Balloons and branches [Easter 5B - John 15:1-8]
The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson
John 15:1-8
Balloons and branches
Grace Episcopal Church, Cherry Valley
Balloons: they are so simple. In the bag, a balloon is nothing more than a
little piece of limp rubber. You can
just flop ‘em around, stretch ‘em; that’s about it. There is not much to a balloon. But also, when I was kid, smacking an inflated
balloon around the house was about as good as life got. It was unbelievable.
Balloons are interesting. They are really only as good as their
filling. With a balloon, what is inside
is everything. Now the basic filling is air. You can blow up a balloon. And with that one simple additive, breath, a
balloon becomes like a ball that doesn’t break windows. Incredible.
But then helium. You fill a
balloon with helium and it takes off. If
a balloon filled with helium gets away, it’s gone. Water: that’s a fun filling. Water balloon fights are equally fantastic
and frightening. Very fun…until one
explodes on your face. Put anything else
in a balloon and it’s just weird. But
even the weirdest objects – once inside – absolutely define a balloon.
In that way, humans are similar to
balloons: what we put inside defines us.
I’m not talking about food, although there is some truth in that
too. I’m talking about what we let into
our hearts and souls.
A number of years back I read an
interview with a major Evangelical publisher.
In the interview, he was asked whether or not he thought the Church in
this country was successfully forming Christians, more specifically, if he
believed the resources his company produced made a difference in the lives of churchgoers. Somewhat surprisingly, given his vocation, he
admitted that they probably did not make much of a difference. This publisher opined a heartbreaking reality. Despite investing his life in creating church
literature, he believes that most Christians in this country are formed more significantly
by cable news than by the Church. Rather
starkly, he wondered how one or two hours in the church each week, for worship
or Bible study, could possible complete with the many hours of cable news and political
talk radio much of the population consumes every day.
It is fair to wonder how much
impact the Gospel message is having on our culture. Because that Evangelical publisher is
probably right. It is probably the case
that many people in our nation, including Christians, are shaped more profoundly
by partisan interests than by Gospel imperatives. What we put inside defines us.
This is why Jesus offers us this
metaphor of vine and branches in today’s Gospel. In his teaching, Jesus claims to be the vine
and casts his followers as branches. In
his telling, Jesus is our source – the source of our life and the source of
love. To bear the fruits of the kingdom,
we have to be attached to Jesus. When we
are attached to Jesus, we are then filled with Jesus – his life, his
Spirit.
Jesus is calling us to give him
space in our lives, invite him to abide in us, to allow his words to live in
us. Because like the balloon, what we
put inside defines us.
“Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the
branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can
you unless you abide in me.”
Jesus is inviting us to make ourselves at home in his heart, in his
presence. That means spending time with Jesus
– in worship, in prayer, in the Scriptures.
That means spending time acting like Jesus – in love and service to
others. Like a sponge in water, the
longer we soak, the fuller we get. The
fuller we are filled with Jesus, the less of the other stuff can claim space in
our hearts.
We live in tender times. Never more have people needed to experience
the love of Jesus. But also, never more
have people in our nation been more skeptical about the Church. Recently the Episcopal Church conducted a
poll of people in our country.[1] In the poll they found that a vast majority
of people in our nation love and admire Jesus.
But those people don’t believe the Church is very good at living like
Jesus. In fact, the non-Christians interviewed
described Christians as “hypocritical,” “judgmental,” and “self-righteous.”
The poll results are certainly
sobering. But also they are
helpful. They are helpful because they
remind us that our message – the Good News of God’s love, the salvation found
in Jesus – is still powerful and appealing.
Even if folks aren’t so sure about us, they really do want Jesus. I think, as the Body of Christ, that we can
work with that.
The world is looking for
Christians who look like Jesus, who are defined, not by their enemies or their
ideologies, but by the love of Christ that emanates from their insides. You see, the thing about branches is that
they do look like the vine to which they are connected. Because the life running though the vine is
the same life that fills the branches. In
the same way, those who are filled with the love of Jesus are brought to life
by that love and are known by that love. Earlier in this same Gospel Jesus tells his
disciples, his first little branches, “I give you a new commandment, that you
love one another. Just as I have loved
you, you also should love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love
for one another.” The branches look like
the vine.
Our work in this world is to love
others as Christ loved us. But to do
that work we must be connected to Jesus; we must be filled with the love of
Jesus; we must dwell in his tender heart until our hearts beat in time with his.
What we put inside defines us. Because what is inside of our souls is what
we put out into the world. This world that
is eager to meet Jesus, this world that is desperate to know a perfect love,
will find the vine through the branches, will find Jesus through the ones who
have been transformed by his love. People
are desperate for a Church looks like Jesus.
Let’s be that Church.
Comments
Post a Comment