Fifth Sunday of Easter John 15:1-8 Acts 8:26-endI am not a very good gardener; my garden survives, because I do not much more than the minimal work that is required to keep it under control so it can be a pleasant enough natural space. That means cutting and pruning and weeding, and occasional planting. On a good day, if and when I have the time and the weather is agreeable, I enjoy it. But these days are rare, in our climate and with my timetable. However, when the work yields some result, there is satisfaction and joy. And although I am ignorant of many things to do with gardening, I do know how to prune a rose. Roses are my favourite; but they need pruning. If I don’t cut off the branches that don’t produce flowers, the rose will simply use up all its energy in an unproductive way which is not what I want. When it gets entangled and takes up unnecessary space without blooms, I have to do something, to ‘save it’, as it were. That is also what Jesus is saying at the beginning of John chapter 15.This section of the farewell discourses in John’s Gospel is offering a new dimension in what Jesus wants to say to his disciples in the light of the immediate future; for him as well as for them. He uses the image of a vine and a vine grower as a metaphor for this particular message. And that message is about relationship. ‘Abide in me as I abide in you,’ Jesus says, ‘Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.’ The image is not unfamiliar to Jesus’ friends; vines belong to the regular landscape and their fruit is a part of life. In order for a vine to grow properly and be fruitful, the vine grower has to prune it from time to time; it is part of a vine grower’s job in his care for the vine. It is interesting to find Jesus refer to himself as ‘the vine’. This used to be a traditional picture for Israel. As it says in Psalm 80, God ‘brought a vine out of Egypt; drove out the nations and planted it, cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.’ (Psalm 80:8-9). However, things went wrong; wild animals attacked it and ravaged it, and it needed rescuing. And, as Isaiah chapter 5 says, it had borne wild grapes, good for nothing. When Jesus is saying that he is the vine, the connection is clear: he is the true Israel, the Son of Man who is to fulfil the promise of God for his people. So when Jesus now says that his followers must ‘abide’ in him, stay or rest in him, he is saying that only by being connected to him they can be saved. God’s new and renewed people have to remain ‘in Jesus’, the true vine in this image of God’s true people. Again, as in Jesus’ words about the Good Shepherd and the sheep, it is about identity and relationship. And like branches of a vine – or a rose for that matter – that grow wild, out of control and try to make it on their own, people who seek their own way apart from Jesus will not bear good fruit; they will wither and die. But those who accept pruning in the proper way, will find that their lives will be beautiful and fruitful. Nobody likes being hurt. And it’s not God’s intention to hurt us either. But if we are to remain in Christ, we need to be connected, in communion with him and with one another as fellow disciples, so that we can be nurtured and grow good fruit. We are called to be people of prayer and worship; that is at the personal level as well as a community. When the Father, the vine grower in Jesus’ words, looks at us, he does not remain distant; he takes an active interest in our wellbeing. That means intimacy; intimacy with his Son, Jesus, and with him as our heavenly Father, who trains us, prunes us and helps us grow into the beautiful fruit of his love and grace. May that encourage us and bring us closer to him, so we can ever more enjoy his presence. Amen.
