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Jesus is the vine. We
are branches. The branches need the vine to bear fruit. It’s a great image and
it’s absolutely true. We can see it: the vine and the branches.
There was a grapevine in
my grandparents’ backyard. It wasn’t a vineyard, just a single grapevine.
Sometimes on Saturday mornings I would go and pick grapes with my grandparents.
My grandmother always looked at the grapes very carefully. She was going to use
them to make jelly. My grandfather always looked very carefully at the vine. He
would look at the vine and the branches before he would look at the grapes. He
told me that the grapes would only be as good as the vine and the branches. My
grandfather pointed to the branches that were broken from the vine. They had no
grapes. If the branches were not strongly connected to the vine, then there
would not be any grapes. It was that simple. The branches need the vine to bear
fruit. It was that simple. The branches need the vine to bear fruit.
Jesus is the vine. We
are the branches. The branches need the vine to bear fruit. It is that simple.
It is a different image
from last week. Last week we had the Good Shepherd who walks with the one
sheep. That is such a tender image: Jesus carrying the one sheep on his
shoulders. Jesus the Good Shepherd speaks to the flock and leads them to green
pastures. We can see the sheep following closely behind the Good Shepherd. It
is a different image. It tells us something different. And as beautiful as the
image of the Good Shepherd and the sheep is, the sheep are always separate from
the shepherd. There are shepherds and there are sheep.
But with the vine and
the branches, there is complete unity. The vine and the branches are a single
body. The branches are an extension of the vine. The vine produces fruit
through the branches. The vine shares its life and its goodness and its
blessing through the branches. The sheep walk with the shepherd; the branches
are completely united to the vine.
Jesus is the vine. We
are the branches. The branches need the vine to bear fruit. And the vine
produces fruit through the branches. The branches are united to the vine. The
vine and the branches share the same life. The vine and the branches share the
same food. The vine and the branches share the same goal. The vine and the
branches are completely united to each other.
And that means that all
of the branches are united to each other through the vine. The image of the
Good Shepherd allows us to think about an individual relationship with Jesus:
the one sheep on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd. The image of the vine and
the branches invites us to see our unity with each other. It is not one vine
and one branch and one grape. It is one vine with many branches and many
grapes. There are an abundance of branches extending from the vine. There are
an abundance of branches producing many beautiful and delicious grapes. It is
the fruit of the Kingdom of God. They are the grapes to make the wine of the
Wedding feast of the Lamb of God.
We are a community of
many branches and many grapes, but our life comes from the one vine. Jesus is
the vine. We are the branches. The vine needs the branches to bear fruit. And
the branches need each other. We need the branches that have been fruitful for
generations. We need the branches that are now bearing their first fruits. We
need the branches that have just begun to grow. We need all of the branches to
bear fruit for the kingdom.
Jesus is the vine. We
are the branches. The branches need the vine and each other to bear fruit. Amen.
