4th Easter
John 15: 1-27
I AM the true
vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear
fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he trims clean, so
that it will be even more fruitful. You have already been purified by the power
of the word that I have spoken to you.
Abide in me and I in you.
Just as the branch cannot bear fruit out of itself unless it is given
life by the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you stay united with me. I
am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains united with me so that I can
work in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever
does not remain united with me withers like a branch that is cut off. Such
branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me,
and my words live on in you, pray for that which you also will, and it
shall come about for you. By this my Father is revealed, that you bear rich
spiritual fruit and become ever more truly my disciples.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Ground your being in my
love, just as I have taken the aims of my Father into my will and live on in
his love.
These words I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that
your joy may be complete. This is the task I put before you: that you love
one another as I have loved you.
No man can have greater love than this, than that he offer up his life
for his friends. You are my friends if you follow the task I have given you. No
longer can I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master
is doing. But I call you my friends because I have made known to you all that I
have heard from my Father.
You did not choose me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you that you
should go and bear fruit and that your fruits should live on after you, so that
what you ask the Father in my name he should give it to you. I say to you out
of the fullness of my power: Love one another.
If the world hates you with hatred, remember that they hated me first.
If you belonged to people in general, they would love you as belonging to them;
but you do not belong to them, because I have chosen you out of mankind. That
is why people hate you.
Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his
master’. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have
held on to my word, they will hold on to yours also. Everything that they do to
you they will do as though they did it to me, for they do not know Him who sent
me.
If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would be without sin,
but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who turns in hatred against me
turns in hatred against my Father also. If I had not done deeds among them,
deeds which no one else has ever done, they would be without guilt. But now
they have seen me, and have still hated both me and my Father.
But it was to fulfill what is written in their law: ‘They hated me
without a cause.’
But when the Comforter comes, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the
Father, he will bring knowledge of me and will be my witness. And you also will
be my witnesses, because you have been united with me from the very beginning.
April 25,
2010
4th Easter
John 15; 1-27
The idea of ecology is relatively recent. It means that all
creatures and their environments form a living entity. We human beings can
appreciate in so many varied ways how life supports us. It streams to us in the
sunlight, in the watercourses, in the plant and animal life that nourish us.
Life surrounds and supports us in the very air we breathe. And we too have our
part in this great weaving of life.
Today’s reading reveals a great open secret: it is Christ who
carries the great all-pervasive life of the earth. As the true vine, the sap of
His life runs through the living earth and sustains all on it. And this sap of
life has a cohesion, a kind of force of attraction to it. It draws all the
parts together and fits them into an organic working whole. This force is the
force of compassionate love. The world is held together, interwoven by love.
Compassionate love radiates outward; it is a love that
offers itself to support, sustain and to strengthen. To connect with the sap,
the essence of life that permeates the world is to connect oneself with the
deep love that binds the world together. It is to connect with a love that
offers itself to all, that all may exist. It is a love that supports all in
deep compassion. What this deep compassion asks of us is to become
likewise.
In the words of Hafiz:
The Beloved has agreed to play a
game
Called
Love.
Our sun sat in the sky
Way before this earth was born
Waiting to caress a billion faces.
The wise man learns what draws God
Near.
It is the beauty of compassion
In your heart.[1]
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