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17.05.2009_The Vine and the branches
| 23.05.2009, 12:00 | |
| Rev. Davide Cantarella Sunday May 17 – John 15:1-12; 1 John 4:7-21 The idea of productivity is at the very core of capitalism. The basic concept in capitalism is the idea that we can always produce more by using fewer resources, thus minimizing expenses and maximizing productivity. Some of you may have noticed this concept in real life. Have you noticed by any chance that when the number of people in the place where you work decreases, the amount of work you need to do increases? This is called maximizing productivity. However, we need to understand that this pressure to produce more does not simply influence the amount of work we do, but at times the way in which we live. For instance, we always try to maximize the number of things we do in a specific amount of time. It's natural – if I need to go to the pharmacy, I may as well go to the Sberbank nearby and pay the phone bill, so I do two things at the same time. If I need to cook and wash dishes, first I put the water on the stove, then I start washing dishes, and by the time I am done washing, the water is boiling. I have done two things at the same time, and I increase my productivity. And why is it that I need to increase my productivity? So that at the end of the day, I look back and count the things that I got done, and feel good about myself. It means I have used my time productively. I was fruitful. On the other hand, if at the end of the day I look back and did not get a lot done, then I feel depressed because I wasted my time and was not productive. In this case I was not fruitful. I guess we can say, there is a degree to which most of us, if not all of us, want to be fruitful. We do not want to come to the end simply to realize that we have wasted our lives doing something useless. We want to live knowing that what we do matter; that we are making our contribution - that our lives do bear fruit. The Gospel of John agrees with us. We need to live so that our lives do bear fruit. Yet, there is specific spin in what we read in John – and we had better pay attention. In chapter 15 Jesus is half-way through his last discourse to the disciples. It is the last teaching session Jesus has with his disciples – the longest and probably most important in John's Gospel. The session starts with the washing of the disciples' feet, and continues with Jesus' predicting Judas' betrayal, Peter's denial, his own resurrection, and the sending of the Holy Spirit. When we come to ch. 15 we find an amazing metaphor – “I am the vine and you are the branches”. There is so much we can say about this passage that a week of preaching will not be enough. But since I don't have a week, I need to use the time I have productively. Jesus says he is the Vine, and also says we are the branches. The Father is the vine-grower. The task of the branches is to bring fruit; the task of the vine is to nourishes the branches, so that they can be fruitful. The task of the vine-grower is to take care of both the vine and the branches. Quite simple. In order for the branches to receive the necessary nourishment, they need to remain in the vine. Have you ever seen a branch break off and take a walk? Nope. It's impossible. A branch stops being a branch as soon as it is broken off; it becomes simply wood. It is its connection to the vine (or the tree) that makes wood a branch. If we apply this to ourselves, we need to say that in order to be true disciples we need to remain attached to Christ. It is our vital connection with Christ that makes us Christians. We may look like Christians, talk like Christians, pray like Christians, but if we are not connected to the Vine, we are not branches. Simply wood. The Gospel says, we have essentially two options with regard to the Vine. We can either be connected, or be disconnected – the Bible uses the words remain and not remain. If we remain, we receive nourishment, and we bring fruit. If we don't remain, we become like dry wood. And dry wood can only be used one way – a bonfire. On the other hand, branches that remain are pruned, so that they can bring more fruit. Let me expand here a little bit. Pruning is what we do to plants to make them healthier and stronger. While from the point of view of the plant this may seem an unnecessary violence, from the point of view of the gardener it is a necessary act of love. In pruning the obstacles to further growth are removed, so that the branch will produce more and be stronger. The problem with pruning is that it looks a lot like cutting off. The original words in Greek are similar. The Russian words are similar (срезать — отрезать). From the point of view of the branch, it may be confusing. “Is the gardener pruning me or cutting me off?” Well, the result of pruning is greater health and fruitfulness. The result of cutting off is death and dryness. At times in our Christian life we go through days when it's not clear whether God is lovingly pruning us or unmercifully cutting us off. My guess to you is – it's pruning. It hurts, but it's necessary. And looking back, you'll be grateful, for the fruit in your life will bring life to others. Indeed, true discipleship is about fruitfulness. And fruitfulness needs pruning. But, as we have said, it especially needs remaining. In other words, the secret of fruitfulness is not in doing many things at the same time; is not in careful planning; is not in having the best equipment. The secret of fruitfulness is in remaining in Christ. 9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. Fruitfulness is remaining in Christ. Remaining is Christ is obeying his commandments. Obeying his commandments is to love one another just as he loved us. We thus come to the conclusion that we are fruitful disciples not when we get a lot done, but when we love one another with the love of Christ. It's not about how qualified we are; it's not about how organized we are; it's not about how dependable we are; it's not about how neat we are. It's about whether we are able to transform the nourishment we receive from the vine into actual fruits of love in relationship to others. If this sounds radical, wait until we read what John says in the first of his epistles. Love for one another is so important for John that it shows up in every one of his writings. (1 John 4) 7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In just one verse, John says a lot. First of all, he tells us where love comes from. Love comes from God. There is only one source of love in the Universe. And that is God. And such love irradiates in the world through humans. Whoever loves is from God. Whoever does not love, is not from God. Of course, you know that the love I am talking about is the sort of love that seeks the good of the other person, and not one's own good – it is sacrificial, self-emptying love. This is why John says that we know what love is because God sent His Son to be a sacrifice