May 14, 2006
Acts 9:26-31 + 1 John 3:1-21 + John 15:1-8
We must be careful about how we understand the descriptive adjective “true.” Like last week, this is another translation issue that can easily distract and diminish what is revealed to us in today’s Gospel. If missing the literal meaning of a “Good” shepherd last week cost us the beauty of what is revealed; it is no less so this week with the word: “True.” As we use it in English, “ture” suggests that this vine is the real one rather than a false one. To be satisfied with that understanding is shallow, simple, and a long way from what the Jesus of John’s Gospel is saying about himself. “True” as it is used in the original context and in the sense of this revelation is not the opposite of false. It means far more than that. “True” in this Gospel means something more like faithful or dependable, somewhat like the way we would describe a friend who is “true.” It isn’t that some people are “false” people. It is more properly said that some are “true”, meaning that you can count on them to be there when you need them, that when times are tough, they come through.
When Jesus announces that I am “The True Vine”, he speaks to us of relationship
not of falsehood, error, right or wrong. He comes not to divide into true or false,
but to be friend, to be loyal, and be worthy of trust. Vines in themselves are not good or bad. The language of the bible about vines and even the language of horticulture speaks of the “choicest” vine and “choicest “wine. Just as the Shepherd may have other sheep, there may be other vines, but for those who branch off the fruitful vine, there is only one that is most chosen; and for those who have known the suffering and the sacrifice of pruning, and remain connected to the vine, there will be a harvest of sweet and choice wine: the everlasting sign of the bounty of God’s Kingdom.
Since Easter’s first day, we have marveled at the resurrection and the presence of the risen one. Last week, this week, and the week to come, we shall continue to ponder our relationship with this risen one and the relationship to which we have been called in Him. Leading us soon to make real the Baptism we have received not in Water, but in the Spirit on Pentecost. It is a Birth that makes us good or beautiful, in the image of last week, a birth that makes us true or authentic extensions of Christ in the world thriving on Christ’s resurrected life, surging through all his members. As branches of this vine, as members of his body, as anointed people in this church, we live in Christ as Christ lives in us.