Jesus the One True Vine

​Mike Holdaway

John 15 1-10

Just thinking what do I want to leave you with in this sermon.

First to give you a sense of the love the Gardner has for his fruit trees or vegetables or vine .The pride he has in the produce he gets and the way he compulsively shares it.

​Secondly I want to convey something of the mystery to ‘abide in me (Jesus), and I in Him, practically what does look like in our lives.

My brother described how when visiting his son and daughter in law  in Invercargill and his 4 year old Grandson; they were just about to leave when   his grandson  dashed off returning with  a potato he had grown from his garden and presented it to him as they were climbing into the car ,very cute. A keen gardener who clearly enjoys the pleasure of growing things and proudly giving them away sharing the fruit of his labour.

In this morning gospel reading we see the picture of a vineyard being painted .The vinedresser is the gardener in this case our Father in heaven .The vine represents the one true vine and the true vine is clearly named Jesus Christ.

In the old- testament the term vineyard was used as the image to represent Israel but in every case it carried with it a derogatory meaning because of Israel’s unfaithfulness and habit of ignoring God.
In this reading John clearly identifies Jesus as the true vine in contrast to Israel who is no longer the vine.
I saw a children’s cartoon illustration of this parable and you saw a hand take a seed and plant it deep into the soil, the seed dies and then the vine shoots appear. The vinedresser comes and digs posts and ties the branches on the wire frame for the fruit to ripen and gardener prunes the branches so they bear more fruit. The  warmth of the sun , the rain and wind is the Holy Spirit ensuring the shoots of the vine to grow.

I picture the gardener being like my brothers grandson, with pride and enthusiasm proudly harvests his fruit from the vine turning it into wine  . He does not just make it for himself or for his closest friends but for anyone who is thirsty. The wine represents God’s love in the world brought about by His Son Jesus, the one true vine.

There were two statements which caught my eye in this gospel reading
  ‘Abide in me and I in you’
‘I am the vine and you are the branches apart from me you can do nothing’.

The partnership between us and God is such that if we are not connected with Jesus then it is impossible to bear fruit……………………………. in other words we cannot   express God’s love into a broken world without being  connected to Jesus.

The parable goes on to say that if we are not connected with Christ then we are effectively   pruned from the vine no longer part of the gospel wine in the world.

So what does being connected abiding in Christ mean or look like?

When we first got to St Johns we had a month long orientation which looked at the Anglican Church and its relationship to the Treaty of Waitangi .

A word which  popped up and  has stayed with me is  reciprocity .This idea that when we receive something  unexpected and   special,   like my brothers grandson’s potato we  automatically want to respond ,we want to do something  in return ,  to reciprocate by also giving.

Reciprocity is like a back forth movement, a perpetual motion.

Think of an internal combustion engine the   fuel is injected into a chamber and the spark leads to an explosion which leads to reciprocal action, the pistons moving up and down and outward motion.

This parable points to the relationship between a human being and God being  like a marriage or partnership where there is reciprocity a constant interaction leading to  motion .This back and forth motion ,perhaps better expressed  as  self- giving.

Jesus selflessly giving himself for his disciples, us and we being connected to  Jesus  are selflessly  giving ourselves to the world ,by being  the gospel wine ,Love pouring into  a broken world.  

I have been trying to describe the mystery of abide in me and I will abide in you.

The reason I am using the word marriage/partnership is because if you read on in verse 15 it says ‘ I no longer call you servants or slaves; I call you my friends’ which is  a totally different relationship than the one you would expect  between master and a slave. Instead it is a relationship of trust between parties much more like a reciprocating relationship where there is sharing and constant interaction .It is relationship with a strong a sense of equality.

 ‘As the Father has loved me so I have loved you; abide in my love’ v9

The Father loves the Son

The Son uses the pattern of His Father’s love for the way He loves His disciples and we use this same pattern of the Son’s love for us, for the love of those we meet for example those we worship with, work with and live with.

If we love like Jesus loves us then we abide in Him and He in us we are the fruit of the vine.

But like any friendship to keep it alive you have to spend time with that person. One of the main things being impressed on us at St Johns is the importance of developing your own rule of life of habits in your life.

I thought I would share  My rule or habit of life .One of my habits which is really good for my body is swimming at least 3-4 times a week. Part of that for me is an expression of me abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in me. In my breathing I think of it like the wind of the Holy Spirit; the water is like baptism and swimming in the sea is like the invitation to venture out beyond my comfort zone, the deep blue sea. .When I choose to do this physical exercise for me  I am choosing   to abide in Jesus even though as far as for everyone else goes I am at the pool swimming laps with a group of exercise buffs.

 Walking is another way to abide in Christ with a friend dedicating the time in your mind to Jesus like the road to Emmanus .

Another rule or habit I have is to go to church regularly .I do this because this is what Jesus did .He spent time in fellowship with his disciples and regularly went to the synagogue to worship. And so like millions of other Christians over 2 thousand years I also join in fellowship with other Christians to worship in our home church St Stevens .That is an important  way being with Jesus abiding  in Christ and Christ abiding  in me.

I remember a we sentence from a thesis I read ;It said the most important spiritual exercise you can do is to just turn up .So forget yoga (although good for you ) or standing on your big toe for half an hour ,just turn up .

Another habit or rule is somersault of community out- reach ,for us this year at St Johns it is to go to help at a community dinner at Papakura for people with very little whether financial or social means .The trick here is not to expect anything in return it really has to be unconditional.

A private rule or habit I have is last thing I do before turning out the light is to read scripture (bible) and first thing in morning I do is to read scripture .Before setting off for work kneel for a few moments offering my day in prayer which is simply talking to Jesus, this is abiding in Jesus and Jesus abiding in me.  

When you get home I invite you to write down your habits the things you do and I am sure you will see you also have a rule in your life. ( If you are not sure you can find examples of rule of life you can develop )
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We are copying Jesus when we develop our own rule of life or way of abiding in Christ.

 If the rule in a person’s life is not based around Christ then we risk being pruned form the vine.

However when the  rule in our lives is centred around Jesus then we are like the branches on the vine, firmly attached and we produce fruit which the gardener is very proud of just  like the 4 year old boy who was so proud of his potato.

Also when our rule of life is centred on Jesus we are engaging   in a reciprocal relationship like a marriage /partnership where there is sharing and constant interaction and where there is a sense of equality.

As the Father has loved Me so I have loved YOU