Fourth Sunday of Easter John 10:11-18 Acts 4:5-12There is probably nothing more idyllic than the image of a flock of sheep with a shepherd in some rural place. They have been painted often enough! And I was used to seeing them regularly in the days when I visited my parents in their village; there was usually a little flock in the village orchard just opposite their house in Summer time. There are specific features of this image that Jesus is using in his parables and figures of speech about a shepherd and sheep when he is speaking about his vocation as the Messiah, the Son of God who is to save the people from the power of sin and death. It is about identity: the shepherd and the sheep; who are they? When Jesus talks about himself as the Good Shepherd, he isn’t just claiming some excellent professional qualities that would be sure to give him a job! Rather, it is about his intention for the lives of the sheep to be saved from danger, even at the cost of his own life. His vocation is to die – for the sheep in his role in the image he is painting here – but of course it stands for his identity as the Messiah, as the one who is described in chapter 3 of John’s Gospel: ‘Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.’ (vv14-15). What is new in Jesus’ words is what he is saying about the sheep. Originally they were the people of Israel, God’s chosen people. But now, God is including those who were not Jewish, who were known as ‘Gentiles’, and that is a new thing for the people to hear. They were thinking of themselves as the only ones that God was ever interested in, but that was never the case, as the prophets had always hinted at. God’s call of Israel was for the sake of the world; the whole world, not just Israel. That is why Jesus is saying that there are other sheep ‘that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.’ he says. ‘So there will be one flock, one shepherd.’ And he continues to talk about his ‘laying down his life in order to take it up again’, as a reference to the way in which he is to be that Good Shepherd according to his vocation, in the Father’s will, and in his love. That is the essential difference between him and ‘false shepherds’; the latter are only interested in what they can get from the sheep and run away as soon as danger lurks, abandoning the sheep to their fate. Jesus describes them as thieves and hired hands, who don’t care for the sheep at all. But he does, even though it takes him to his death.So what about the sheep? They are not only those who belong to the people of Israel who hear his voice, but they include people from every land and nation who hear it as well. The Gentiles, in other words, are no longer the enemy; they are simply other sheep who have not yet been brought into the fold. It is all about a new relationship between God and the world; a relationship that is modelled on the bond of love and trust between the Father and the Son. Just as there is a bond between any flock of sheep and their shepherd that helps them work together in a safe way.Jesus is pointing towards the future. A future that announces God’s kingdom of truth. Psalm 23 gives us another layer to that image, describing the journey of life as going ultimately through a valley – the image of dying – but coming out at the end into new life, guided and protected by the Shepherd, whose rod and staff comfort us. It is a psalm of trust in the divine shepherd, who leads his people in a new Exodus, through danger to security. The idyllic pictures of shepherds with sheep that we may be used to, tend to be painting a moment of rest, of that security that the shepherd has led the sheep to. What Jesus is saying is that as the Good Shepherd, he knows his own and his own know him, so that they follow and are at peace. It is about belonging. The question for us is whether we are hearing his voice, so that we too can be members of his flock. Amen.
Third Sunday of Easter Luke 24:36b-48 Acts 3:12-19Both in Luke 24 and in Acts 3, we find similar statements, the first by Jesus: ‘You are witnesses of these things.’ And the second by Peter when he addressed the people in those early days of the Church: ‘To this we are witnesses.’ When we are talking about witnesses these days, we are usually referring to witness statements in the context of a crime. They can be witnesses for the prosecution or witnesses for the defence. These are important, because they help assess certain situations and to come to an informed conclusion, which leads to a decision that is in line with the evidence. Witnesses are often essential in the process of determining who is responsible for or connected with an event. In the account from Acts 3, Peter is emphasising the testimony of the witnesses to the resurrection; this testimony is the reason for the faith of the Church and has been the evidence of the death and resurrection of Jesus on which we base our hope. In his discourse, Peter uses the history of the people – referring to the God they already knew, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ – as a starting point for laying down the facts about Jesus, and the sequence of events that led to our salvation. He is speaking clearly, making it relevant to the crowd, so that they may hear the essence of the faith of the Church and what it is based upon: the evidence and witnesses of their own time, in fulfilment of the prophets. For the necessity that the Messiah would suffer had been foretold a long time ago. And Peter relates it all, so that the people might repent and ‘turn to God so that their sins may be wiped out.’ In Luke’s Gospel, chapter 24, Jesus is himself the evidence to the resurrection. When he suddenly appears to the disciples and their companions gathered together, he greets them saying, ‘Peace be with you.’ Of course they were startled and terrified at first, as it says, thinking they were seeing a ghost. And even when Jesus continues, asking why they are frightened and having doubts, and telling them to look at his hands and his feet and to touch and see, they remain bewildered. So Jesus asks them to give him something to eat; now that should be real evidence of his being newly and truly alive! Jesus also refers back to the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms, that they must all be fulfilled, and then, Luke says, ‘he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.’ It’s not as if faith came immediately; the disciples had to overcome some very strong notions, like the one that people don’t normally come back from the dead. They needed the explanation from God’s own word in the past, as well as the walking and talking risen Lord of the present, who was revealed as the Son of God. The question from the accounts of the resurrection and its proof may still be: ‘what kind of body did Jesus have?’. Certain rules of nature no longer seem to apply, as Jesus seems to move across the dimensions, bringing together heaven and earth in a new and startling way. His body is at home in both, so that may teach us something about life in God’s new world, in a recreated order. But, what both Jesus and Peter are saying is much more to the point and more relevant for the human race: ‘that repentance and forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in Jesus’ name to all nations.’ It is that promise that – through faith – truly restores and renews the people. Even while this side of heaven, we can taste new life as redeemed children of God. God’s love and mercy, through the saving work of Jesus Christ, has wiped out our sins. Forgiveness through Jesus’ work on the cross and his resurrection has given us a new start, a new life, a true freedom. Through faith, we become witnesses to these things. Witnesses who are giving proof of the risen Lord through their own new lives, ‘risen with Christ’. Do we still doubt whether it all works? Do we perhaps still wonder about the ‘how’? Well, we may not be able to fully understand the mechanics of the recreated order of God’s new world. But then, do we really need to? After all, we can’t physically see or touch love, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. In fact, we know it is there through the way we experience it. I am reminded of those words from the Taizé chant: ‘Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.’ ‘Where charity and love are, God is there.’ We are witnesses of that. Amen.
Second Sunday of Easter John 20:19-end Acts 4:32-35‘With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.’The book of the Acts of the Apostles gives us all manner of evidence to the resurrection and in a sense continues Jesus’ ministry on earth, even after he has gone up to heaven, through the power of the Holy Spirit. And we are called to do likewise. We have just celebrated Easter, that most important moment in the history of salvation, when Jesus was raised from the dead and opened for us the gate to heaven. Easter is the story of hope; the story of life; and the story of love. Our faith may at times be tested but we always come back to that undeniable mystery of God’s work of salvation, culminating in the evidence of the empty tomb.Thomas, one of the disciples and called ‘the twin’, had not been there when the disciples first saw the good news of Jesus when he appeared among them. That made him cynical, not willing to believe or not allowing himself to accept what seemed impossible, lovely though it would be if it were true! And so Jesus came again, a week later, standing among them, although the doors were shut, it says in John 20. Jesus does not rebuke Thomas for his lack of faith. Instead, he simply speaks to him, saying, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ It doesn’t say that Thomas actually did what Jesus told him; he might not have needed a physical touch after all but even if he did, he came to believe, saying, ‘My Lord and my God!’When Thomas doubted the accounts of the other disciples, not willing to be taken in by their enthusiasm, Jesus encouraged him to really hear and see the truth. It enables Thomas to then indeed see and address Jesus as God. Now, nothing more was necessary for Thomas to make that leap in his understanding of who Jesus really was and still is. Do we sometimes doubt? I bet we do. That’s not unnatural but it is a moment to work out again what the evidence is saying and to be encouraged and reassured about the work and the love of God in and through his Son Jesus. In the book of Acts, amazing things continued to happen, as the Church, in the shape of the disciples and new followers of Christ, came to grow and spread the news that God had stepped in, had taken on human flesh in order to recreate us. For that is what it was all about: the resurrection was a recreation. As a redeemed people, we are now able to really be as God always intended us to be, through faith in his Son Jesus, the living Word. Jesus said to Thomas, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’ We may sometimes feel that we are at a disadvantage, living so long after the event. But that should not hinder us at all. The death and resurrection of the Son of God was for all and for all time. And we can ‘hear and see’ through the work of the Holy Spirit, who came to help us do just that: to show us the glory of God so that we too may be saved. Is it still a mystery? Yes. Is it still the most wonderful news? Yes. Is it the most precious and life-giving gift? Yes! It may not always be easy to take a leap of faith, but if we do, we find that we too are able to say, ‘My Lord and my God!’, knowing that we have finally come home, safe in the care of our Saviour. Amen.
