Abiding in Christ
Lutheran Service Book Three Year Lectionary • Sermon • Submitted
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Text: “5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
I’d like to think that my 16 years of experience as a pastor give me a ‘leg up’ on identifying the central point of a passage of scripture— that I’ve read, taught, and preached on enough of it to have a working knowledge of most passages. But it really doesn’t take that level of experience to identify the central point of our Gospel reading: “Abide in me.”
Six times in these eight verses, Jesus says those words, “Abide in me.” And it’s not confined to just this passage. If you go past the end of the reading, it keeps coming up: “9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:9-11). That brings the total to 9 times in 11 verses. One might get the impression that this is an important point to our Lord.
It’s such an important point that He uses an interesting image to emphasize it: “I am the true vine...” (John 15:1). “I am the Good Shepherd”— that’s an image that we treasure. “I am the light of the world...”— that’s another good one. “I am the bread of life...”— that doesn’t have the same emotional punch as the Good Shepherd, but it’s really quotable. But “I am the true vine...” is a bit awkward.
It sounds a bit awkward to us, but it would have meant a lot to the disciples. It would have meant a lot because the image of the vine had been imprinted in their minds for generations. To be specific, it had been impressed upon them again and again and again through the generations that they— the children of Israel— were God’s vine.
The psalm writer named Asaph writes: “8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. 9 You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land” (Psalm 80:8-9).
The prophet Isaiah tells a parable about a vineyard: “Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. 2 He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes” (Isaiah 5:1-2). Isaiah uses the same image in chapter 27.
Jeremiah uses the image. Ezekiel uses it. Hosea uses it. They each use it multiple times— God caring for His people like a vinedresser cares for his vines; Israel’s unfaithfulness is pictured as a useless vine that produces no fruit and is only good to be burned; coming judgment is described like a vine being picked completely clean and trampled.
But there’s more. There was a first century historian by the name of Josephus who described, at one point, what the temple looked like. “[Over the doors of the temple] was spread out a golden vine, with its branches hanging down from a great height, the largeness and fine workmanship of which was a surprising sight to the spectators, to see what vast materials there were, and with what great skill the workmanship was done” (Josephus, Antiquities, 15.11.3). Archaeologists have found a number of coins that picture Israel as a vine or show clusters of grapes.
Through one prophet after another, from one generation to another, this image had been impressed upon their minds— through words and through images— that Israel was God’s vine. He planted it, He cared for it, He did everything necessary to ensure that they would bear fruit.
And, again and again, through one prophet after another, from one generation to another, they all echo Isaiah: “2 He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes” (Isaiah 5:2). God had done everything necessary to enable them to bear fruit— compassion for the poor; a desire for justice for the oppressed; true unity that flowed from love for one another. But they failed. They were as corrupt, selfish, greedy, lustful, etc., as the nations around them. So they were thrown away like a branch, withered, and, ultimately, thrown into the fire and burned as God brought one judgment against them after the next.
This idea is so important to Jesus because it’s been what He was working toward for centuries. It has been His goal and purpose all along. Now, finally, He, Himself, brings it to fruition (if you’ll excuse the pun).
As He speaks these words in John 15, Jesus and the disciples are on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane. He is about to be betrayed and arrested. His crucifixion is, itself, the ultimate fruit of a life completely and perfectly dedicated to His Father’s will. It is the ultimate act of love, compassion, and selflessness. And, it also bears additional fruit. There, in that garden, the words He had spoken to them just a few days earlier were about to come true: “24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). As He was crucified, died, and fell into the earth, the True Vine was planted. The words of Isaiah came true: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1).
The true vine was planted and it has, in fact, borne fruit in gathering countless people to the Father as children of Israel.
All of this is to say that, if you wish that there was more true, Godly love, compassion, generosity in this world— in our society, in our church, in your own life— the answer is “Abide in me.”
Let me explain it this way: one of my favorite prayers is a prayer for married couples who are celebrating anniversaries. It asks God to open their hearts always to receive more of His love so that their love for one another might deepen and grow through every joy and sorrow that they share. That’s a great picture of how it works.
Abide in Christ. Start every day in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Why? As a reminder that you are baptized with those words. And, in baptism, you were joined to Christ.
Abide in Christ. How? Through His Word. In it is the source of your life. It is the power that joined you to Christ and it is the source of your life each and every day.
Abide in Christ. And not only will you know the joy and the peace that come through greater love, compassion, and generosity, but those fruits will point to who you truly are— a child of God.
“5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”