Easter Fruit

The Fifth Sunday of Easter

April 28, 2024

John 15:1-8

 “Easter Fruit”

Easter Sunday was a month ago already, and although that may seem like a distant memory, do you remember what you had for Easter brunch or dinner? We were treated to a wonderful Easter breakfast here at church, and that was great. But what did you have at home, or at someone else’s house, later in the day? Hmm… maybe things like ham, or asparagus, or deviled eggs? Each year, as part of our Easter dinner, my family enjoys a fresh fruit salad – different melons, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries. It tastes like spring! And it’s a promise of what’s to come with all the wonderful fruits that we enjoy throughout the summer season. As I’m standing here describing all of this, in addition to making you hungry, some of you may be thinking: “I gotta stop at the store on the way home and pick up some fruit!” In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus talks about Easter fruit, but a different kind of fruit. It’s the fruit that is borne in the lives of Christ’s Easter people. It’s the fruit that comes about from abiding in Jesus who is the true Vine. Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel serve as the basis for the sermon under the theme, “Easter Fruit.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Last week, we heard Jesus say “I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11-18). Remember how I told you about Jesus’ “I Am” statements in John’s Gospel? How many can you remember? These include: “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35); “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12); “I am the gate” (John 10:7); “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11, 14); “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25); “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6); and “I am the true vine” (John 15:1). As I shared last week, cach time Jesus says, “I am” (Έγώ είμι), he is using the same words that God spoke to Moses when he appeared to him in the burning bush, calling him to go and tell Pharaoh to “let my people go.” Moses questioned God: “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:13-14a). Jesus is making clear that he himself is that same “I AM” God. Here today, Jesus tells us “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” (John 15:5). Now, here’s how another version of Scripture, The Message, puts this same passage: “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing.” But how does that work?

There’s one little word that Jesus’ uses again and again here: abide (μένω). “Abide in me,” Jesus tells us. If we’re going to bear Easter fruit in our lives, it’s only going to happen if we are abiding in Jesus, the true Vine. “Apart from me, you can do nothing,” Jesus tells us. But so often we think and do otherwise! We charge off in pursuit of our own agenda, but did we consult with Jesus about this? Did we ask him to guide and direct us? Are we willing to receive correction when our own plans and agenda don’t match up with those of Jesus? This can be where we have to learn the hard lesson that unless we are abiding in Jesus, we end up being very unproductive. We end up turning in on ourselves. How do we abide in Jesus? By doing the very thing we’re doing right now: gathering together with fellow believers for worship around Word and Sacrament. We abide in Jesus when we feed on what he tells us in Scripture, and when we come before him in prayer for ourselves and for others. We abide in Jesus when turn our plans and agenda in life over to him, seeking his face for what he would have us do. We abide in Jesus when we turn to him in good times and in bad; in sorrow and in joy. When all is said and done, the branches are only going to be as good as the vine to which they’re attached. It is the vine that sends out all of those branches from which fruit is produced. The true Vine is Jesus, who loves us and gave his very life for us on the cross. He has purchased us with his blood an set us apart to be his own people – his branches.

In his wisdom, the Father who is the vinedresser, the Master Gardener, may need to do some pruning on the branches of the true Vine. I have a grapevine at home, and every spring I need to do some serious pruning on this. This cutting back is good for the branches, otherwise there would branches going all over that would impede the production of the grapes. There needs to be ongoing pruning throughout the growing season as well. If this is true in the natural world around us, it’s also true in the spiritual world of faith. Our Master Gardener, our heavenly Father, who knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows what is productive vs. unproductive growth in our lives. Pruning is required, if there is to be productive growth in our lives. We may rebel against this cutting back. We don’t like it, and it may be painful. We cry out to God: “Why? Why are you doing this?” Jesus tells us: “Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:2). Only in heaven will we see how the Lord has worked all of this for our good. The Easter fruits of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” (Galatians 5:22-23) that we are seen in the lives of all the branches are abide in Jesus, the true Vine, will have their full glory in the life to come.

Andrew Murray (1828-1917) lived more than a century ago. He founded a Huguenot seminary and missionary training school in South Africa. He wrote:

             Have you ever noticed the difference in the Christian life between work and fruit? A machine

            can do work; only life can bear fruit. A law can compel work; only life can spontaneously

            bring forth fruit. Work implies effort and labour; the essential idea of fruit is, that it is the

            silent, natural, restful produce of our inner life. The connection between work and fruit is,

            perhaps, best seen in the expression, ‘fruitful in every good work’ (Col. 1:10). It is only

            when good works come as the fruit of the indwelling Spirit that they are acceptable to God.

            Under the compulsion of law and conscience, or the influence of inclination and zeal, men

            may be most diligent in good works, and yet find that they have but little spiritual result.

            Their works are man’s effort, instead of being the fruit of the Spirit, the restful, natural

            outcome of the Spirit’s operation within us. (For All the Saints: A Prayer Book For and By

            the Church, Vol. 1. Delhi, NY: The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, 1994; pp. 1082-1083).

Today, as our congregation gathers immediately after this worship service, to consider proposed renovation and expansion to our church facilities, it is my prayer – and it should be yours also – that Easter fruits will be evident to all in our discussion, our deliberation, and our decision-making, that we are truly abiding in Jesus the true Vine. May everything abound to the glory of his holy Name.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.