Easter
John 15:1–8
1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. (Joh 15:1 ESV)
Most of us first encounter geraniums at an early age. School children bring them home to their moms, or we grow new plants from seeds or cuttings. They're incredible plants. One of the most amazing things about them is how many times they can bloom during the course of one summer. If a bloom dies, it needs only to be pinched off, and new blooms will grow to take their place. With a little pruning, more and more blooms will be produced.
In our Gospel reading today, the father prunes us as branches of a precious vine. He forgives our sins through the Word Jesus speaks to us. Pruned and cleansed, we bear new fruit as we receive spiritual life through Jesus' death and resurrection. That is to say, that ...
(Only the forgiven branches bear fruit.)
You bear fruit because you are forgiven branches on the vine of Christ. Hear again the first 3 verses: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you."
The world is a wild and uncultivated vineyard. Its wild branches produce sour fruit or no fruit at all; like the fig tree outside of Jerusalem that Jesus cursed because it had no fruit and by evening it had withered and died. The wild and uncultivated vineyard of the world wallows in sex, perversion, lust, pride and love for the material things of this world. God says in I Corinthians, "Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." These things are the sour fruit of the wild vineyard of the unbelieving world.
In contrast, God's vineyard, the church, is a well-cultivated vineyard, well taken care of, fertilized, watered, trimmed and pruned. Jesus is the vine; his Father the vinedresser. The Father's love for Jesus extends to the branches as well.
You are the branches. By faith you became branches on the vine at your baptism. As branches receive life from the vine, so you receive life from Christ who is the true vine. Jesus here describes his church, the true believers, as the well-trimmed and pruned branches who are attached to the vine, receiving life from the vine and bearing fruit. The vine gives what the branches need for life as Jesus gives life to you. Without Jesus, you would be dead in your sins. Without Jesus, you are doomed to everlasting death and eternal punishment. Apart from Jesus Christ, you are on the road to hell. Apart from Jesus Christ, God is your worst enemy.
But in baptism, you were grafted into the good vine; into Jesus; into his death and resurrection, so that all that he is flows into you. His gives you his resurrection life. In baptism he gives you the forgiveness of sins which he earned by his death and resurrection. His Holy Spirit is poured into you and his Word makes you clean. Jesus thus states, "You are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you." You are on the vine in baptism, that is, in him, you are forgiven. Your forgiveness was won for you by Jesus' suffering and death on the cross. That forgiveness is given to you personally, individually, by his Word spoken to you in baptism, which is the washing of water with the Word, the word which says, "Your sins are forgiven." As Jesus says, "You are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you."
Being joined to the vine in Baptism the Father prunes you so that you will bear fruit. Forgiven branches bear fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Every true branch bears this fruit. Love for your neighbor increases and grows greater. This is the natural result of being attached to and fed by Christ, the vine. "Love is from God and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love," says God.
However, in order to continue to bear fruit as forgiven branches you must remain on the vine of Christ. Let us hear again the next three verses: "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and wither; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned."
Branches that do not remain connected to Jesus, that is abide in him, cannot bear fruit and are useless. The Father then cuts them off and throws them away. God laments through the prophet Isaiah about his vineyard gone bad, saying, "I dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines...but it yielded wild grapes. What more is there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? I now will remove its hedge and it shall be devoured, I will break down its wall and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste..." (Isaiah 5:1-6.)
God's vineyard, the children of God, yielded no fruit. His own people had lost their faith. He is not talking about the non-believing word, but those who once received the Word of the Gospel with joy and had faith. But, like the seed that fell on rocky soil, that faith was not fed by the word and so the roots dried up and it died. Cut off from Christ, we are as dead and doomed in our sins as the pagan and unbelieving world.
How can we be cut off from Christ, the true vine? By returning to a sinful lifestyle. Little by little those tiny, insignificant sins in our thoughts or minds, grow and become more and more frequent. If not stopped and repented of, they will drive away the Holy Spirit and faith from us. Little sins, like not offering love to another person in need, not having compassion on the poor and suffering, like those little lustful thoughts that pop into our heads, that little angry attitude we have. If we allow them to continue and don't repent of them, they will drive away our faith.
