The Fifth Sunday of Easter
The Rev. George Pejakovich, Assistant to the Dean
Grace Cathedral
05/10/09

John 15:1-8

WHEN I MOVED TO OHIO TO ATTEND SEMINARY, I BOUGHT A HOUSE WITH A BEAUTIFUL APPLE TREE IN THE BACKYARD. IT WAS A GOLDEN DELICIOUS APPLE TREE, WHICH WAS MY FAVORITE KIND OF APPLE. FOR THE ENTIRE TIME I WAS AT SEMINARY, I TENDED THAT TREE, PRUNING IT AND SPRAYING IT, AND DOING EVERYTHING I COULD TO TAKE CARE OF IT. AFTER TWO YEARS OF NOT GETTING A SINGLE EDIBLE APPLE OFF THE TREE, I WAS GROUSING ABOUT IT TO A MEMBER OF THE CONGREGATION WHO WAS A VERY SUCESSFUL FARMER AND WHO HAD HIS OWN PRODUCTIVE ORCHARD. HE VOLUNTEERED TO COME OVER AND LOOK AT MY TREE. ON THE APPOINTED DAY, ARMED WITH A CUP OF COFFEE, WE WALKED AROUND THE TREE TOGETHER AS HE CHECKED THE BRANCHES, LOOKED AT THE TRUNK, AND INSPECTED THE SOIL IN A STUDIED SILENCE. WHEN HE FINISHED, HE CAME OVER TO STAND NEXT TO ME, AND QUIETLY SAID, “WELL, VICAR, IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THE MAIN PROBLEM IS THAT YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING.” I NEVER DID EAT AN APPLE FROM THAT TREE.

THIS RATHER FAMEOUS PARABLE OF JESUS IS A FAVORITE OF PREACHERS. MY WIFE TELLS ME THAT WHEN SHE WAS GROWING UP IN THE EVANGELICAL UNITED BRETHERN CHURCH, ALMOST ALL OF THE VISITING PREACHERS AND MISSIONARIES WOULD PICK THIS PASSAGE AS THEIR TEXT. I THINK ITS APPEAL TO PREACHERS IS BECAUSE IT IS SO EASY TO USE IT TO TELL THE CONGREGATION THAT THEY MUST BEAR FRUIT. IT IS SO EASY TO SAY THAT UNLESS YOU BEAR FRUIT, YOU WILL BE PRUNED OFF THE VINE AND CAST IN THE FIRE TO BE BURNT. THIS IS GOOD “FIRE AND BRIMSTONE” KIND OF PREACHING, WHICH, WHILE TRUE, IS SLIGHTLY OFF THE POINT OF WHAT JESUS IS SAYING TO US.

TO PUT IT ANOTHER WAY, IT WOULD BE BEST TO HAVE SOME IDEA OF WHAT ONE IS ABOUT, AND WHAT THIS PARABLE IS ABOUT, BEFORE ONE GOES AND STARTS POINTING A FINGER AT A CONGREGATION TO DO SOME PRUNING . BEFORE I, OR ANY PREACHER, CAN DARE TO TALK ABOUT THE NEED FOR OTHERS TO BE PRUNED AND BEAR FRUIT, THE PROCESS OF PRUNING HAS TO BEGIN WITH ME.

WHEN JESUS SAYS, “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,” HE IS TELLING US THAT IT IS HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER IN HEAVEN THAT MAKES HIM INTO WHO AND WHAT HE IS. EVERYTHING WHICH WOULD SAP HIS STRENGHT, WEAKEN HIS COMMITMENT, DISTRACT HIM FROM HIS PURPOSE HAS BEEN CUT AWAY SO THAT HE COULD BE THE ONE GOD INTENDED HIM TO BE. HIS LIFE IS IN THE HANDS OF GOD, COMPLETELY AND IRRERVOCALLY, AND NOTHING AND NO ONE OTHER THAN GOD CAN INFLUENCE HIM OR SHAPE HIS PURPOSE. THIS IS WHAT MAKES HIM THE TRUE VINE AND THE SOURCE OF LIFE AND PURPOSE FOR HIS DISCIPLES.

 LIKE THE BRANCHES ON A VINE, WE CAN NOT LIVE WITHOUT THE LIFE FORCE THAT COMES FROM THE VINE. WE ARE, BY THE WORD AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, A PART OF HIM. HE ABIDES IN US AND WE ABIDE IN HIM. THE ROOT OF THE WORD “ABIDE” IN THE GREEK MEANS TO “CAST YOUR TENT ALONG SIDE.” IT MEANS TO MOVE YOUR SELF, AND ALL THAT YOU HAVE, INTO A NEW TRIBE AND TO BE COME ONE WITH THAT TRIBE; TO LIVE IN AND BECOME ONE WITH A NEW COMMUNITY. TO “ABIDE” IN JESUS MEANS TO BECOME ONE WITH HIM, AS HE IS ONE WITH THE FATHER, AND TO BECOME ONE WITH HIS PURPOSE AND MISSION. TO ABIDE WITH JESUS MEANS, IN THE WORDS OF THE LETTER OF JOHN, TO BE AS JESUS WAS, “BECAUSE AS HE IS, SO ARE WE IN THIS WORLD.” EVERYTHING THAT HE WAS AND IS WE ARE TO BE TO THE WORLD. JUST AS HIS LIFE WAS AND IS COMPLETELY AND IRREVOCABLY IN THE HANDS OF THE FATHER, SO MUST OUR LIVES BE. JUST AS HE SUBMITTED WILLINGLY TO THE PRUNING OF THE FATHER, SO MUST WE ALLOW OUR SELVES TO BE PRUNED OF ANY DEAD OR UNPRODUCTIVE GROWTHS THAT DISTRACT US OR WEAKEN US FROM WHAT GOD INTENDS FOR US TO BE IN JESUS.

