Gospel Reading: John 15:1-8
For Sunday, May 6, 2012 Year B—Easter 5
I’m nothing if not independent. Reportedly my first sentence was “do it self!” Yes, I will do it myself, thank you.
Choices
See, I want choices. And I want independence. But apparently I get neither. What I wish Jesus said is: “I am whatever you want me to be. And you can be whatever you want to be: vine, pruner, branch, soil...knock yourself out.” What Jesus actually says is: “I am the vine. My Father is the vine grower. You are the branches” Dang. The casting has already been finalized.
I guess that even if we don’t get to choose our role—God has determined that we are branches, Jesus is the vine and God is the vine grower; I wish that at least I could choose what kind of plant to be.
A Grape Vine? Really?
Vines, and branches off of vines, are all tangled and messy and it’s just too hard to know what is what. If I’m going to bear fruit I want it attributed to me and my branch. If I’m too tangled up with other vines and branches I might not get credit.
So Jesus…can I be something a little more distinct? Perhaps you are the soil and I am…the sunflower? Big, bright, audacious and distinctive?
Nope. Vines and branches that bear fruit. That’s what we get.
So not only are we dependent on Jesus, but our lives are uncomfortably tangled up together. The Christian life is a vine-y, branch-y, jumbled mess of us and Jesus and others.
Christianity is a lousy religion for the “do it self!” set and the Sunflowers of Jesus set.
This is of course especially offensive to the Western Individualism and Spiritual Consumer Culture of today. We live in a world that upholds the false promise of the self. You can surely stave off the insult of sin and even aging with the right combination of yoga, self-care and a gluten-free diet.
But Christianity is different. Jesus reminds us that we are dependent on God and on one another. As I like to say: "When your mom dies your Yoga teacher isn’t bringing you a casserole. You need a church."
Ack! Pruning! Yeah! Wish fulfillment!
So I may want to be an independent sunflower but that’s not what this thing is about and Jesus is really turning that knife in our text for today.
There’s not a lot of agency for us in this text. God prunes us. We have already been cleansed by Jesus’ word. We cannot bear fruit without abiding in Jesus. Apart from him we can do nothing.
The only thing that Jesus seems to think is ours to do is to: a) abide in him and, if we do, b) we can then ask for what we wish and it will be done for us.
The getting all my wishes part sounds great. That is more like it. But I have yet to meet anyone who has had all their wishes granted but I’ve really been hoping Jesus will become my magic Genie. All I have to do is abide in him!?!
The Hardest Question
So, how do I do that?