The text this 5th Sunday of Easter is from the Gospel of John, the 15th chapter, from selected verses:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser… 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… By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
Thus far the text.
Dear friends in Christ, He is Risen!
Still in the Easter season, we have upon us what seems a very strange reading in the Gospels. After all, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has risen from the dead! Shouldn’t we be talking about the Resurrection still? Why should the Gospel of John all of the sudden thrust us back into the Passion narrative, back into the Upper Room?
Because John in his Gospel is giving meat, giving flesh to what he is saying in his epistle. Love one another! Show love! Serve! Know God! Test the spirits! Confess Christ! And how is this done?
Jesus tells us in the Gospel that He is the true vine and we are the branches. He is the source of all fruit, He is the source of all good things, He is the source of all life-giving and nourishing. Jesus Christ is the one from whom all things flow.
This is very good news for two very simple reasons. We’ll get to the second eventually, but the first reason this is good news is that YOU will bear fruit! You have no choice! A branch is no more responsible for bearing fruit than a cat is for sleeping; it’s just what you do! Good fruit is good! It will come to you in your faith!
But we must ask the question, should you do this for your own measure, for your own benefit? Oh, well, Paul was a better servant this week. Congratulations, you win the award for best Christian! Make sure you keep up all your work! You want to win next week, don’t you?
No! Of course not! We don’t do this for ourselves. Love one another! Show love! Serve! We don’t do these things for us. I keep harping on it, so my Bible studies and confirmation class should know this statement of Martin Luther well, “God doesn’t need your good works [and I should add NEITHER DO YOU!], your neighbor needs them!”
We do all these things, we do good works, for our neighbor. Why? YOU don’t need them! Why does a branch need its own fruit? Can a branch eat fruit? Can you consume what you produce? No! In the same way, all the work required to get you into Heaven was done by Jesus. There’s no more work required for you. There’s nothing you can add. His salvation is perfect and right. It’s finished, it’s complete. You don’t need your good work. But, a neighbor, a woman whose husband just passed away, a friend who is depressed, a child who has lost their parent in the store, a next-door neighbor who can’t mow their lawn anymore, a man who needs help to stop reading smut, a girl in school who tore her shirt and could use your jacket, a boy whose dog got lost, these neighbors, these people, they need help. They need work. And they need it from you.
Your son who is depressed over a bad grade, your infant daughter who has soiled her diaper, your wife who just needs a hug, your husband who needs to hear that he’s valued, your mom who misses you, your father who could use a hand building his new fence. These people, these relatives, these neighbors, they need your good works. You must work for them! John in his Epistle today says so! Love one another! Do this! Work this! Serve them!
Wow, Vicar, you say, that sounds really legalistic! It sounds like there’s a lot of work to do! My friends, there IS much work to do. But the beauty of the Gospel message today reminds us that: the work-gets-done. It’s not something we push towards, it’s not something we accomplish on our own, it’s not by our own power, it’s not done even because we want to do it. Good work is God’s work. When God is in us, and we in Him, good work gets done without our notice most of the time.
And how is this accomplished? How does Jesus enter into us? How do we remain in Christ? Well, my friends, this is the second reason this passage is very good news for us. The first reason for good news is because you will bear fruit, for you are connected to the true vine, Jesus. The second reason this is good news for us is that this good fruit you bear, you bear because you are given all that is needed to BEAR fruit.
A vine sustains the branch. Go back to your basic 7th-grade science class. A plant receives nutrients from a source, the ground, water, sunlight. It then converts those nutrients into the nutrition and energy it needs to grow and to change and provide for all of its parts. Jesus is the true vine, He is the one receiving what is needed. He has obeyed the Law fully. He has maintained perfect righteousness. He has fully basked in the glory of God for He is God Himself. And Jesus then passes this along to us.
