel  (pictured above) was the keynote speaker at CALC's 2016 annual general convention which was held at All Saints Lutheran Church in Ottawa, Ontario. He unabashedly describes himself as a conservative and orthodox Lutheran Christian. He was the pastor of St. Martini Church in Bremen, Germany. St. Martini is the only conservative congregation in the Evangelical Church of Bremen a small Lutheran Church body.  His conservative preaching has go him in trouble with the local authorities before. This time the Public Prosecutor of the city/province of Bremen, Germany, alleged that certain statements  Pastor Latzel made during  a marriage seminar were  highly critical of LGBTQI people and  amounted to “incitement to hatred” or “sedition.” His case went to trial, he was found guilty of Sedition and he was sentenced.  The Evangelical Church of Bremen (ECB)  took away his license to preach. 

Pastor Latzel reached out to me, as CALC's President for support. I wrote a letter to the ECB which upheld Pastor Latzel's message and urged the ECB to reinstate Pastor Latzel. Click here to read the letter. The letter was turned into a petition and signed by 74 individuals.