John 15:1-8
“I AM the Vine”
March 21, 2021
It has been one long, cold winter and I’m not just talking about the three months from December up to now, this first full day of spring.
This past year has been full of the characteristics of winter – even in the midst of the summer heat.
We spent much more time indoors with the fear of not going outside – not necessarily of slipping or driving over icy patches but instead treading very carefully when venturing out of the safety of our bubble, cautiously covering up against an unseen but ever-present danger that has taken root and made us fearful.
With spring comes warmth and the tiny shoots of the beginning of crocus and snowdrops just peeking out ever so slowly from under brown, dead leaves while vaccinations and the slow easing of restrictions, are lifted little by little.
We can envision a new landscape opening up right before our eyes.
If we let them, our imaginations take us both to greening grass and bold forsythia as well as to hugs with those we’ve missed, and gatherings face to precious face.
And none of this, absolutely none of this happens alone.
We are interconnected visibly and invisibly.
It is all about relationships.
Here in today’s passage we are challenged to consider God as the vine grower, Jesus as the vine and we are the branches.
There are parts of this passage that make me, well, uncomfortable.
I always struggle with a “do this or else” approach to faith.
Yes, there are always consequences for our actions, but I know I respond better with the carrot rather than the stick.
What draws me in, though, and makes me want more is the whole idea of abiding that John presents in this Gospel.
Jesus is offering here not just the power and strength and ultimate fruit that comes from abiding in him.
No, he says, “Abide in me, as I abide in you.”
We are not alone.
We have not been forgotten.
We do not have to fend for ourselves.
We abide and we bear fruit – that’s the carrot.
But this abiding is not a passive venture.
We are to keep bearing fruit and that may involve pruning and grafting in order to be bearers of love – love of God and love of neighbor – that John’s Gospel speaks of so passionately.
Back in 1899 in Ukraine, a boy named Konstantin was born into a farming family.
When the Russian Revolution began, he left school to fight in the White Army of the czar.
Unfortunately, the communist leaders banned the owning of land and the family farm was confiscated.
Konstantin then went to work as a teacher and ultimately earned a PhD in agriculture.
He worked at rebuilding famous vineyards and developing techniques to enhance the growing of grapes in cold climates.
Most of his family did not survive World War II but Konstantin and his wife made it first to Austria and then a few years later to New York state, ultimately ending up using his knowledge and experience to transfer the vinifera or grapevines of Europe and Asia to the climates around the Finger Lakes – going against the naysayers who said it couldn’t be done well.
Within a few years, he established the Dr. Konstantin Frank Vineyards with keen attention to research where “he collected, counted and weighted the production of individual vines.” (www.drfrankwines.com)
He would then harvest the grapes by hand and process them in small batches, carefully noting the taste and quality of each of them and only then putting them up for sale as wine.
Dr. Frank birthed an industry and served as mentor and teacher to vineyard entrepreneurs in California and Long Island. Much of the American landscape of wineries owes their beginnings to the dedication, research, care and concern of this man who sometimes had sixty varieties of grapevines or vinifera on his property and each was and still are showered with unwavering attention.
The fruit has begotten more fruit because of such tender loving care, now being carried on by his children and grandchildren.
What will we bear as the fruit of the vine that is Jesus?
How will our love produce more love?
These teachings of Jesus are coming as his earthly ministry is winding up.
This is the last of his I AM statements.
He wants to make sure that his disciples know that regardless of how hard life will get, especially when they feel deserted and alone, that they will not be abandoned.
So many of us go through hard times – unfathomable grief, financial challenges that seem never-ending, the struggle with a loved one living with Alzheimer’s or addiction – times when we feel cut off from all that is life-giving.
John here offers a promise – Jesus is with you. Jesus is on your side. Jesus won’t let you go. Jesus will abide with you.
Such knowledge can be hard to believe – especially when we so often feel cut off from those people who give our lives meaning. Doubt seems to keep showing up.
What is it about such a love that is so hard for us to accept?
Maybe we’ve become so accustomed to the pitting of one against the other – the attitude that you’re either for me or against me that seems to get so much attention and press.
What Jesus is offering is a relationship – one that we need do nothing to earn. We’re only asked to treasure and nurture it.
This I AM statement speaks of God’s grace as viewed through Jesus.
The writer Anne Lamott was able to express the unimaginable this way:
“I do not understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.”
We get to bear the fruit of such grace, all for the sake of love.
Amen and amen.