St. John 15:1-8
Dearly beloved,
St. John recorded for us the last sermon that Jesus preached to His
disciples before He was arrested and crucified. Chapters 14-16 contain
Christ's last sermon to His disciples, which took place in the upper room on
the night when He instituted the Lord's Supper. The audience for this
sermon is the twelve disciples, the closest ones to Jesus and those who
will, later, begin the apostolic task. These twelve (or eleven) will
cultivate the church through the preaching of the gospel.
The gospel lection for today are words that are meant for the church.
These are not words for the world, per se. Christ's words are for those who
are already in the church, having been baptized and having made a public
confession of the faith. These words are specifically for a group of people
who face a different struggle as compared to unbelievers. The baptized
Christian has already made the statement of faith, and what the Christian
struggles with after that point is being faithful and submissive to Christ
and His teachings.
The unbeliever, on the other hand, either does not know the way of
salvation or he doesn't want to know and rejects it. This person has
different problems with which he will have to wrestle. The Christian
struggles with faithfulness. He must understand what faithfulness is and he
must continually try to balance his life in the world. Different
temptations enter in for the Christian. Jesus is talking about bearing
fruit. He gives us the word picture of a vineyard.
Jesus is the true vine. The Father is the vinedresser. In other words,
Jesus feels the need to remind the church that He is the life-source of the
church. As Jesus says in the gospel, "Apart from Me you can do nothing."
This is the first struggle for the Christian in the world. Once we enter
Christ and His church, we soon feel as though we are now free to stray from
home. We become complacent. We begin to mentally process things in such a
way that we conclude in our hearts that Jesus is here if we need him. Now
we are going to go on a journey. This is people who get confirmed, but
don't come to the Divine Service.
Jesus is here when we need to get married or when we have babies or if
we have problems. Jesus is speaking against such thoughts and notions.
Jesus is vine, the life-source, and apart from Him we can do nothing. Jesus
is saying that we, because we are grafted into Him through Holy Baptism,
will grow fruit. We must abide with Him and He with us. If a branch, a
Christian, is abiding in Christ and bearing good fruit, then the Father, the
vinedresser, will prune the branch back so that it bears much fruit.
This is another point that Jesus makes specifically for the Christian.
The unbeliever does not bear any good fruit. The Christian, we are being
told, will face struggles, temptations, tribulations, and will be forced to
patiently endure these things. Hard times for the Christian is pruning.
Why would this take place? It goes contrary to the way the world thinks.
The world believes that if you are godly, then you won't have any problems
at all. It falsely believes that if your faith is sound, then things will
be good. This is wrong.
Pruning us back bears more good fruit because when we struggle and face
hardships, we are then led to call out to Christ. In other words, the
Christian runs to Jesus. Pruning is also stripping the false notions you
have of the faith and coming to a proper knowledge of Christ's teaching and
practice. The place where the Christian gets hung up in this gospel when he
applies it to his life is this: abiding in Christ. What does it mean to
abide in Christ? The unfortunate thing that we often see today in churches
everywhere is that "abiding" means having Jesus at our disposal when we need
Him.
In other words, we baptize, marry, and bury. This is not what Jesus had
in mind when He says that "He who abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that
bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." We cannot take the
minimalist approach with Jesus. To abide in Jesus and to have Jesus abiding
in you is a life-changing thing. It means that your entire life is assumed
by Jesus when you are baptized and confess the faith. St. Paul speaks about
this to the Colossian church: "Set your minds on things that are above, not
on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden
with Christ in God"(Colossians 3:2-3).
Truly, abiding in Christ is a baptismal statement of your life, but it
entails the reality that you will actually live out your baptism by
breathing, eating, and living the words of Christ. The Christian faith and
life is not for those who are indifferent. Abiding in Christ entails a
striving for those things which are holy and unseen. Abiding in Christ is a
life of prayer, not just casually or every once in while. The life of
prayer becomes a part of who you are. You begin to live a life on your
knees praying the liturgy, praying Matins, and Vespers and going to the
Divine Service regularly.
It is significant that Jesus preaches this in conjunction with the
institution of the Lord's Supper. Abiding in Jesus, the vine, and bearing
good fruit means that your life comes from Him, and He instituted the Lord's
Supper to fill you up with His life and holiness. This means that our home
is here at this altar. Once a person has been baptized, then he now has a
new home, a place where he spends his time. Everything in our lives flows
out of this holy altar.
You are now to see yourself as kneeling here with Jesus on your lips in
prayer and in the sacrament. Then you will be blessed, forgiven,
strengthened and holy to the Lord. The other side of it is scary: Jesus
says that any branch that does not abide in Him will be cast forth to wither
and be burned up. These are the words of condemnation. Be careful that you
are not one of these branches that fails to bring forth the good fruits of
faith.
But abiding in Christ means repenting of sin. Repent of your sins and
your failure to bear good fruit. Seek Christ's mercy. Jesus loves you,
after all. He died on the cross bearing the sins of the world, yours
included. Tell Jesus that you don't live as you ought, but that you want
to. Ask Christ to give you the desire to live the life of prayer, the life
of faith, and the life of devotion to Him. It is Christ who is the giver of
every good gift.
While you pray these things, remember that Christ forgives you.
Remember that He does abide in you through Holy Baptism, and He remains with
you. Rejoice in His goodness and continually come to this altar, which is
your home. Let us rejoice and pray together and seek His good will for the
life of the Church, that He may continue to sustain it through His Holy Word
and precious sacraments. Truly, we are blessed to be in this holy church
and to have been given the gift of life and eternal salvation, which is a
promise with His guarantee. Amen.
--
Rev. Chad Kendall
www.frchadius.blogspot.com
Trinity Lutheran Church
Lowell, Indiana
www.trinitylowell.org
