“How to Be a
Branch”
John
15:1-8
May 10, 2009
In a vineyard, the best grapes are produced closest to the central
vine. Understandably, that is where the nutrients are the most concentrated.
In order to keep the fruit close to the vine, branches are pruned and kept short.
Jesus drew an apt description of the life of discipleship from this metaphor of
nature. Jesus is the vine, God is the grower, and we are the branches. Through
this image, two aspects of God’s intention for humanity are held in
tension—bearing fruit and being pruned.
Please listen for how the
Spirit is addressing us this morning through God’s word found on page 103 of your pew
Bibles from the Gospel of John chapter fifteen verses one through eight…
Jesus said, “I am the
true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears
no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.
You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 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. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me
you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and
withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide
in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for
you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my
disciples.”
This is God’s word to us…
When you think of fine
wine your mind and palate might wander to a particular region of France. The French
have a long history of vintage winemaking and have provided the names for most of the
well-known varieties of vino. Champagne, Bordeaux, Chardonnay, Burgundy, are all
regions that give their names to certain types of wine, that in order to be authentic,
must have originated from that region. For example, unless the stuff being sprayed
in the locker room of the World Series Champs indicates that it came from anywhere other
than the Champagne region of France, it’s really just “sparkling wine.”
While the French seem to
be the quintessential wine snobs, more adventurous winemakers have lately been branching
out, so to speak. Leaving behind the highly regulated regions of their homeland,
some French winemakers have moved to America’s more freewheeling wine country around
Napa, California, because in the Garden State they “not only have a lot more options,
but there is an excitement about trying new things.”
Still, some things are
true about winemaking no matter where the grapes are grown. One foundational
principle that applies both to Old World and New World wine is that great wine is always a
reflection of a particular vineyard. If you want to pick a good wine, in other
words, you have to know the source.
Jesus obviously knew a
little about wine himself since we often see him at parties in the gospels and since he
knew exactly what kind of wine would impress the steward and guests at the Cana wedding
feast. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Jesus used the metaphor of a
vineyard to describe his relationship to his followers. He knew that the best way to
tell what kind of product you were getting would be to look at the label and see where in
the world it came from. In the case of our reading from John chapter fifteen, the
source isn’t a place but a person—Jesus himself.
Jesus’ use of the vineyard has a long and storied history
throughout the Bible. The metaphor of the vineyard is used several times in the Old
Testament to describe God’s relationship with Israel. In Isaiah 5:1-7, for
example, God plants and tends a vineyard but it yields “wild grapes” or inferior
fruit—a metaphor for Israel and Judah’s turning away from God. The same
vineyard imagery is used in Jeremiah 2:21, Ezekiel 19:10-14 and Hosea 10:1. In each
case Israel is the “vine” and the ultimate source of poor “fruit.”
In the Old Testament, “fruitfulness” was another way of
saying “faithfulness,” thus a lack of good fruit meant that God’s people
had failed to be the true, nourishing vine that would bolster God’s reputation in the
world as the ultimate winemaker. That being the case, it was the winemaker’s
job to do some pruning and replacing, which is what the prophets understood the exile to
be about. Later, God would replant the vineyard with a new stock and that new vine,
the “true vine,” would be Jesus himself who embodied the new Israel, God’s
Chosen One, the One through whom the whole world would be saved and blessed.
But while the vine is the source for good fruit, it is the branches
that provide the vital link between the vine and its fruit. “I am the
vine,” says Jesus to his followers, “you are the branches” (v. 5).
Notice that we are not the “fruit,” the end product, but the conduit through
which the vine’s nourishment flows. The quality of the fruit thus depends on
the branches’ connectedness to the vine itself. What Jesus is describing here
is the necessary interrelationship between him and his followers—a relationship
characterized by mutuality and indwelling, but one that is also focused on bearing fruit
for the whole world.
The quality of branches and fruit depends solely on the quality of
their connectedness to the vine. When it comes to following Christ, when it comes to
each of us taking on the responsibility of calling ourselves disciples; we as branches
must give up our desire for individual achievement in order to become one of many
encircling branches—a community that is rooted and nurtured by Christ and points to
his reputation and quality, not our own.
