+In Nomine Iesu+
CANTATEEaster 5
St John 15:1-8
10 May 2009
In your bulletin this morning is a paragraph from Luther.
I would like to read it.
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When you open the book containing the gospels and read
or hear how Christ comes here or there, or how someone is
brought to Him, you should therein perceive the sermon or
the gospel through which He is coming to you, or you are
being brought to Him. For the preaching of the gospel is
nothing else than Christ coming to us, or we being brought
to Him. When you see how He works, however, and how He
helps everyone to whom He comes or who is brought to Him,
then rest assured that faith is accomplishing this in you
and that He is offering your soul exactly the same sort of
help and favor through the gospel. If you pause here and
let Him do you good, that is, if you believe that He
benefits and helps you, then you really have it. Then
Christ is yours, presented to you as a gift.
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We want to keep these words in mind this morning.
Indeed, I hope you keep them in mind whenever you are
reading your Bible. In fact, I would suggest you take the
sheet from the bulletin and put it in your Bible. Let it
serve as instructions for your personal devotions at home.
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The point, I think, is obvious. The gospels are not
about Jesus and someone else. They are about Jesus and you.
Always you are included. Jesus speaks to and about you.
He acts for you. Everything He does involves, and is for
you. Now, lets see how this plays itself out in
todays gospel.
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Notice how clearly Jesus speaks. I am the vine, you
are the branches. You have been grafted into Christ. It
isnt that this could be so, or might possibly some day be
so. It is so right now. Its been done. You are a
branch of the vine which is Jesus.
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Notice also how this was done. You are already
clean, Jesus says, because of the word which I have
spoken to you. The fact that you are, right now, a
branch of Jesus is because of His doing not yours. He
has claimed you. You have been baptized into Jesus. You
belong to Him. He has spoken new life into you.
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Our new birth in baptism our becoming a branch of the
vine that is Jesus is determined by Him. Think for a
moment. Parents decide to have children. Children dont
decide to have parents. No child ever causes him- or
her-self to come into being by saying, I have decided to
be your child. To say such a thing is silly. It is just
as silly to contend that someone might decide to be a child
of God. God creates His children. They simply receive the
benefits of being such a child. Or, to use the language of
our text, branches dont go around attaching themselves to
vines. Rather, vines create branches.
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Now, notice what happens to branches. They are pruned.
The Greek word here is very interesting. It is
kathairei. Sound familiar? Its where our English
word cauterize comes from. And what is the definition
of cauterize? Well, one definition is, to burn with a
hot iron so as to remove dead tissue. And the purpose?
To help the individual become healthy once again. To stop
an infection from gaining ground.
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This is what Jesus the vine does. He
kathaireis in order to maintain healthy branches. It
is a pruning for the benefit of the branches. I suspect
that grape vine branches dont really like to be pruned.
No doubt it is painful. But the alternative is disorder and
fruitless disaster. In like manner, we branches
probably wont like to be pruned either. But the
alternative is fruitlessness. Here is perhaps an
explanation of some of the things that happen to us that we
consider bad even evil. Perhaps this might explain the
car accident, or the severe illness, or the job loss, or the
difficulty in raising a child, or the house fire or any
number of other things. Perhaps these are the pruning works
the kathairei of Jesus on us, for our welfare.
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You see, one of the problems we have in understanding the
ways of God is our limited field of vision. We usually
think in terms of days, weeks perhaps months. But
always our normal thinking is confined to the extent of this
life. We have great difficulty seeing beyond the present.
The idea of eternity doesnt really enter into our
consideration. The idea that this life is really but a
moment when measured against forever doesnt really
register very well. Were like someone whose living is
confined to one very small room. The thought that that room
is but a single, tiny part of a gigantic castle is beyond
them. Thus our vision is always limited to our little room.
And even when someone tries to describe the rest of the
castle to us we cant make any sense out of what theyre
saying. To us their description verges on foolishness. In
this we begin to learn how little we actually know of God
and His ways.
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Now, notice the purpose of the pruning. To bear much
fruit. And why is this necessary? Because, apart
from Me you can do nothing. Now, what might that fruit
be? Is it things we do? Or, is the fruit something else
that we receive? Remember, the branch is attached to the
vine. Jesus has said, unless (the branch) abides in the
vine it cannot bear fruit. So, the fruit actually comes
from the vine, doesnt it? And what might that fruit be?
I think its exactly the same thing that St Paul speaks of
in Galatians. Listen. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. And this list
isnt exhaustive. These are simply a few among many. The
Holy Spirit given to you in Holy Baptism works
within you as you are attached to the vine that is Jesus in
order that you may bring forth the fruits of a Christian.
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And then towards the end Jesus makes a marvelous
statement. Ask what ever you wish, and it shall be done
for you. Some read these words and begin to rub their
hands together. Ah ha, they say, this means that
Jesus will give me the new car, or the million dollars, or
the knock-out wife I want. But is that what these words
are about? Remember the kathairei we talked about?
What is the purpose of pruning? To conform the branch to
the vine. To help the branch grow in the way of the vine.
No, the promise of Jesus in these words has nothing to do
with the desires of the flesh. Rather, it is the opposite.
What the pruned branch wishes for is what Christ wants for
him. The Christian wishes to be more vine-like to
be more Christ-like. That desire governs his prayers,
and his wants. So the Christian prays: Lord re-make me
in your image. Give me a clean heart. Renew a right spirit
within me. Or, to put the matter in more contemporary
language, Lord, remove from me the love of sinning. Give
me contentment in what you provide for my use, and patience
as I await the same. Lift my eyes from myself that I may
see my neighbors need and help alleviate it.
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Really, we have in this gospel nothing else than a
description of the Christian life. Here is your biography,
if you will, written long before it ever happened. You are
branches of the divine, eternal vine, Jesus. You are
objects of His love. You will be kathaireied, and
that not for your enjoyment, but for your benefit. And this
you can accept. You can accept, because such pruning comes
as part of your forgiveness. And forgiveness means that you
are still numbered among the branches who will live forever.
Amen
+Iesu Christus, Magnum Mysterium Caritas Dei+
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