This really can happen—our faith can die. Our only connection to him and his forgiveness is God's word. It is only through God's word received verbally, and visibly in Baptism and in Holy Communion that you are and remain connected to the vine. When one falls out of the habit of worship, Bible study, receiving Holy Communion frequently, he cuts himself off from Christ, we return to sin and it begins to grow in his life, and he then cuts himself off form the vine and his faith dies and his salvation is lost. That branch is cut off and cast into the fire. That is a very real situation which I have seen many times. Those who once were constant in worship begin to lapse in their worship and Bible study; they gradually start coming less often; they grow further and further away from Christ until finally their faith dies. Jesus gives us a stern warning here: these branches are then removed from the vine and thrown into the fire. Branches that do not produce spiritual fruit prove that they are spiritually dead, that is, no longer believers in Christ. O yes, they may know the facts about him, but knowledge is not the same as faith. The Father removes such unfruitful branches, casting them into the fire.
Bur the fruitful branches are the ones who remain steadfast in the word. Jesus said, "If you remain in my word, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." These branches are pruned by the Father so that they will be even more fruitful.
The crosses we bear in life as Christians is the Father's pruning. The law of God speaking to us and showing us our sin, bringing us to contrition and repentance is the pruning of the Father. The law that afflicts our soul and drives us to turn from our sins. Even our denial of the pleasures of sin is a cross we bear. The Holy Spirit, speaking through St. Peter says, "...whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God." This pruning is painful, but the result is glorious in the true believers, for it is the purging of sin from the flesh. Our Lutheran Confessions state: "Through afflictions God drives out the sins that are in your natural flesh. Sin is driven out as we exercise ourselves against them." God prunes us with the crosses we bear. Like a fire that refines gold or silver, the crosses God gives us to bear refine our sinful flesh and we are then poured into the mold to be formed into a new image, the image of Christ himself. These are the sufferings and disappointments that cause us to trust more fully in him or cause us to direct our lives to spiritual things and away from earthly ones. Though it hurts for a short time, it is God's wonderful love and his meticulous care for each individual one of his precious children.
Nourished and sustained in faith by the Word of God and the sacraments, pruned by the crosses the Father gives us to bear, you will be surprised by the fruit that you bear. Jesus says in verses 7 and 8 of our text: "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. Bu this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."
Jesus says that if we abide in him, that is continue connected to Him, and if his Words abide in us, we will receive whatever we wish. He also says that bearing fruit by continuing as his forgiven branches reveals us to be his true disciples. But what will we wish for? Is this a blanket promise that we can get whatever we want? It sound a bit presumptuous. If I want to be rich, just ask for it. If I want to get well, it's a sure guarantee. If I want a nicer house, I've got it. Is that what Jesus means here?
No! Rather, Jesus changes our will when we become his disciples. True believers really mean it when they pray, "Thy will be done." That is the wish of all true believers. That is the prayer prayed in faith seeks God's will to be done, even if it is uncomfortable or inconvenient for me; even if his will is that is suffer and am afflicted by the crosses I bear. The prayer of faith is always that God's will be done. Jesus can then say that whatever a disciple asks will be done, because the disciples only pray for what God wills.
Do we then never ask for anything else, out of selfish motives of for personal gain? Yes, of course we do, because our faith is not perfect. We still pray many prayers not from faith but from our selfish human flesh. Such prayers are prayed outside of faith; they come from the weakness of our flesh.
But because the will and desire of the new man in us is that God's will be done, a disciples bears the afflictions and pains of being pruned. He does not need to know why God gives him these afflictions. He does not need to read God's mind and know what plan God has for him, rather his will is for God to do his will whatever God's will might be. The believer's will is whatever God wills. Jesus' disciple knows that Jesus died for him on the cross. He knows that his sin is forgiven. And his delight is in whatever is the will of the one who forgave him, even in those times of pruning. So then, when we pray for the Lord's will—which is now our will—the answer is always yes!
Remembering the geranium we began with, a geranium that isn't cared for will soon be covered with dead blossoms. The beauty God intends will be replaced with death and decay. Left to ourselves, our tragedy would be more than a dead flower. But connected by the Word of God to the true and living vine, Jesus nourishes us with his Word and Sacrament. In him, we have forgiveness of all our sins, and we will live in his vineyard forever. Amen.