So, if we are to be healthy branches of the Jesus vine, efficiently
transferring the nutrients of Christ to the fruit of the world; what do we need to keep in
mind? First, we have to remember that branches are
fruit-bearing—not—fruit-making. Jesus said, “Just as the branch
cannot bear fruit unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in
me. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you
can do nothing” (vv. 4-5).
Even as we know Jesus’ words are true they must compete with
the call of a culture of workaholism, achievement and success that can lure followers of
Jesus into thinking that we can be fruitful as a result of our own efforts. Many are
the church leaders who have built stunning churches and programs only to see their
creations crash and burn as a result of failure to stay intimately connected to Jesus.
When a branch gets the idea that it can make fruit, make wine, on its own; it dries
up, withers, and is no longer useful (v. 6). The mission of a branch is not to look
good or to call attention to itself but to openly acknowledge the source of its
effectiveness—as part of the Jesus Vine (v. 8).
The second thing that we branches need to keep in mind in order to
stay effectively and fruitfully connected to Jesus is that the “fruit” we bear,
like the grapes of a fine winery, is full of texture and flavor. The Apostle Paul
outlines what this complexity looks like in Galatians 5:22-23 when he talks about the
“fruit of the Spirit” which are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Another way to conceive of the fruit we bear might be to think about
grace. As branches, connected to and “abiding in” the source of God’s
love and grace (v. 4), we must always remember that we are conduits of God’s gifts
and not the end product. In other words, God’s grace and love always come to us
on their way to someone else; someone who will be able to, through us, in the words of
Psalm 34:8 “taste and see that the LORD is good” because we have been faithful
branches.
So how do we maintain our faithful fruit-bearing ways? This is
where the “pruning” comes in. While branches that are carrying no fruit
are removed, even the most fruitful branch is pruned as well, in order “to make it
bear more fruit” (v. 2). This is so because branches on a grapevine are prone
to growing too aggressively, producing more and more leaves and shoots that can bleed
nourishment away from the grapes. And so, a good winemaker knows that trimming back
excess growth is key to maximizing the branches effectiveness.
In the vineyards of Jesus’ day, grapevines grew along the
ground instead of being propped on poles or lattices as they are today. The
vinedresser would come along to lift and “clean” the vine, pruning away the
excess and dead growth. Jesus uses this image to describe the way his followers are
to be “cleansed by the word that he has spoken to” them (v. 3).
Jesus’ teaching and commandments and his followers’ meditation and obedience to
these words help them stay connected to his “love”—the nourishing flow from
the vine (v. 10).
Reading, meditating and praying through the Bible is one way in
which we are pruned. The words of Jesus about the kingdom and the story of his life,
ministry, death and resurrection focus us on what is truly important for bearing the fruit
of grace and love to the world. When we are focused on the “word,” we are
able to cut out all of those other offshoots and tangents of temptation that choke out
growth.
When the writer of Hebrews says that the Scripture is “sharper
than any two-edged sword” (4:12), he might have as easily said that Scripture was the
ultimate set of pruning shears, trimming us for the life of discipleship we were meant to
live. Such pruning can be painful as God uses it to lop off old habits and cut away
the growth of sin that we somehow think is attractive, so that we can embrace our purpose
as conduits of God’s grace and love.
Great wine is the reflection of a particular vineyard, be it from an
Old World tradition or an eclectic New World experiment. God wants to tend the
finest vineyard ever, the one that takes the prize for growth. May we, as followers
of Jesus, the true vine, embrace our role as branches—channels of God’s peace,
so that when the world samples the fine vintage that is God’s love and grace evident
in our words, deeds, and very lives, they will discover that they too want to know the
winemaker!
Amen.
SOURCE:
Nalley, Richard. “How to make great American wine: A few lessons from
the French.” Food and Wine Web Site.
Foodandwine.com/articles/how-to-make-great-american-wine-a-few-lessons-from-the-french.
