JOHN 15:1-17

15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

4 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.

5 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.

6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.

15 No longer do I call you servants, [1] for the servant [2] does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

Crab apples, lemons and sour grapes.   That’s the fruit that people seem to be producing these days.   It’s there in the anger and the animosity that seems to be here there and everywhere.  No matter where you look people seem to be fighting about something. Democrats and Republicans are fighting over the national deficit.  Turn the radio on and you’ll hear people debating immigration and shouting at each.  Turn the television on and you’ll hear people debating health care reform and throwing insults at each other.  Open the Transcript next week and read all the letters to the editor regarding the high school baccalaureate service and the ACLU.  It doesn’t take much to get people all worked up these days.  The fight could be over a parking space at the mall or a baseball game.   Right now there’s a baseball fan out in California who’s in a coma.  Brian Stowe end up in that coma after he was attacked by some Dodger fans who didn’t like the fact that he was wearing a jersey for the San Francisco Giants. Then there’s Mark Kerrigan.  He and his father got into an argument over a phone call and now he’s going to jail.

I wonder what Jesus thinks about all of this conflict.  He might think we’re behaving like children. He might think we’re just like the sister and brother who weren’t getting along one day.   Their mother knew they weren’t getting along when she suddenly heard a scream coming from the bedroom.  So, she ran to the bedroom. When she got there she found her two year old daughter pulling her five year old son’s hair.  The mother gently made the little girl let go.  She then turned to her son and did her best to reassure him.  “There, there,” the mother said.  “Your sister didn’t mean it.  She doesn’t know that it hurts when you do that.”   After order was restored the mother went back to the other room.  It wasn’t long though before she heard another scream.  “What’s wrong now?” the mother hollered as she ran back into the bedroom.  When she got there her five year old son looked up at her with a scowl on his face and said very defiantly, “She knows now!”

Crab apples, lemons and sour grapes.   That’s the fruit that people seem to be producing these days.  Here’s a question for you though.  Is that the fruit that Jesus wants us to produce?  Is that the fruit that Jesus was talking about when he said, “I am the vine; you are the branches?”  Is that the fruit that Jesus was talking about when he said, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit?”

No.  Of course not!  The fruit that Jesus is talking about is the same fruit that the Apostle Paul is talking about in his Letter to the Galatians.   In that Letter Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit which he said includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22,23)

That’s the fruit that Jesus wants you to produce.  So, with that in mind here’s another question for you.  Would you say you’re producing a bumper crop when it comes to the fruit that Jesus wants you to produce?  Or would you say that the pickings are pretty slim these days?  It isn’t easy sometimes. It can be hard to be loving, joyful and peaceful, especially when people all around you are producing crab apples and bickering back and forth.  It can be hard to be patient and kind and good; especially when people all around you are producing lemons and doing a lot of backbiting.  It can be hard to be faithful, gentle and calm; especially when people all around you are producing sour grapes and badmouthing you and everyone else for that matter.

So, what’s the key to producing the kind of fruit that Jesus wants you to produce?   It might help by remembering what was going when Jesus told the disciples about the vine and the branches.   It might be helpful to remember that those words were spoken by a man who knew that he was about to be arrested and tortured.  Those words were spoken by God’s only begotten Son who knew that he was about to die a slow agonizing death.  

When you realize what Jesus was dealing with that night it makes you realize that maybe you shouldn’t take yourself too seriously.   Jesus was about to go to the Cross.  So, maybe I shouldn’t take myself too seriously here.  Maybe I should remember that God didn’t create the sun to rise and set on me.  God didn’t create the sun to rise and fall on what I want or what I think. Maybe I should be more like the man who put an unusual ad in the newspaper one day.  He put the ad in the for sale section of the newspaper.  It went like this: “Nordic Track for sale.  $300.  Hardly ever used.  Call and ask for Chubby.”

Now there’s a man who in all likelihood is producing some good fruit because he doesn’t take himself too seriously. Here’s something else to consider. When you don’t take yourself too seriously you also begin to realize that you don’t have to take everything in life so seriously.  You begin to realize that a lot of the things that people fight about really aren’t all that important. So, what if that guy cut you off on the highway.   So what if you like the Red Sox and your friend at work likes the Yankees.  Is the world really going to come to an end if you and your next door neighbor don’t see eye to eye when it comes to the death penalty or taxes or abortion?

When you take yourself less seriously it makes it possible for you to produce the fruit that Jesus wants you to produce.  When you don’t take everything in life so seriously it makes it possible for you to produce the fruit that Jesus wants you to produce. Here’s one more observation.  People would produce a lot more of the fruit that Jesus wants them to produce if they took Jesus a little more seriously.

Jesus certainly expected the disciples to take him seriously.  He certainly expects his disciples today to take him seriously.  You can see that by looking at what he said that night.  Jesus said, “These things I command you…”  He didn’t say, “If it’s okay with you guys, I’d like you to try this after I’m going.”  He didn’t say, “If it isn’t too inconvenient I’d like you to produce a little good fruit for me.”

Jesus said, “These things I command you, so that you will love one another…that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”  Jesus expects his disciples to bear the fruit of love and joy and peace, the fruit of patience, kindness and goodness, the fruit of faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Jesus expects us to produce that fruit because he knows that when we do good things will happen.

We’ll become more like the primitive natives in the Philippines who taught some Christian missionaries a thing or two one day.  It happened shortly after the missionaries set up a croquet game in their front yard.   The croquet game intrigued the natives, and it wasn’t long before the missionaries invited them to join them in the fun.  The missionaries explained the rules of the game, and then gave each native a mallet.  As the game progressed, an opportunity came for one of the natives to knock another player’s ball out of the court.  When the missionaries told the native what to do, he became puzzled.  “Why would I want to knock his ball out of the court?” he said.  “So you can win the game,” the missionaries replied.  The native shook his head in bewilderment.  You see competition is generally ruled out in a hunting society where people survive not by competing, but working together.  The game continued, but no one followed the missionaries’ advice.  When a player successfully made it through all the wickets, he went back to give aid and advice to the other players.  As the final player moved toward the last wicket, the affair was still very much a team effort.  As soon as the last ball hit the stake the natives erupted into a chorus of song and dance and began shouting, “We won!  We won!”

Jesus said, “These things I command you, so that you will love one another…that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”  It’s something to think about the next time the someone close by is handing out crab apples, lemons or sour grapes. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

May 29, 2011