Jesu Juva
St. John 15:1-8
May 2, 2021
Easter
5B
Dear saints of our Savior~
Today we have a tailor-made text for Confirmation Sunday. We have a Bible verse brimming with application for Confirmation. It’s a metaphor made for a day like today: I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
I’ve actually been thinking about these words of Jesus for a very long time. For me, these words have a confirmation association that goes all the way back to April 17, 1983—the day of my own confirmation. On that day Pastor Dennis Schmidt placed his hands on my head, and spoke the words of the Confirmation verse he had personally chosen for me: I am the vine; you are the braches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5). This passage is the perfect passage for this Confirmation Sunday.
Jesus is the vine. You are the branches. The Father is the vinedresser (or, we might say, the “gardener”). Unlike the “shepherd” metaphor of last Sunday (shepherds being somewhat scarce these days), a simple walk around the block provides plenty of examples of vines and branches. It perfectly illustrates your union with Jesus through faith. Joined to Jesus in faith, you are alive and fruitful, as living branches joined to a living vine. That image of vine and branches is so fundamental to the faith we confess that it’s carved into the wood of this pulpit
But there’s something in the fine print of today’s holy gospel which must also be mentioned: that part about “pruning.” Jesus tells us that dead branches get pruned by the Father. And even branches that are fruitful He snips and clips and trims back in order that they might produce even more fruit. We know what this means for grape vines and for fruit trees. Cut off the dead wood and prune back the living branches to make them even more fruitful.
But what does this mean for us, my fellow branches? It means that our heavenly Father is “pruning” us—not with fancy pruning clippers—but with something much, much sharper. God prunes our lives with His Law. He’s snipping away at the Old Adam in us—cutting off the rotten, dead deeds produced by our sinful nature: including our limitless love for self, our shortage of self-control, our impatience, and our utter lack of kindness and gentleness for those who don’t do what we say. The deadwood in us that succumbs to sin—it needs to be pruned away.
The Old Adam in us hates those pruning shears. Our sinful nature would prefer to grow wild like an unpruned vine or an untrimmed tree. But do you know what happens when a grapevine goes untended and untrimmed and is allowed to grow wild? There’s lots of green on the outside; but there’s even more deadwood on the inside. And as for fruit? Well, hardly enough for a glass of grape juice, let alone for a nice bottle of Cabernet. We need to hear this warning: Live your life on the wild side—dodge, evade and ignore the patient pruning that comes from God’s Law—and your faith will wither and die. Apart from Jesus you are fruitless. Apart from Jesus you are dead. Apart from Jesus you can do nothing.
A key word from today’s gospel reading is “abide.” Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. Jesus Christ invites you to “abide” in Him. “Abide” is a powerful, significant word. To “abide” is to dwell, to take up residence, to make your home someplace. When your hillbilly relatives write to say that they’re coming to “abide” with you, watch out because that means they’re moving-in, lock, stock, and barrel. To abide in Jesus means that He is your life—and there is no life apart from Him. To “abide” is not something that happens once a week for 75 minutes. That’s not abiding. Abiding isn’t dipping your toe in the water; it’s diving into the deep end headfirst.
It’s particularly true of Christians (post-confirmation) that we take our “abiding” in Christ far too lightly. Whether it’s how casual we are about worship or how carelessly we listen to God’s Word, we need to be much more intentional about abiding in Jesus. We sometimes have the attitude that we’re really just fine on our own—that all we need is just a little booster shot of Jesus now and then to keep us going in the faith. And that right there is one of the devil’s best tricks: Convincing branches that they can do without the Vine—or that they only need to be “reasonably close” to the Vine. But “reasonably close” to Jesus doesn’t cut it. Cut yourself off from Jesus—sever yourself from the Savior—and you won’t abide in the faith for long.
Many years ago when we lived in South Dakota we had a night of severe storms. When I awoke the next morning, the storms were long gone, golden sun was peaking over the horizon, and the air was still sweet with the smell of ozone. But it was my backyard that really caught my attention. My backyard had never been greener. To my tired eyes it looked amazingly lush and thick. But a closer look showed that hail and high winds had stripped away lots of green leaves and foliage from the tree branches. My lawn looked so green because it was covered by a carpet of green leaves severed from the surrounding trees. But the summer sun soon went to work on those leaves. What looked so lush and alive at 6AM, was wilted, withered, and scorched by that afternoon. By that evening there was nothing left to do but gather them up, and take them away for burning. They may have looked beautiful in the dawn’s early light, but even then—stripped from the tree—severed from their source of life—they were already withering and dying.
This is why Jesus invites us to abide in Him. This is why Jesus invites us to receive His gifts—to hold preaching and His Word sacred, and to gladly hear and learn it. This is why I tell every young person I am privileged to confirm that I’m not confirming them because they may have mastered the Small Catechism. I’m not confirming them because they know all the books of the Bible and because they may or may not know how to spell “Ecclesiastes.” I am confirming them in a way of life—a way of living—a way of living where Jesus is the vine and they are His branches—a way of living and dying—and abiding forever—in Jesus Christ, our Savior.
In this Jesus, in His death and resurrection, God has embraced you. He has baptized you, forgiven your sins, welcomed you to the holy meal of His body and blood. He has grafted you to the True Vine; and He prunes your life lovingly, carefully, and strategically to strengthen your faith and make you even more fruitful. Jesus is the vine and He’s always there—always faithful, always forgiving, always inviting you closer: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. I am the vine. You are my branches.
Jesus wants you to be fruitful—to live large in His life—to live joyfully in His forgiveness. You are His branches, abiding in Him. In Him you are forever fruitful.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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