Trimming the Vines

PROPERS: 5 EASTER, YEAR B

TEXT:       1 JOHN 4:7-21; JOHN 15:1-8

PREACHED AT RESURRECTION, STARKVILLE, ON SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2024 

 

ONE SENTENCE:        The pruning we experience in life, when we are conducive, is to bring about a more Christ-like life.

 

            Nora and I are celebrating our 50^th wedding anniversary this summer.  We know that milestone calls for a special celebration – so we are taking a trip.

 

            We’re going to California for two reasons. The first, which is secondary in terms of priority, is to visit our 27^thMajor League ballpark, Oracle Park in San Francisco.  We will see the Giants play the Toronto Blue Jays.

 

            But the real reason we are going to California is to return to Sonoma County.  We’ve been there four times and we love the area.  It is home to dozens of vineyards and is the source of some wonderful pinot noirs and zinfandels.

 

            The guides talk about the dozens of “microclimates” which exist in the area, nurturing the thousands of acres of vineyards.  These different microclimates produce a wide variety of grapes which, in turn, produce a wide variety of wines.

 

            Their farmlands are so different from ours. Ours tend to be flat; spread out.

 

            Their fields always grab my attention:  The acres and acres of gently rolling hills covered with row after row of grape vines.  Each vine is suspended from a trellis. Those grapevines has been gently and lovingly tended during the fallow season, aimed at yielding a bounteous crop of grapes.

 

            The guides tell me if the vines were not trimmed… if they are allowed to grow unfettered… they would soon be a massive thicket of useless vines. Sometimes fire or storms burn or strip the vines traumatically. But they return – always.

 

            In order to grow and produce, the vines must be trimmed – cut back by hand, vine by vine.

 

+ + + 

 

            If you have noticed, Jesus speaks in metaphors – images that are familiar to his listeners.  The gospels are full of those images.

 

            The mustard seed. Many aspects of seed – falling to the ground and dying; bringing new life; casting them among thorns and on rocky ground. The weeds and wheat. The vineyard. Lilies of the field. Plucking heads of grain. The bread of life. Good and bad fruit. The cast net. Yeast. Flour.

 

            Any similarity in those?  Yes, agriculture.

 

            The Israel of Jesus’ time was an agricultural culture. Everyone was connected to the soil – even if they were one-step removed, just consuming wine or olives.  The images that Jesus used were familiar to his listeners.

 

            So, today we have his teaching about vine – and his being the vine.  The vine, in his teaching, is the source of life, the connection to the Holy. He says that through him is our connection to all others.

 

            The challenge for us is to be productive.  We are to bear fruit for the kingdom.

 

            Like the growers in Sonoma County, he is interested in the productivity of the branches.  And if the branch is not producing good fruit, it is cut from the vine – and becomes fuel for the fire.

 

            I don’t know about you, but looking back over my life, I can see various ways in which I have been trimmed. Not all pruning has been of divine origin. Some of that trimming has been painful and is characterized by struggle. Other trimming has been subtle; maybe a simple redirection. 

 

            The challenge has been to grow and be productive regardless of the origin or nature of the pruning.

 

I would produce very little fruit if I had not been trimmed.

 

            I could bore you with the details of how I have been trimmed, but I suspect you have your own examples.  You can look back on your own life and see where unproductive or even destructive branches have been trimmed.  Perhaps the trimming was painful or subtle. There are probably as many ways of being trimmed as there are people here today.

 

            And I suspect my trimming will continue.  It needs to continue. I suspect your trimming will continue, as well. For better or worse, it is part of life.

 

            In being trimmed in the future, we are called to move more closely to vision of life articulated by John in his first letter, and our second lesson today: “The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.”

 

            That is the purpose of our trimming. Our trimming can be so that we may be productive for the Kingdom of God and its manifestation here on Earth.