Fifth Sunday of Easter John 15:1-8 Acts 8:26-end

I 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.