Jesus sends us all that we need in this life. He comes to us in the water that He sends to brings us life, in the waters of Holy Baptism. He comes to us in the food we need to eat, His own flesh in, with, and under the bread in His Supper. He comes to us in the deep, rich drink we need in His own blood, in, with, and under the wine in the same Supper.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, desiring that we would be His own, brought us into Himself in these great and gracious gifts. He continues to provide for us daily. “Give us today our daily bread,” we pray! He does! He is bringing it even now in His Supper! We shall soon receive it, eat it, taste it, be nourished by it! And even this, it is not our good work, but Jesus’ own work. It is in HIS life, HIS death, HIS resurrection that we are able to receive, passively, His body and blood. It is by HIS life, HIS death, HIS resurrection, that we are able to be baptized, passively by Christ into His family of faith.
And how is this all done? How is it that Jesus, the true vine, is planted? How is it that He is the source of life for all of His branches?
Our Lord Jesus Christ was betrayed by those whom He loved. He was given over to death, into the hands of evil men who would serve the devil and all his minions. Jesus Christ, like a sapling put into the ground, was nailed to a tree, the cross, and was planted in the ground. These evil men desired this crucifixion to put an end to their Jesus problem. But, like a tree that is planted, in the cross, Jesus showed His strength. His power and majesty grew. In His weakness, in the brutal suffering and agony of the cross, Jesus Christ showed Himself to be the sacrifice that would bring us peace. He was stricken, smitten and afflicted, and He died. But that death would not hold Him, for He was planted again in the ground, three days in the tomb, and on that Easter Sunday, Jesus sprang to life, fully well, fully alive, fully capable of eating and drinking and walking and talking. And this Jesus, this Jesus brings us that same life that He has.
This Jesus brings us the same nourishment. This Jesus brings us His crucified and risen body. This Jesus brings us His crucified and risen blood. This Jesus brings us washing water, the same water that He was baptized in for the forgiveness of our sins.
Jesus is responsible for nourishing us, for bringing us life, for making sure we do what we’re supposed to do. We can not do this on our own. Any attempt we make is futile. Fruit made without nourishment is withered and rotten. It is not good fruit. So don’t try to do it on your own.
Rather, let us depend on the true vine, Jesus. Let us be fed by Him. Let us spend time relishing His Word, that very word read from that lectern, that very Word proclaimed from this pulpit. Let us heartily anticipate eating the bread of life, and drinking from the cup of salvation. Let us look back fondly and cherish and claim now our washing and rebirth in baptism.
My friends, the true vine, Jesus, has provided all that we need in this life. And He does this not for your glory, not even for His own glory, but that His Father would be glorified. We produce fruit, we are sustained in the very sacraments Jesus has instituted, in order to bring glory to the Father, in order that all humanity may see that God the Father rules and reigns and that He is the true and only God!
So, yes, when you change the dirty diaper, when you mow the neighbor’s lawn, when you bring a friend a dinner, when you sit and talk with someone who needs a comforting word, when you help a person flee from immorality, when you loan someone your coat, when you give a hug, a kiss, a hand, these things bring glory to God, because they are done in Christ. When you love one another, it is done in Christ. When you serve one another, it is done in Christ. When you work with one another, it is done in Christ. When you study and meditate on God’s Word, it is done in Christ. When you test the spirits, it is done in Christ. When you flee temptation, it is done in Christ. When you love God, it is done in Christ.
My friends, the true vine, Jesus, He gives you branches these and all abilities. When you do your good works, you do them because you are sustained by Him and His work alone. This is why we preach from John’s passion narrative in the middle of Easter. Because it is only by Jesus’ life, death, and RESURRECTION that we are able to do any kind of work. And these works, you do them in the power of the crucified and risen Lord, Jesus Christ, in order to bring glory to His Father and our Father, who is in Heaven. We hallow His name. His kingdom comes upon this earth for it has no choice; it will be just as it is in heaven. He gives us this day and all days our daily bread. And He forgives us our trespasses and sins just as we also forgive those who sin against us. And He leads us, not into temptation, but He delivers us from the evil one. For His, the Father’s, is the kingdom, is the power, and is the glory, and it shall last forever and ever. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Now may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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