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
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.4th Easter
May 12, 2019
John 15:1-27
Grapevines can live hundreds of years. Those caring for the
vines remove the rank leafy growth. This encourages the vine’s energy to be
concentrated and multiplied in the fruit. The roots descend thousands of feet,
drawing up water from deep in the earth. In the fruit, earth’s water is
transformed into mineral-rich, sweet, nourishing juice through the power of the
sun.
Our lives too are rooted in the earth. We draw life,
strength, and nourishment from her. Our task too, is cultivation, cultivation
of the earth, cultivation of our own souls. We ourselves, or the Father’s
angels guiding our destiny, will remove what is useless. For we are meant to
transform substance of earth into fruits of pure spirit-awareness, into loving
devotion.
Christ called Himself the True Vine, the Living Being of
whom we are all branches. He has rooted Himself deep in the earth. He
transforms work of earth into work of spirit. We, as His branches, are to
concentrate and multiply His life energy into the fruitfulness of our own
lives, our own souls. We are to be the bearers of His work of transformation.
When Christ’s fruit, our fruit is ripe, the angels will
gather the clusters from the earth’s vine. (
For as Rilke says:
Earth, is it not this that you want: to rise
invisibly in us? – Is that not your dream,
to be invisible, one day? – Earth! Invisible!
What is your urgent command if not transformation?
Earth, beloved, I will.*
No comments:
Post a Comment