THIS PROCESS IS NOT ONE WE CAN DO FOR OURSELVES. LIKE MY ATTEMPT TO GET FRUIT FROM MY APPLE TREE, BY MYSELF I WILL NEVER HAVE ANY IDEA ABOUT WHAT I AM DOING, AND, BY MYSELF AND  MY OWN EFFORTS, I WILL NEVER BEAR ANY FRUIT. IN MY OWN EYES, I ALWAYS FIND THAT I AM LOOKING PRETTY GOOD. I’M NOT SUCH A BAD PERSON, AND I GENERALLY TRY TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT IN MY OWN EYES. SURE, SOME THINGS ARE NOT SO GOOD, BUT WHEN I COMPARE MYSELF WITH OTHERS, I FIND THAT I’M NOT SO BAD. LEFT TO MY OWN HANDS, I WILL NEVER PRUNE AWAY WHAT NEEDS TO BE CUT OFF SO THAT I WILL GROW THE WAY GOD WANTS ME TO GROW IN JESUS. I WILL BECOME A FRUITLESS, WITHERED BRANCH, DEAD BECAUSE I AM NOT LIVING MY LIFE IN THE LIFE OF JESUS. BY MYSELF, I CAN NOT “ABIDE” IN HIM.

TO ABIDE IN JESUS, I, AND EACH ONE OF US, MUST SUBMIT OURSELVES COMPLETELY TO THE HANDS OF GOD. WE MUST WILLINGLY ALLOW GOD, BY THE POWER OF HIS HOLY SPIRIT, TO CONSTANTLY CUT AWAY ALL THAT SAPS OUR STRENGTH AND KEEPS US FROM THE LIFE THAT COMES TO US FROM JESUS. WE MUST WILLINGLY LET GOD TRIM AWAY ALL THAT WOULD KEEP US FROM BEING CHRISTIANS, LITTLE CHRISTS, IN THIS WORLD, BECAUSE ONLY BY THE CONSTANT PRUNING OF GOD CAN WE BE WHAT WE WERE CALLED TO BE. ONLY BY THE CONSTANT PRUNING OF GOD CAN WE ABIDE IN JESUS, AND WITH HIM ABIDING IN US, CAN WE BEAR THE FRUIT OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

THIS IS WHAT IS MEANT BY “DYING DAILY WITH CHRIST.” WE MUST, DAILY, CONSTANTLY, ALLOW OUR SELVES TO RESPOND TO THE PROMPTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD TO CUT AWAY THE DEAD WOOD OF OUR LIVES. WE MUST RELY ON THE PRUNING BY THE HANDS OF GOD, AND NOT IN OUR OWN WISDOM AND STRENGTH. WE MUST DAILY BE CONVICTED OF ALL THAT SEPARATES US FROM THE LIFE OF CHRIST, AND BY THE GRACE OF GOD, FIND DAILY FORGIVENESS. THEN WE MUST LET GOD CUT THAT SIN OUT OF US, SO THAT WE CAN, DAILY, GROW MORE AND MORE LIKE JESUS; IN WHOM WE LIVE AND HAVE OUR BEING.

ANGER, PRIDE, LUST, COVETEDNESS, GREED, ENVY, IDOLOTRY ARE ALL A PART OF THE LIFE OF EACH HUMAN BEING, AND NONE OF WHICH HAVE ANY PART OF THE LIFE IN CHRIST. WE HAVE BEEN CLEANSED BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, BUT WE HAVE NOT ESCAPED THE NEED FOR THE CONTINUAL PRUNING OF OUR SPIRIT BY THE HANDS OF GOD. WE MUST WILINGLY SUBMIT TO HIS TENDER AND LOVING CUTTING AND CORRECTION, SO THAT ANYTHING WHICH WOULD STUNT OUR GROWTH OR SAP OUR STRENGTH CAN BE CUT AWAY AND CAST ON THE FIRE. ANYTHING WHICH IS NOT LOVE MUST BE CUT AWAY.     

IN THIS WAY, AND ONLY IN THIS WAY, CAN WE ABIDE IN CHRIST, AND, ABIDING IN CHRIST, CAN WE LIVE WITHOUT FEAR BECAUSE OUR LIVES ARE IN THE HANDS OF GOD. IN THIS WAY, AND ONLY IN THIS WAY, CAN WE LIVE WITHOUT FEAR AND LIVE IN LOVE; AND IT IS ONLY BY LIVING IN LOVE THAT WE CAN BEAR THE FRUIT OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
AMEN