I am the Vine; You are the Branches

 “It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit,

and then you will be my disciples.”   John 15.8

End of our eight foot gnarled grapevine trunk

Closeup of its promising shoots

TWO WEEKS LATER THE CANES ARE THRIVING

Though there are thriving vineyards not far away, here at the Jesuit Center we have only this one struggling vine.   Its gnarled old trunk was severely pruned this spring but, surprising us who know little of vine tending, these new shoots, called canes, are promising.  Last year the grapes were, while not vineyard worthy, somewhat plentiful and tasty.  Let's see what happens this year after the severe pruning.   Stay tuned for some seasonal progress.

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, April 29, 2018

Very often the gospels record the parables and proverbs that Jesus uses to illustrate his teachings.  In this morning’s gospel Jesus uses the grape vine as graphic illustration of our union with him.

In Berks County in recent years farmers and land owners have made the grape vine a more prominent feature of our landscape.   Wineries like Pinnacle Ridge and Clover Hill are attractive places to visit.   The grape vines themselves are extraordinarily durable.   They have a long and fruitful life, many bearing fruit for over a hundred years.   Tending the vines is a labor of love that demands focus, skill and good judgment.   Pruning is essential each year.   Done correctly it greatly improves the quality and number of grapes.    Not only are the dead branches cut off but most of the branches that bore fruit in the last season are cut back, some severely.   But amazing to those of us who know little about this pruning:  the tiny buds on the branches or canes that remain on the vine often yield two healthy clusters of grapes.

Jesus knew something about the care of the vines that yield fruitfulness.   This encouraged him to think of his followers as branches attached to him.   He imagines himself as the enduring trunk of the vine.   Truly, after the pruning process the budding branches might not look like they have much potential.   So, too, with his disciples; they appear to be without much potential, slow learners, knuckleheads we might say.   

We ask how it happens that they spread successfully the saving message of his love.  The answer is in the image.   As in the union of the vine and the branches, Jesus shares an intimacy with his disciples.   The vine and the branches together are one.  Without their intimate life of one in the other, no fruit is possible.   Jesus is life for the disciples and the disciples through their faith give life to his message.  

Year after year parts of pruned branches remain strong in their bearing of fruit, other branches die off but still new ones spring out of the trunk to continue the production of fruit.   So Jesus’ message not only survives but thrives into the ages that follow.   But to continue to bear fruit his disciples also experience the frequent pruning of their wayward selves, the frequent pruning of the fruitless parts of their persons. 

We pray that we can know ourselves as united to Jesus in that imagined intimacy of vine and branches.  This knowledge urges us to the practice of seeing Jesus in our brothers and sisters.  This knowledge urges us in our words and works to share ourselves freely with those that are in need.   Even if hardships seek to overcome us, this knowledge creates around us a community that offers consolation and hope.

        "It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit,

and then you will be my disciples.'