Rooted Branches
A sermon
delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson
October 25, 2015
at Gordonsville
Presbyterian Church, Gordonsville, Virginia
John 15: 1-16
Let us pray,
Help us to see despite our eyes
Help us to think outside of our minds
Help us to be more than our lives
For your eyes show the way
Your
mind knows the truth
Your
being is the life.
Amen.
15 “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. 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have 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 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in
you, and that your joy may be complete.
12 “This is
my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No
one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14
You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not
call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the
master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to
you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not
choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that
will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17
I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. [1]
One thing that has certainly been true as we
have moved into this new Jerusalem/Holy Week phase of John's gospel is that
every chapter is very dense. All throughout the first bunch of chapters, up
until the Lazarus raising back in chapter 11, there was a really structured
pattern. Jesus would perform a miracle that was found out by a crowd of people.
The action of the miracle divided the crowds, that some believed and followed
Jesus, and others grew angrier and angrier, plotting to arrest, and then even
eventually plotting to have Jesus killed. But now Jesus is in Jerusalem, and we
are still in the scene of the Last Supper, as we have been since back in
Chapter 13, when Jesus opened this section by washing the disciples' feet. Now
Jesus has been talking ever since telling the disciples that one of them was
going to betray him, and also telling them that Peter would deny him three
times, and that all would abandon him. In this speech he has told them to not
let their hearts be troubled, that he is the way, the truth, and the life, he
has told them that in his father's house there are many rooms, he has told them
that they will not be able to follow now, but they will be eventually because
Jesus will be there for them as the Way, that they know the way, that they know
the father because they know him, and that they will come to know the
paraclete, that Jesus is sending to them, as a helper, a counselor, advocate,
and friend.
And now Jesus is going into his talk about
himself being the true vine. He says, I
am the true vine and the Father is the vine grower. . . from this he talks
about two different kinds of branches. . . those that bear fruit and those that
do not bear fruit. . . and he doesn't mix words about them. He says that the
ones bearing fruit will be pruned and cleansed, so that they will bear even
more fruit, where as the ones that do not bear fruit will wither, be cut off,
removed, tossed aside and burned in the fire. . . now that is quite an image:
Fruit bearing branches being cultivated, fertilized, and growing more and more
fruit, whereas the others wither, are separated, collected, cast aside, and
then burned. There is of course only one difference between these fruit bearing
branches and the ones that are cast aside and burned, and that is that they either
abide or do not abide in Christ and his teachings. Those that abide bear fruit,
whereas those that do not, cannot. Jesus goes on to say. . . I am the vine, you
are the branches. . . apart from me you can do nothing. So if we were to
summarize this paragraph and put it into simpler, more systematic words. . . it
would go something like this: You all are branches on the vine that is me. . .
Your purpose as branches is to bear fruit. . . the way to bear fruit is to
abide in me. . . if you abide in me, my teaching, my commandments, then you
will bear fruit, this fruit will glorify the father, you will then abide in the
father's love, and that will result in "joy that is made complete". .
.but if you do not abide in the teachings, you will wither, die, because you
will be cut off. . . then you will be
separated, collected, and cast aside for burning.
That is all being said pretty clearly, and that
is rare for Jesus, but then we have the question of what exactly does it mean
to abide? What does abiding look like? How many of these teachings are there?
And old typically riddle speaking Jesus is being uncharacteristically clear,
helping us out here again, by clearly stating, and simplifying his
commandments. He says, "This is my commandment, that you love as I have
loved you. No one has greater love than this, than to lay down his life for his
friends. . . and Jesus calls us friends here, explaining the difference between
servants and friends, because friends know all, there is full disclosure, they
are told exactly what the deal is, unlike servants who are just told enough to
function. Friends are let in to the inner sanctum, to really see and feel and
witness the interworkings of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, shown that the
binding force in the universe made by God is and has always been love, love
working in relationship, just as it occurs within the Trinity, within God
himself. . . and love means laying down your life for another person. Clear,
concise, to the point, solid. . . but again a huge challenge. . . because again
the definition of love here is the same as it has been throughout John's
gospel. . . it is not simply an emotion, not simply a feeling, not simply kindness,
not simply doing nice things for people, not paying your fair share of taxes so
that others may use those tax money to care for people, but true and total, completely engaged, personal
and relational sacrifice for the other. The other first up to and including the
giving of our complete selves even in death, as Jesus has shown in his own personal
example. Doing such is abiding Jesus' teaching, doing such is abiding in the
truth, doing such is bearing fruit, doing such results in the completeness of
Joy.
