3rd Sunday after Easter, Everlasting Wine

 

3^rd Sunday after Easter

John 15:1-27

 

Burnand

"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 makes pure that it may bear more fruit. You have already been purified by the power of the word that I have spoken to you.

"Abide in me and I in you.

"As the branch cannot bear fruit out by itself unless it is given life by the vine, neither can you unless you stay united with me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever remains united with me and I in them 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 much fruit and become ever more my disciples.

Arthur Ernst Becher

"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.
Live on in my love. If you take my aims into your will, then you will live on 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 one can have greater love than this: that they offer up their life for their friends. You are my friends if you follow the task I have given you. No longer can I call you servants, for servants do not know what their 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 fruit 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 people hate you, remember that they hated me before you. If you belonged to people in general, they would love you as belonging to them; but because you do not belong to them since I chose you out of humankind, people hate you.

Sjodin

"Remember the word that I spoke to you: 'Servants are not greater than their 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. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done deeds among them, such as 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."

3^rd after Easter

April 25, 2021

John 15:1-27

Grapevines send their roots down into the earth. They draw up life-giving water from the depth. They also draw up light-related minerals like phosphorus into their sap. In the inner light from the depths of the earth and the outer light from the sun, the water becomes red, rich, and sweet. Pulled up from the depths, the sap offers itself as fruit.

18th century Ukraine

We, too, are like vines on the earth. We put down our roots to find earth-light. We draw up life from deep in the earth. We rejoice in the light of the sun.

Our lives are the branches of Him, who is the Living Vine. It is He who helps us to find the light in the dark depths. It is He who brings us the water of life. Embedded in His life, we are transformed. He makes our lives fruitful.

What is a fruitful life? A fruitful life is one that, on some level, offers itself to nourishes others. One that supports and cares for the earth and the creatures on it. One that supports the beings of the spiritual world.

Yes, just as the kingdoms below us, the plants and animals, the minerals support us, we too support the angelic realms above us. We offer our thinking, our hearts' love, the devoted actions of our lives as fruit to the angels. But being eternal, angels need everlasting wine. Christ the Vine helps our lives bear immortal fruit. His transformative magic changes the water of our lives into wine as refreshment and support for the angels.