Presented to River Street Cafe, 19 April 2017
Read John 15:1-14
‘I am
the vine you are the branches’, Jesus says, ‘remain in me and bear fruit’; how
are the disciples able to do this? By keeping his commands. And what are his
commands? Verse 9 that they abide in his love; Verse 10, that they remain in
his love; and Verse 12, that they love one another. Love God and love your
neighbour (Luke 10:27) and what is the greatest way to show that you love
someone else? It is, Verse 13, to lay down your life for your friends. And that
is what his disciples did for him. And that is what Christ first does for them.
Jesus
asked his disciples to remain in him and as they did they produced the fruit of
love. He produced love in his friends while they were being imprisoned,
tortured and killed. During their most difficult times, when many people
instead choose to hurt themselves by hating others, Jesus’ love grows in his
followers.
We too
can have that fruit of love in our lives. As we turn to Jesus, as we remain in
him, we will obey his commandments, we will love one another and he will
produce his fruit of love in us.
There
is one more thing though: In Verse 2 is recorded that Jesus says those who
remain in Him, he will prune. What is pruning? It is cutting. Jesus says he
will cut those who leave him and prune those who love him. So what’s the
difference if you get cut either way?
This
is something I have often wondered about. It is a play on words in Greek
between the branch that is cut and removed and the branch that is pruned. The
key difference is that the pruned branch, though it is cut, it is not
completely cut off, it remains. The pruned branch, it blossoms and it bears
fruit.
We all
must go through tough times in life when life brings the shears to us. Sad
things happen; bad things happen; mad things happen. The key is to not give
into hate and fear. If we give into hate and fear, we will inevitably cut
ourselves off from the love of God: hate and love cannot occupy the same space.
However, Jesus promises that if we obey his command to love each other then no
matter how sharp are the problems of our life, Jesus promises that he will use
even those challenges to make us sprout the fruit of forgiveness which is
everlasting life. As we obey his command to love one another, no matter how bad
life seems, everything will be alright.
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