John 15:1 - 8
We have a Japanese Maple tree in our back yard. It has leaves that are sort of dark orange in color; it’s bent over in a very untreelike shape, and it seems to thrive, because every year my wife, who has learned not to trust me near her favorite plants, tells me that I should trim this tree -- and I mean, really trim it. So I do. I get rid of most of the branches until it looks dead. And here it is spring, and the tree is thriving, sending out new branches, bursting with more leaves. And I know I’ll have to trim it in the fall, as always. Pruning the maple tree is one image that comes to mind when I read this passage. Another comes to mind as well. Recently my wife and I visited Sedona, Arizona, where we once again saw the chapel of the Holy Cross built into the beautiful landscape. The crucifix is unique; Jesus is hanging from a tree with branches that seem to grow out of him.
The image Jesus presents us in this familiar passage of the vine and the branches is radical. We think of ourselves as members of our church; we could be members of other communities as well, and many of those who used to be members of Saint Mary’s have gone elsewhere for various reasons, just as we have people in our parish who would normally be in other parishes. That’s kind of an American thing -- we like to keep our options open, we belong to organizations at arms-length, even our church. But Jesus is talking about a different kind of belonging; an organic unity. Jesus is identifying himself with the church to which we belong; and when the Father trims away fruitless branches, and cleans up the fruitful ones, these are painful actions on Jesus’ own body. You can’t escape the vine grower’s trimming knife whether you are fruitful or not; if you are fruitful, he’ll want more fruit from you. Just check with any random saint.
Jesus is speaking to us when he says “remain in me”. That’s probably not the best translation of the Greek word. It used to be translated as “abide” but we don’t use that word much anymore. Some other meanings include “dwell”, “stay”, “endure”, and “continue”. I think the last two words are probably better. They imply that we are connected to Jesus, and we need to actively deepen that connection, not be neutral about it.
I am reading an interesting book by Daniel Taylor, called “The skeptical believer”. He traces his own faith journey; he grew up in a fundamentalist church, eventually became disenchanted with what he saw as real contradictions between what he was being taught in church and what he was learning in college; and he dropped out for a while. He began going to a more mainstream denomination after he met his wife, but he talks about his “inner atheist” which was always doubting, always questioning. He plunged more deeply into reading scripture and the writings of the fathers of the Church and concluded that a lot of very religious people were like him -- they had an inner voice that questioned everything, and that held them back from commitment. He then decided that the thing was not to worry about what he couldn’t prove, as long as it was reasonable; and to see himself as part of a story that was unfolding. In other words, he chooses to be part of the story, or world-view, that Jesus had. He says that if he is wrong, he’ll never know, but if he is right, the reward is infinite. I think Jesus is daring his disciples to be like that -- to draw closer and closer to him, to learn more and more about him, to deliberately go out and bear fruit, and invite the Father to prune you so that you can bear even more.
What in your life is keeping you from bearing fruit? What is keeping you from committing totally to the vision that Jesus gave his followers? There isn’t much time; the vine grower is deciding whether to cut off this branch or trim it back so it can bear more fruit.