Now how do we get ourselves to that point? How
do we get to that point where we can give of our complete selves, where we are
holding nothing back, where we are truly loving in that deepest sacrificial,
bearing fruit kind of way. . . that real life living sort of way. We talked
about it back when Jesus said "I am the Life" and how he is a perfect
example of life, a life that bears fruit, and it bears fruit because Jesus Loves,
Jesus loves all the way to the cross. That is life, that is life bearing fruit.
How interesting that it is in giving life that we bear life, and it is in
hoarding, controlling life that we lose it. . . . It is such an amazing, yet
completely true paradox about the world as God made it. . . You gain by giving,
where as you lose by holding on. People have giving countless examples about
how to get closer to Christ, since it doesn't start with us, but starts with
Christ. . . if we cannot do anything
separated from him, then the way to move forward is to cultivate that
relationship with Christ. Now since there has been this vine and branches
imagery I have had in my mind one of my favorite spiritual writing texts all
week. . . and that is St. Bonaventure's Tree of Life. He talked about the way
to abide in Christ, the way to graft to the vine, to become a life bearing
branch is to experience personally what he called the fruit of the Tree of
Life. . . he said there are 12 fruits of the Tree of Life, and each one corresponds
to a specific act of love connected with Jesus' life. I want to share some of
those with you this morning. . .
http://www.amazon.com/Bonaventure-Journey-Francis-Classics-Spirituality/dp/0809121212
I wrote this poem back when I was studying Bonaventure in Seminary. . . the idea of his work is that the 12 fruits correspond with aspects of Jesus' life, coming to terms with them by feeling and understanding on a holistic level. I tried to put to verse the idea of each, with the chorus about conforming completely and carrying the cross of the Lord:
The Tree of Life
Peter T. Atkinson
I want to conform completely
I want to eat from the Tree of Life
I want to understand my Lord
I want to strive in earnest
I want to eat from the Tree of Life
I want to carry the cross of the Lord
When there wasn’t he was already there
Before the water parted, before the air
Already seeing what he was called to be
Embrace it now and kiss the baby’s feet
I want to kiss his feet . . . . Repeat chorus
Then the savior had to humble himself
Follow the laws established Moses did tell
Under a king who didn’t want him to free
Stand fast and protect the mother and see
I want to humble myself . . . Repeat chorus
In an act of Perfect Justice he was Baptized by John
Fought with Satan, the crisis of temptation
Came out clean, ready to heal the sick
Hear the secret words God did not yet permit
I want to feel his strength . . . Repeat Chorus
Anoint the sinners, wash their feet with tears
Then words of forgiveness you may deserve to hear
Get on a donkey as your kingly steed
Partake of the body broken for you and me
I want to live as pious . . . Repeat Chorus
Feel what its like to be turned in by your friend
Ask your way out of the approaching end
But know no curb could come from majesty
No feel those chains march up to climb the tree
I want to feel your pain . . . Repeat Chorus
When your friend denies you in fear for his own
In darkness blindfold bound and alone
Forsaken, beaten, quiet and still
Crucify him, Man how that would feel
I want love like that. . . Repeat Chorus
How much humiliating endured for our need
Beaten struck with reads, left there to bleed
How much pain from a nail in your flesh
Hung with criminals on that tree of death
I want to be an example . . . Repeat Chorus
With a prayer hang your head to die
The blood rains down from the lance in your side
He endured the cross, the shame and the strife
To turn that cross into the tree of Life
I want to be worthy . . . Repeat Chorus
Jesus first to be triumphant in Death
Earthquake and Angels, rising in blessedness
Extraordinary beauty, happy the eyes that see
Dominion of Earth give to the eternal King.
I want to defeat death . . . Repeat Chorus
Commander in chief of heaven’s great army
Faithful judge in heaven, great advocacy
Gave us the Holy Spirit to ignite our souls
After passing the trials you have remained faithful
I want to remain faithful . . . Repeat Chorus
O truthful witness, O wrathful judge
Where will the sinner hide with you above
O thank God for the way to be on the right
That’s my gift if I eat from the Tree of Life
I want to be forgiven . . . Repeat Chorus
How glorious is the kingdom of this excellent King
Lord knows I want to reign with him
O if only I could find in this book
The top of the tree of life is a good place to look.
I want to find the answers . . . . Repeat Chorus
This song I wrote in response to reading St. Bonaventure’s Tree of Life¸ November 8, 2006
[1]The
Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1989 (Jn 15:1-17). Nashville:
Thomas Nelson Publishers.
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