Pastor Tom Johnson, May 2, 2021
In our reading from the Gospel of John, Jesus compares God growing the Church to a vinegrower growing grapes. This is a recurring image in the Old Testament. God compares his people collectively to a vine or a vineyard. God is the farmer who wants us—the vine—to be healthy, grow, and bear fruit. The vinegrower works toward this horticultural goal which is to maximize fruit production. Jesus says God the Father is the Vinegrower. And his goal is also to maximize fruit production. The vinegrower plants the seed. It draws moisture and nutrients from the soil and grows roots and a stem. The sap travels up through the roots, stem, and grows branches. Sap delivers the lifeblood needed to bud, flower, and bear fruit.
The vine is a solar-powered organism. It is designed to collect the energy of the sun and nutrients from the soil. It puts those resources together and somehow it wondrously, beautifully, and deliciously produces fruit. Jesus says he is that Organism. He has planted his roots into the soil of humanity in the incarnation—the Word has become flesh. He is the Light of the world that powers the plant. His is the lifeblood of the plant that gives life and strength to the branches, stems, leaves, and fruit. Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. We are members of Christ. We do not sustain ourselves. We do not feed ourselves. We do not live by ourselves. Our lives, our being, our nourishment, and our strength are in him.
That is why Jesus says, “The branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine.” And, “apart from me you can do nothing.” And so, Jesus calls out to us to abide in him—to draw close, to be rooted in him, let the sap of his life fill our veins, to be in relationship with him. This is an invitation to remain and cherish where we have been planted in our baptism. It is a gracious call to find our strength in the Gospel daily—just as we pray for him to give us our daily bread. Jesus is pretty descriptive about what happens when we do not abide in him. We become unproductive and fruitless. As a caring Teacher and Shepherd of our souls he wants us to know what life is truly like without him.
God the Vinegrower does not threaten or punish the vine when he prunes it. He disciplines the vine. He makes it healthy. He cuts the things out of our lives that are not producing godly fruit. He does that so that the sap will be more efficiently channeled to the healthy branches of our lives. The overall health of the vine is what is at stake. God wants us to be healthy and whole. He is actively nurturing, caring, and pruning us as individuals and as a community—as the vine and body of Christ. The call is for us to abide in the vine. We are the ones who grow distant and drift away. Like the Isaiah text the Ethiopian eunuch was reading, “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his and her own way.” We are the ones who pull away from the vine. We are only cheating ourselves from what God gives us. When separation occurs from God and our lives in Christ, that is the very definition of death—separation from God who is our light and our life. Pride will keep us from growing dependent on God or on the life in community of the vine. We are vulnerable outside the vine. When we grow in humility we agree with Jesus that we need the life-giving sap of God’s Word and the rich heavenly food flowing into our souls day by day.
“You have already been cleansed by the Word that I have spoken to you.” That is what I love about this Scripture. Jesus is saying that his grace is followed by even more grace. As our epistle so clearly says, “We love because he first loved us.” We are created in Christ Jesus for good works. The sap of God’s grace flows into our lives. The fruit we bear is the natural result of lives rooted in God’s grace. That means God bears fruit through our lives together in Christ—for his glory. “We do not live by bread alone but every Word that flows from the mouth of God.” Scripture is the nutritious sap that we need to continually flow through every artery, vein, and capillary of our being.
It begins at our Baptism when we are grafted into the Vine Jesus by the Water, Word, and Holy Spirit. To abide in Jesus means that we continue to plug ourselves into the life of worship, prayer, and Scripture. His Word goes out like rain and snow and does not return to him void but accomplishes all the life-giving work he intends for it to do. The lifeblood of the Vine is also the Body and Blood of Jesus. Here at this Altar—at the Lord’s Table—Jesus gives us himself as heavenly food. Here he calls out to you and to me, “Take, eat. Drink of it, all of you.” “Abide in me as I abide in you.” God the Vinegrower invites us to draw close as he has drawn close to us. Here at the Altar, the sap of life flows from his pierced side of the Vine into the cup of the New Testament for the forgiveness of our sins. His nutritious Body is broken and given for you to strengthen you and preserve you to life everlasting.
At the Lamb’s high feast we sing
Praise to our victorious King,
Who has washed us in the tide
Flowing from His piercèd side.
Alleluia.
“At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sin” (LSB 833, vv. 7 & 8)
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