The True Vine

John 15:1-8 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunesso that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

In 1992 a containerload of plastic bath ducks fell off a cargo ship in the Pacific Ocean and the ducks - for want of a better word - escaped.

Over the following years, they washed up all over the place. Some went North to Alaska. Some went south to Australia. Some snuck through the Bering Straits into the Atlantic. One made it to Scotland.

Which tells us two things. One, that plastic is terribly durable and we need to be careful what we do with it. And two, that this world is a connected thing. What you do in one place can have an unexpected effect a long way away.

As the world is, so the Church. Jesus draws us this mental image of the church as a vine. As with "I am the Good Shepherd", the image has deep Biblical roots. The people of Israel were referred to as God's vineyard or God's grapevine. Normally in the context of some judgement or another. Because it's being asked does it bear fruit? Very important in vine husbandry, does it bear fruit? As vines aren't much use for anything else. You can't make a nice chair out of the wood of the vine. You can just about get some benefit by burning it on the fire. But that's not a return on your investment when you wanted to make a nice Sirah wine.

The vine is an interconnected thing. Jesus in saying "I am the vine" is identifying himself with Israel. All the promises that were made to Israel in the past were pointing to Jesus. And remember that means the Jews were never rejected. We are grafted into God's holy work in progress. And if that happens then we form part of the whole plant - being blessed with it, suffering with it.

Now you can get a bit hung up about "pruning" here. And it worries me when they say "all the suffering you get is God's plan for your life". I remember someone coming to me after my parents died in that tragic hay-bailing accident. And a member of our Extremely Primitive Methodist connexion came round and had that gormless pious smile he used to have, and said, "God will not try you more than you can bear. It will all turn out for good in the end. Trace the rainbow through the rain." And I turned to him, with the tears falling to the floor, and I smashed him in the face. I tell you, no jury would convict. Maybe God works through our tears and pain - but that's a consequence of the world we live in. God would much rather work through our joy and love. But we live in a broken world.

"Pruning", it strikes me here, is about the ongoing work in our lives that God enters into. I have no idea if pruning hurts a grape vine. If I think a lot about it, I consider that a sentient vine with a central nervous system would get rather grumpy about it. But would be unable to resist, to be fair, not being a thorn bush or a nettle. But since they're not, they mostly just buckle down and keep growing. Maybe moaning in a viney kind of way. But pruning is about encouraging fruit. Everything about a domestic vine is about encouraging fruit. You prune a vine in winter, when all the energy is in the roots, so as not to hurt it too much. You cut back to the strongest bud. You want all the energy from the roots come the summer to go in the right direction. And I've been intrigued, visiting the wonderful New Lodge Vineyard of Earls Barton, to see just how hard they cut the vines back in winter. They know the vines need a lot of work - and then they can produce a lot of fruit. It's a labour of love, not of cruelty.

And I know I need a lot of work. I know we all can. Because God wants us to produce fruit. Which St Paul tells us is made up of: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We can't produce all that lot on our own. Or at least I can't. Or maybe a bit, some of the time, for people I quite like. But Jesus says, stay in the vine. Go with the programme. "Remain in me", says Jesus. Be part of the vine - whose branches include so many other people - and know that you're all working together. If a vine grows well, all the branches will be strong and the plant as a whole will produce fruit. If a vine is sapped, it's weakened, or it's damaged, all the branches will suffer. If the leaves are in full daylight, they will pull the nutrients through for the rest of the plant.

So look after each other. You are all part of one vine. You all have the one rootstock. You are all engaged in the same holy purpose. Stay in Jesus, because he gives all you need. And know, as you bear fruit in the way you behave, live and work - that you'll bring glory to Jesus's father.