Fifth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, CYCLE B

JOHN 15:1-8

MY UNCLE PHIL PASSED AWAY A FEW MONTHS AGO. HE WAS THE YOUNGEST OF TEN CHILDREN, AND NEVER GOT MARRIED. HE WAS A PROFESSIONAL CARPENTER, BUT WHEN HE TURNED 50 HE DECIDED TO CHANGE PROFESSIONS AND BECOME A PLUMBER, AND INDEED, HE BECAME A MASTER PLUMBER. HE SPENT TWO YEARS AS MAYOR OF HIS TOWN, DURING WHICH TIME HE ARRANGED TO DREDGE THE CREEK THAT RAN THROUGH THE TOWN AND PERIODICALLY FLOODED EVERYONE'S BASEMENT. AFTER HIS SINGLE TERM HE REFUSED TO RUN AGAIN, EVEN THOUGH HE COULD HAVE WON IN A WALK.

SO FOR SOMEONE WHO WASN'T TOO GOOD AT BOOKS, AS HE ADMITTED HIMSELF, HE DID PRETTY WELL. BUT HE HAD A HOBBY THAT CONSUMED HIM; HE WAS AN AVID GARDENER, AND ON A RELATIVELY SMALL PLOT OF LAND, HE GREW ENOUGH FOOD TO MAKE A SIZABLE DENT IN THE GROCERY BILL FOR HIMSELF AND HIS SISTER, WHO LIVED WITH HIM.

WHEN I WAS YOUNG, HE SHOWED ME AN APPLE TREE IN HIS BACK YARD. HE POINTED OUT ONE BRANCH THAT HAD DELICIOUS APPLES, AND ANOTHER THAT HAD SOME WINESAP, AND STILL ANOTHER THAT BORE MACINTOSH. I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT. BUT WHAT HE HAD DONE WAS GRAFT BRANCHES FROM DIFFERENT KINDS OF APPLE TREES ONTO THAT ONE APPLE TREE. HE TOLD ME THAT HE WAS PLANNING TO SEE IF HE COULD GRAFT A PEAR BRANCH ONTO THE APPLE TREE. I DON'T KNOW WHETHER HE EVER DID THAT.

UNCLE PHIL IS GONE NOW, AND I WONDER IF ANYONE IS TAKING CARE OF HIS GARDEN, OF HIS GOOSEBERRY BUSHES AND RHUBARB PLANTS AND THAT APPLE TREE?

I IMAGINE IF JESUS HAD LIVED IN BELT, MONTANA, AND KNOWN MY UNCLE, HE MIGHT HAVE COMPARED HIMSELF TO THAT APPLE TREE, AND US TO THE BRANCHES.

IT'S A GOOD COMPARISON. THE APPLE TREE IS ROOTED IN THE EARTH AND DRAWS WATER UP FROM THE GROUND. THE BRANCHES, CAREFULLY GRAFTED ONTO THE TRUNK OF THE TREE, TAKE WATER AND OTHER NUTRIENTS INTO THEMSELVES. WHEN YOU GRAFT A BRANCH ONTO A TREE, YOU HAVE TO VERY CAREFULLY ALIGN THE BARK OF THE BRANCH WITH THE BARK OF THE TREE. THE LIFE-GIVING FLUIDS PASS INTO THE BRANCH LIKE A SIPHON, SO IF THERE IS ANY SPACE BETWEEN THE TREE BARK AND THE BARK OF THE BRANCH, THE BRANCH WITHERS AND DIES. WE BRANCHES WILL FLOURISH THE CLOSER WE ARE TO JESUS. BUT A LOT OF US LIKE TO KEEP HIM AT A DISTANCE. WE TEND TO BRING HIM INTO OUR LIVES WHEN THERE IS AN EMERGENCY, OR WHEN WE REALLY NEED SOMETHING, BUT WHEN WE ARE MORE OR LESS CONTENT AND SATISFIED, WE'D JUST AS SOON HE KEEP HIS DISTANCE. IN FACT, I THINK SOME CATHOLICS COME TO MASS A FEW TIMES A YEAR HOPING THAT HE WILL LEAVE THEM ALONE THE REST OF THE TIME. JESUS DISTURBS US WHEN HE SPEAKS TO US, WHEN WE DRAW TOO CLOSE; BUT YOU CAN'T HAVE HIS LIFE IN ABUNDANCE IF YOU KEEP YOUR DISTANCE.

