Easter 5B

John 15:1-8

¹ "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. ² He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. ³ You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

The Four Gospels

Despite each having some unique content and a particular perspective, synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke all bring us law and gospel—God's holy demands and God's merciful, loving grace. We roughly can place the synoptics in the Torah/Pentateuch and Prophets traditions of the Old Testament.

John is very much about the here and now of the Reign of Heaven on Earth. In John, Jesus first act of public ministry is a wedding feast, a party! With a focus on God's ongoing presence and on the commandments, especially encapsulated in the charge to love, John's community offers ways to live faithfully and fruitfully with speech and action, rather than the articulation of law and gospel we find in the synoptics. To continue the OT parallel, we can locate the Gospel according to John in the tradition of the Wisdom literature.


I Am the Vine

The fifth Sunday of Easter is the 29^the day of Easter, so we still can wish people "Happy Easter," yet as the church's year of grace eases into the Season of Pentecost, Time of the Church, today's I Am the Vine – You are the Branches passage comes from Jesus' farewell discourse on Maundy Thursday, after he washed the disciples' feet, before his death and resurrection. But we are hearing it during the Great Fifty Days of Easter, after we've experienced Jesus death and resurrection.

This is the seventh and last of Jesus' I Am declarations where Jesus places himself within YHWH/God's Old Testament identity I Am—pure being. unmediated presence. Scholars identify two sources used by John's community: Signs and I Am (and suggest there may have been a third).

Jesus lived and served in a somewhat agrarian setting, so he often used farm images and parallels. Today? Grapevines! Most Californians get the importance of soil, sunshine, shade, and pruning in vineyards-grapes-harvest. We understand how critical time, temperature, cask, and added ingredients are to wine production. Methods of wine transport and storage, too! In addition, grape vines are one of the seven agricultural gifts of the promised land, and we find God's people as branches of the vine in the Old Testament scriptures.

In this trinitarian passage, God the Father is vine planter and grower, Jesus the Son is the vine itself, the people of God in the power of the Holy Spirit are branches of the vine—Jesus tells us to abide in him in order to bear fruit. How do we abide? By obeying, especially by loving God, neighbor, and self. Although we primarily abide in Jesus the vine, we remain interconnected with all the other branches.


Where we Live: Vine and Branches

Do we always abide in Jesus, or do we sometimes settle deeply into family, social, cultural, and church traditions, customs, and habits? As people of history and people with histories, we need to stay connected with our pasts, with the identity-forming histories and practices of communities and groups we belong to. We also need to contextualize the gospel so newcomers will relate Jesus to their own geography and history.

But what do we make most important? For starters, Jesus commanded us to take, bless, break, and give bread, to bless and share the cup of the fruit of the vine(!), to baptize. But do we insist on a particular type of bread, brand of wine or grape juice? Does the baptismal venue need to be the same every time?

Does Strawberry Festival always need to be on the Second Sunday in June? Do we even need an annual Strawberry Festival?

Our own knowledge of grape-growing and wine-making gives excellent counsel regarding Jesus' reminder on this Fifth Sunday of Easter to stay connected to him and to each other.