for our sins. In him we see true love, love that empties itself for the sake of the other. True love does not start with us. It starts with God. Contrary to what we constantly hear on TV, love is not a human emotion; it is not a necessary ingredient of human evolution for the survival of the species. The origin of love transcends us. Love is divine. And this divine love comes to us in Christ. Divine love becomes human and dies for us – the unmistakable sign that God loves us. What shall we do in response to such love? John says, “Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.” It is quite simple. John sees a direct connection: the Father loves us and sends his Son for us. The Son loves us, and gives his life for us. We are loved beyond understanding; we are loved in ways words cannot express. We are flooded with divine love. And therefore we should irradiate this love in all directions, especially in the direction of the people around us. And when we love so, something amazing happens. The invisible God becomes visible. If God is love, then visible acts of love makes his nature visible. When we love one another and empty ourselves for the sake of others, we show in the flesh what God is in spirit. “No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.” And when we love so, sacrificially and sincerely, our imperfections are gradually removed; our thoughts are transformed, our actions are transformed, our attitudes are transformed; the old ways are replaced by new ways; the old person is replaced by the new person created in the image of Christ. This is the message of John and the message of the Gospel to all those who think they are the way they are and they cannot change. John says “love changes everything” and there is nothing love cannot transform. The love that God has poured on our hearts through the Son, the love that he shows us by giving us the Spirit to dwell in us, the love with which he loves us day after day in spite of our imperfections – this love, the love of God changes everything. When we let God's love flow through us to others, it transforms us. Here is the secret – love needs to go through you – into you and out of you. Much like a river, this love needs to wash you anew. For transformation it is not enough the you receive love; it is also necessary that you give it away. Because when you receive God's love, his love flows through you, and it reaches others, the greatest miracle takes place. We are transformed in the image of his Son. “16 God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.” We are given the opportunity to become the visible, flesh and bone, idea of what Jesus is like. Another amazing thing happens when we let God's love flow through us. Fear is cast away. Fear is probably one of our worst enemies, and certainly love's greatest enemy. If love is openness and self-giving, fear is closeness and self-preserving. As long as there is fear is us, our love cannot be perfect. “Fear of what?” you may ask. First of all, John says, fear of God. Some people read the Scriptures and think we should be afraid of God. They think of God as the One who is looking at them every minute to find them at fault and then punish them. And so they live in fear and try hard not to offend this God, so as to escape punishment. I am sorry for them, because they don't understand the Scriptures. The fear of God of which the Scriptures talk is really about knowing one's place in relationship to God - knowing that He is my Creator and Redeemer, and I am his redeemed creation. The God of the Bible is not busy trying to find us at fault. He is busy loving us and pouring His grace on us and every human being. He wants us to love Him and our fellow human beings. And if we do so, we have nothing to fear on the day of judgment. When we love this God who is for us and with us, we have nothing to fear. But there is also another fear – and that is our fear to love others and to be loved by others. This is the fear that grips us every time we want to same something lovely, every time we want to hug someone, every time we want to do something nice for another person, and we end up not doing it, because we don't know “how they will react”. It is what stops us from opening up ourselves; it is what creates a “us vs. them” mentality (where “us” is the people that sort of look like me, and are good, and them is those who don't really look like me, and they are bad); in general, it is what makes sure that the beauty God has created inside of us never gets to be seen by others. Fear is what makes us feel safe – and lonely. Why is it that we are more likely to fear than we are to love? There are probably lots of reasons, the greatest of which is that we learn fear from others. We tend to reflects the actions that we see in others. If we have been treated like garbage and never felt loved, we are likely to pass this on to others. And when someone tries to love us, we don't know how to react. If communication and conflict-solving for our parents consisted of yelling (крики) and brawls (скандалы), chances are this is what is going to look for us, and our children. And when someone does not yell at us, even when we think we deserve it, we don't know what to do. Ultimately, fear is what makes us hate ourselves for being the way we are, and not being what we would like to be. “Perfect love casts away fear”. The good news today is that love changes everything. The love of God can break cycles of fear that have been cursing us for generations. When we let God's love flow through us unto others, we are liberated from fear. The more we love without thinking of the other person's reaction, and without fear of being used, or hurt, or whatever; the more we unlearn the ways of our past, and we learn the ways of Jesus, the more our love becomes free and pure – a reflection of God's love. And our lives are transformed, and the lives of others are transformed. There are some of us, here in this room, who genuinely believe they are the way they are, and there is nothing anyone or God can do to change them. They don't like they way they are, they want to change, but change seems impossible. Well, I am saying to you again, love changes everything. God's love changes everything. And this love is not something we need to create. This love exists already, it is poured on us every day by the God who gave His Son for us and gives us the Spirit to live in us. You don't need to hate yourself. You don't need to remain the way you are. You don't want to live your life like a dry branch that does not bear any fruit. God does not want you to live your life like that. He wants you to be fruitful. Therefore, remain in Jesus. Let the love and life of Jesus flow through you. And let this love result in acts, thoughts and words of kindness carried out without fear in the perfect love of God. Then your life will be fruitful. And you will be a visible testimony of the invisible God. | |
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