Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

How much fruit is your life bearing? Jesus’ key words today are “I am the Vine, you are the branches.” That can be pretty intimidating when you first look at them or hear them. How can you not think of sometime, somewhere, when your life was not as fruitful as God’s law intended. Since you are connected as branches to Christ the Vine, what kind of fruit have you yielded – good things, important things, beneficial things, eternal things – or merely temporal, earthly things? And, if those things you achieved are, in fact, “good,” have you considered why you did them? Was the good you did, done to glorify God, or just yourself – and, will they stand up under the intense scrutiny and examination of the Judge of all? All of that, as you know deep down, concerns whether it really is good fruit, or not.

And what about our Church? How fruitful have we been as a Church? What have we done collectively – and what have you done individually – to “advance” the work of our Savior? What fruit have you borne in His name? And again, why have you done the things you’ve done – is it for our heavenly Father, or for yourself? Who can you think of that is not helping like they should, and should be chopped off as “dead wood”? How can someone determine that in the first place? When you read or hear the words of our Gospel, at first you don’t tend to hear any good news Gospel message at all. The initial reaction is to look inside, to assess oneself, and even pass judgment on others.

However, that would be a disastrous misuse of Jesus’ words. Analyzing yourself and your own fruit-bearing, or condemning your fellow Christians for their lack of fruit, so far as you can see—none of this is in alignment with “I am the Vine, you are the branches.” Jesus is not giving us some new commandment to bear fruit, but simply to remind us that as Christians we have been given a precious gift over and above the forgiveness of all our sins—we have, in addition, the continuing gift of the Holy Spirit who ensures that we abide and remain in our Lord.

But, you may ask, what about all those statements we just heard in the Gospel itself, concerning the fruit we are to bear? Did you happen to notice that there’s actually only one command that required action? And that command has nothing to do with our bearing fruit, but with abiding in Jesus. That may sound like a petty, hair-splitting distinction, but in fact it is quite important and it needs to be strictly correct. When Jesus speaks of His Father as the Vinedresser, who’s doing the work? Not you! The only One doing anything here is God. You’re not being asked to concentrate on the amount and kinds of fruit your life ought to bear, because there’s something more important to focus attention on – that is your connection with the true Vine, who is Christ. After all, the farmer or rancher doesn’t first get concerned about how large their harvest or yield will be, but instead, he or she concentrates on the condition of the plants, the health of the animals that are going to bring forth the result. If the plants or cows are healthy, then healthy fruit, a good crop, or wholesome milk products will be the natural result.

In one of Aesop’s fables there is a farmer, who, on his deathbed, tells his sons of a treasure buried in his vineyard. Well, you can imagine what happened when he died. His sons went out and dug up the entire vineyard looking for the buried treasure. But they didn’t find a thing. However, that year the vineyard bore its best crop ever – and all because of the extra cultivation the ground received while the sons were digging all around the plants. The inheritance the farmer left to his sons was that they would receive a bountiful harvest from his vineyard thanks to the work they were meant to do anyway.

Instead of concentrating on the fruit your life bears, the how much and why, you ought rather stay attentive to the Who: to Jesus’ reminder that the Holy Spirit keeps you firmly connected to Him, the “true Vine” – for only the true Vine can give the branches what they need to bear much fruit. Only those who stay connected to Christ – the true, life-giving Vine – are able to bear godly fruit in their lives. But how does one stay connected to that Vine? It simply happens to those who remain in Jesus and His fruitful Word. And remaining in Jesus and His Word, by the way, is what Confirmation and professing membership in a Church is all about, and by God’s grace we may look forward to more adults and young people being prepared to promise to do just that.

Everything is tied together by this Word of God, this Gospel of salvation, this Good News of God’s love and how it comes to sinners. It’s Christ’s Word heard in His Church, read in your home, and placed in your heart as you hear it over and over again in Liturgy, hymns, readings, sermons, and prayers. And when you consider what it means for you to abide in Christ – and Christ in you – how can you not be reminded of the Sacrament of the Altar, where Christ’s true body and blood become one with you as you eat and drink it? To be sure, we must never forget that the words of Jesus that we heard today about the Vine, He originally spoke as He was making His way from the upper room where He instituted this Sacrament.

Another image used that might cause us discomfort is the idea of pruning and cleaning. Jesus teaches here that every single branch has to be pruned if it’s going to stay healthy. Fruitless branches, hypocrites who outwardly appear connected, but really aren’t, will be cut off in God’s judgment and thrown into the fire. They don’t bear fruit. They don’t believe. The Vinedresser has to cut them off, for they are no longer useful, indeed all they do is hinder the rest of the crop.

That’s why Jesus says here that even fruitful, believing branches have to be cut, cleansed, and pruned. Even believing Christians abiding in Christ have to be pruned from time to time so that they bring forth the fruit God desires. In the original, the words “pruned” and “clean” are the very same. So reread verse 3, thinking of yourself as a branch: “Already you are pruned because of the word that I have spoken to you.” God alone is the Worker working in you with His Word of forgiveness, and the fruit borne in your life is a gift. It isn’t something you produce, but what the Holy Spirit produces in you, by keeping you connected to Christ the Vine. If God desires fruit-bearing plants, then it’s up to Him to prune them so they remain healthy and flourish.

Even though we are Christians, we still understand, none of us is perfect. We possess salvation, a new nature, and have a new man living inside us, yet the old man of sin inside us is very much alive. That’s precisely what must be pruned and cut back from us. But that sinful old man isn’t always visible. He lives deep down inside the very depths of your flesh. You need to stay healthy and alive, so that sinner inside has to be continually cut back. And to do this, God uses His Word, which cuts deep into your heart to bring you to repentance of your sins and keep you in the faith. The Vinedresser’s Sacrament of His Son’s true body and blood feeds you His forgiveness and gives you the strength to endure what you’re going through. And God also reminds you through the affliction, suffering and pain we all experience in pruning, you must rely on Him for all things. God’s desire is that you realize He is the One at work in your life accomplishing His will—the will that you stay connected to Christ the Vine.

What about that person who tries to get by without Christ? Jesus says, without Him you can do nothing. He doesn’t mean you can’t be “successful” as the world views success – or that you can’t accomplish a great many things that might benefit others here in this world – but that in the most important things – eternal things – you can do nothing without Him. Even if you turn out to be a very successful person in the eyes of the world, without Christ your life will amount to nothing. For if you don’t remain in Him and Him in you, you’re like a branch that withers, is cut off, picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. And that’s what Satan would like more than anything – to cut you off from the true Vine, that you stay away from the Church, that you no longer hear God’s Word, that you stop praying, and that you no longer receive the Lord’s Supper to sustain you. And if Satan has his way, the end, for you, would be eternal death and hell.

But when you remain in Christ, you have everything. No matter what happens, your life will be fruitful. You’ll still need pruning from time to time. But in Christ you’ll have everything you need. Though the fruits of your life may not be visible to you, God knows your heart and what your heart needs. He is the One who lifts up those who quietly abide in Christ’s Word and says to them: “You have produced fruit – yes, much fruit.” As a branch abiding in the true Vine, Christ is at work in you, accomplishing all things for His good pleasure and to the glory of His Father. So, whatever the fruit of your life might be – whether spectacular, hidden, impressive, or obscure – that fruit is God’s doing – and in His eyes it is “much fruit.”

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Acts 8:26–40 an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip … of whom does the prophet say this?
Ps. 150 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
1 John 4:1–21 Beloved, do not believe every spirit…beloved, let us love one another…
John 15:1–8 I am the true vine