MY UNCLE'S TREE HAD ANOTHER INTERESTING FEATURE. THE BRANCHES THAT WERE GIVEN LIFE BY BEING GRAFTED INTO THE TREE DID NOT LOSE THEIR INDIVIDUALITY. THEY STILL BORE THE FRUIT OF THE TREE FROM WHICH THEY HAD COME. AND THAT'S IN A WAY AN INCREDIBLE MIRACLE, EVEN MORE SO FOR HUMAN BEINGS WHO ARE GRAFTED INTO JESUS. IF YOU READ ABOUT GREAT CHRISTIANS THEY ARE ALL REALLY AND TRULY THEMSELVES; THEY AREN'T TRYING TO BE SOMEONE ELSE, THEY AREN'T GOODY-TWO-SHOES, THEY AREN'T PALE SICKLY CREATURES WHO STARE INTO THE HEAVENS WITH A SAD EXPRESSION ON THEIR FACES. REAL SAINTS LEAVE A MARK. THE LIFE OF JESUS THAT FLOWS INTO THEM HEIGHTENS THEIR INDIVIDUALITY, PERFECTS IT, AND THEY BEAR FRUIT AS A RESULT, FRUIT THAT ONLY THEY CAN BEAR. THE LIFE OF JESUS FLOWING THROUGH THEM PERFECTS THEIR INDIVIDUALITY, THEIR UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS.

IF YOU LET AN ORDINARY APPLE TREE ALONE, IT BEARS ONE KIND OF APPLE. WE HUMAN BEINGS GRAVITATE TOWARDS PEOPLE LIKE US. AFTER BEING ON THIS EARTH FOR ABOUT 250,000 YEARS, WE ARE STILL TRIBAL PEOPLE, WE STILL SORT OURSELVES OUT BY LANGUAGE, SKIN COLOR, SOCIAL CLASS, RELIGION, POLITICS – IN FACT, ONE OF THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF THE INTERNET IS THAT MORE AND MORE PEOPLE GET ALL THEIR NEWS FROM THE NET, AND SINCE THERE ARE NEWS SOURCES TO SUIT EVERY POLITICAL FLAVOR, FROM NAZI TO COMMUNIST, FROM UNFETTERED CAPITALIST TO SOCIALIST, WE AMERICANS AREN'T READING AND DISCUSSING THE SAME THING. IN THE OLDEN DAYS THERE WERE THREE NETWORKS AND A COUPLE OF NEWS MAGAZINES, AND THE DAILY PAPERS DEPENDED ON TWO SOURCES OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS. THAT MEANT THAT EVERYONE WAS ON THE SAME PAGE. NOT TRUE ANYMORE.

BUT ON MY UNCLE'S APPLE TREE, YOU COULD FIND SEVERAL VARIETIES OF APPLE ALL GROWING PEACEFULLY TOGETHER. AND THAT IS A CONSEQUENCE OF JESUS' LIFE FLOWING THROUGH US. WE RECOGNIZE HIS LIFE IN EACH OTHER, AND HIS LIFE CROSSES ALL THOSE BARRIERS WE PUT BETWEEN OURSELVES AND THOSE NOT QUITE LIKE US. IN THIS DAY OF INCREASING DESTRUCTION OF THE THINGS THAT HOLD US TOGETHER, JESUS IS ABOUT THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN UNITE US, IF WE ARE GRAFTED INTO HIM.

THERE WAS ANOTHER THING ABOUT MY UNCLE'S TREE. IN ORDER TO GRAFT A BRANCH ONTO THE TREE, YOU HAD TO CUT OFF ONE OF IT'S OWN BRANCHES. THAT WAY YOU COULD MATCH THE SURFACES OF THE BARK MUCH BETTER. ALTHOUGH THERE WERE A FEW NATIVE BRANCHES ON THE TREE, IF MY UNCLE HAD HIS WAY, HE WOULD EVENTUALLY HAVE GRAFTED AS MANY BRANCHES ON THAT TREE AS HE COULD GET. AND HERE MAYBE THE IMAGE OF THE VINE AND BRANCHES IS MORE TO THE POINT. IN CALIFORNIA, THE WONDERFUL GRAPES THAT MAKE THOSE FINE WINES COME FROM PLANTS THAT HAVE BEEN GRAFTED ONTO ROOTS DERIVED FROM NATIVE GRAPE VARIETIES. ALL THOSE IMPORTED VINES HAD NO RESISTANCE TO A ROOT-DESTROYING FUNGUS, BUT THE WILD GRAPES THAT GREW ON THIS CONTINENT DID. JESUS LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR US, GAVE HIMSELF UP FOR US, DIED ON THE CROSS FOR US, AND CONTINUES TO PROTECT US, SO THAT WE CAN HAVE HIS LIFE.

WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU AND I? WITH JESUS' PROMISES TO US, AND THE EXAMPLE OF HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE TAKEN HIM UP ON THOSE PROMISES, YOU WOULD THINK WE WOULD BE SPENDING EVERY MINUTE TRYING TO GET CLOSER TO HIM, TRYING TO DRAW FROM HIM ALL THE LIFE WE POSSIBLY CAN. LET US RESOLVE TODAY TO BEGIN TO CHANGE OUR LIVES, TO ALLOW HIS LIFE TO FLOW IN US MORE ABUNDANTLY. SOMEDAY IT WILL BE TOO LATE.