May 18, 2003
Acts 9: 26-31 + 1 John 3:18-24 + John 15: 1-8
Those of us who have grown up hearing this gospel passage over and over again can easily grow comfortable with the image. We have all heard countless homilies about unity and fruitfulness; and believe me; I’ve done my homework in past years about the care of vines and fruitfulness. I’ve begun to discover that all of that reflection was, in the end, just a distraction; an intellectualizing of the gospel that might make its demands less pressing. It’s easy to sit back and think about vines and branches and grapes and wine. It doesn’t take a degree in theology to find out that this is a time/worn image used in the Old Testament and a favorite of rabbis and prophets to describe Israel. It gets carried into the New Testament to suggest that there is a wild vine that doesn’t produce and a “True” fine that does. But when you finally exhaust all of that stuff, have analyzed all the “I AM” passages of John’s Gospel, there is nothing left but the human experience that must have given rise to this image in that community from which John’s Gospel springs.
I have a strong feeling that they were dealing with two issues that just did not go away with time, and so they leaned back on their collective memory of Jesus to keep their focus and maintain some balance in their lives. One of the issues is “dead wood”; the stuff that gets pruned away. In the context of a community, this is a delicate and sensitive issue: yet it is one we ought not avoid. There is dead wood here – it weighs down the fruitful branches – takes up space and blocks the life-giving light from the living/fruitful branches. Every time we hear this gospel, we need to wonder about ourselves
and whether or not we have become “dead wood” on this vine.
The other issue haunts us more than the community that shaped this Gospel. It is that issue of independence, of being isolated, cut off, and on our own. It is that illusion of being self-made and self-confident. It is the folly of thinking we can make it on our own. It is wrong thinking and wrong acting that threatens our nation, our neighborhoods, and the very roots of our faith. We cannot and ought not think we can “go it alone.” Isolationism in politics, Congregationalism in religion, and Individualism in personal behavior, all dressed up under the guise of “freedom” is a pretense that leads us away from the truth of this Gospel. It makes dead wood.
“Without me you can do nothing.”
Herein lies the truth of this Gospel. Being one with Jesus necessarily makes us one with each other. Nothing that we do is without consequence in the lives of others. That is what it means to be a vine. To think that we can do anything or say anything without affecting everyone else is to be “dead wood.” Believing in the name of Jesus Christ is no private, personal issue. As soon as that belief is experienced says the second reading, we are connected with each other. When Paul came to believe in Jesus, he could not stay away or remain away from that group in Jerusalem. This Gospel then is not so much about vines as it is about relationships. If it is about Jesus and his identity, then it is also about us and our identity. To hear and believe in this Gospel leaves us with the challenge of acknowledging our relationships to one another. It calls into question our very presence here. It examines the depth of our commitment and the measure of our stewardship. It exposes the lie of false freedom as “independence” with the truth of responsibility and duty. It examines “choice” outside the boundaries of one’s own little life. It forces us from the shadows of lonely isolation to the light of truth, and into the glory of God’s own life.