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Easter 5B 2009
Acts 8:16-40, John 15:1-8
Theologians through the ages
have written about Christians’ penchant for a “milquetoast Jesus,” a meek and mild Jesus, a wimpy Jesus.
The scripture passage we
call “The Beatitudes” -- or as sometimes called, the Be (Happy) Attitudes -- is
much preferred over Jesus throwing the money-changers out of the temple. Jesus
welcoming children is more often cited as descriptive of our Lord than his pronouncements about
people thrown away like dead branches into the fire. Jesus tells his disciples, “Abide in me.” These
are the comforting words we want o hear! These words are alluring and welcoming and warm. We love to hear the reassurance
that comes with our Lord inviting us into a kind of security, a sweet effortless resting in the everlasting arms of Jesus.
These words have been offered for generations as words of comfort only. Abide in me as I abide in you.
Good news! Comforting and
encouraging words! But there’s more to it than that. If we stop with the comforting words, we miss the message.
This passage also includes
the message of pruning, and being thrown away, and withering -- of being thrown into the fire and burned. The message of Jesus is clear: he expects something of us. He is not meek and mild, and doesn’t expect
us to be. Our call is his call.
It’s a two-part deal.
The responsibility goes both ways. And just as Jesus is not the meek and
mild savior, neither are his disciples expected to be meek and mild.
The image of the vineyard
was a familiar image for Israel. Vineyard
language -- rich, harvest language -- is used throughout the Hebrew scriptures to describe Israel and the promise of God’s
restored goodness. Here, though, the vineyard language describes our relationship to God through Jesus, and makes clear what
is expected of us as disciples of the Risen Christ.
This is the time of year
when many of us begin planting seeds, or going to look for bedding plants, or tending shoots emerging from winter soil. We know that just because we want something to grow is not enough. We also know we have to prune roses and fruit trees, pinching off the gangly stems of tomato plants; that
second blooms from the impatiens or zinnias means cutting back the early flowers.
If a weed is growing in our
gardens, we pull it out. If something is dead, or not growing well, we cut it off. If
something is too big, or too small, we move it, stake it, tie it back. This is what John’s gospel describes of God and
the disciples’ learning process. Gardening is not an armchair activity,
and neither is faith. There are choices to be made. It is difficult work.
This passage from John’s
gospel utilizes the image of vinedresser and vineyard to describe the relationship between God and Christian believers. What
is the purpose of such care and tending? That we will bear fruit. That we have a clearer understanding of our relationship to the vine. We
are to abide in God. Abide. Find
our home in. Stake our claim in.
That sounds so easy, doesn’t
it? We have only to glance again at our reading from 1 John to realize how hard this is. We must love our brothers and sisters.
John’s gospel uses the more elegant language of pruning to describe the vineyard scene, but it amounts to the same thing.
We are to grow, to develop, to learn, and to live the life to which we are called. And it’s hard work.
All of this conviction that
we are called and expected to answer our Lord’s love with action, with fruit bearing,
is rooted in our baptism with the promise “I will, with God’s help.” For the earliest Christians, baptism was the claiming of faith and being claimed by
God. It was the nurturing and tending of the seedling until the tender shoot grew strong. The
preparation for baptism took months and even years because of all there was to learn and do in order to take on an active
role in the community of faith. We stand on the shoulders of these saints, charged to remember that the practice of faith
is not easy or optional.
“Abide in me as I abide
in you.” Jesus said. This doesn’t mean be still and take it easy.
It means get busy. Now. Amen
Adapted
from The Rev. Machrina Blasdell, Selected Sermon for Easter 5B 2006, Worship that Works, dfms.org
Baptism of
What
a great day this is for us all to baptize little __. Not only is i Mother’s Day, this is the most important day of his
life.
It
is an interesting thing about the sacrament of Holy Baptism: You can't see Baptism. You can see the outward signs at the font. But
once the water has dried, the oil of chrism wiped away, nobody sees anything. But
baptism is more than water and chrism. Holy Baptism is water connected to God's
word.
Long ago at the Jordan River, an ordinary looking man, a carpenter's son
from Nazareth in Galilee, came to be baptized by John at the Jordan. He came
as others had come from the Judean countryside and from Jerusalem. He went down,
down, down into the water and when he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart, opened wide, and the
Spirit descending like a dove on him. Not just a shift in the clouds or a change
in the wind -- Jesus saw the heavens torn apart as though the walls between heaven and earth had been broken down. As though the divine, eternal word could no longer be contained
there but had to find a way to touch the earth -- not only touch it, but live within its limited bounds of time and space.
Time marked by the realities of human birth, by earthly stories of mustard seeds and fig trees and of vineyards, by blessing
little children and calling the most unlikely assortment of people "friends."
And
when the Spirit descended on Jesus, God said, "You are my Son, the Beloved.”
In your name, children of the earth
shall be marked for life. With the sign of your cross, they shall be marked as Christ’s own forever.
This
is not a far-off promise or a word reserved only for heaven. This divine, eternal word that tore the heavens apart had come
to live upon earth, yearning for us, to stay with us forever. The Word dwells
in ordinary women and men, carried with us into places of joy and sorrow alike. The
word longs to dwell within all of us. (1) We are called in our Baptism by the Incarnate
Word.
We are called and expected
to answer our Lord’s love with action, with fruit bearing.
It is rooted in our baptism with the promise “I will, with God’s help.”
For the earliest Christians, baptism was the claiming of faith and being claimed
by God. It was the nurturing and tending of the seedling until the tender shoot grew strong. The
preparation for baptism took months and even years because of all there was to learn and do in order to take on an active
role in the community of faith. We stand on the shoulders of these saints, charged to remember that the practice of faith
is not easy or optional.
And because of this – before
we renew our own baptismal vows we are asked this question: Will you who witness
these vows do all – ALL – in your power to support this child in his life in Christ? And the only answer permitted is: We will!
We vow and promise before God and the whole company of heaven that we will do all in our power to help this child in
his life in Christ. We have no other choice; God and God’s Church demand
it of us. The soul of this child demands it of us. And our own souls demand it of us.
AMEN
And now, __ will present himself with his parents and godparents at the font for the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.
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