“Tending the Vineyard”
Acts 8:26-31, 35-39
1 John 4:16b-21
John 15:1-8
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our strength and our redeemer. AMEN
I distinctly remember dropping my oldest son off at college back when he began his freshman year at Ohio University.
I remember feeling very emotional as he was my firstborn and so the first to leave the nest. And I remember wanting so badly to leave him with some profound words of wisdom – knowing, however, that at that point there was nothing I could really say that would significantly change anything.
As parents, our job, of course, is never done, but at the point that our children first strike out on their own, we have already given them the basic foundation that they will carry with them. That part of our job is done.
So, my prayer was that I had indeed given my son a solid foundation. I prayed that he had the tools to deal with whatever may come his way, knowing that life can be challenging.
And I prayed that, whether or not he felt it at that moment, he would know in time that he is never alone – that the Holy Spirit is always there, in the good times as well as the difficult ones, guiding and nurturing.
So, in our Gospel lesson today from John, Jesus, too, is offering final words to his disciples as he seeks to prepare them for a day when they will carry on without him.
These words of Jesus are spoken during the Last Supper, after Judas has already left to betray Jesus, and are a small portion of a much larger section in John of Jesus’ final discourse to his disciples.
Throughout the book of John, Jesus uses a series of “I am” statements as a way of instructing the disciples in words and in common everyday images that they can understand.
So, among the statements Jesus uses are “I am the bread of life,” and “I am the light of the world.” And now in today’s passage Jesus uses the image of a vineyard when he says, “I am the true vine.”
Among those ancient people, the image of Israel as a vineyard and God as the keeper of that vineyard would have been a very familiar image.
And so, Jesus is, of course, speaking metaphorically when he refers to himself as the “true vine.” God is the keeper and tender of the vineyard, Jesus is the vine, and Jesus’ followers are the branches.
In order for good fruit to be produced, all are interconnected and dependent on the other. It is the connection of the branches to the vine that insures new growth and new life.
So, it is about relationship – between God, Jesus, and God’s people – a relationship that will and must carry forward for the followers of Jesus – even after Jesus is no longer physically on the earth.
I want to now switch gears for just a moment and touch on the passage we heard earlier from Acts – the story of Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch.
It is a wonderful story, filled with deep and meaningful theological themes that could easily be explored in any number of sermons, but for this moment I want to lift up the way in which I see the story from Acts as related to our Gospel lesson for today.
Our Gospel lesson, as we have already discussed, is a portion of Jesus’ final instructions to his disciples as he prepares them for a time when he is no longer physically with them.
And now in this story from Acts, we get a glimpse of one of many stories of how the disciples do indeed carry on after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension.
The story of Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch is a very beautiful story in many ways. I love that it demonstrates the power of the Holy Spirit as it is the spirit that guides Philip to his encounter with the eunuch.
I love that it is the longing of the eunuch to understand the scriptures that prompts the eunuch to seek Philip’s guidance in understanding the words he is reading from Isaiah.
I love that Philip shares the good news of Jesus with the eunuch, inspiring the eunuch to spontaneously ask for baptism.
I love that this story demonstrates the inclusivity of the good news as the followers of Jesus move out into the world. Philip lovingly shares the good news with the eunuch, showing no judgement or condemnation of this man based on ethnicity, nationality, gender, or social status.
And I love that after being baptized by Philip, the scripture says that the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing.”
We are all given opportunities, daily, to share the good news in our words and deeds, and to pass on that good news to those who come after us.
Our vineyards need care, and sometimes pruning is necessary in order for new life and good fruit to grow.
But Jesus offers us these words of assurance. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.”
For that I say, thanks be to God.
AMEN