Sermon “Nugget”:
Our Relationship with Jesus - The Vine and the Branches
Jesus describes himself as the “true vine” and us as the branches… The method of this spiritual agriculture is based on a nurturing interdependent relationship that exists between the vine and the branches. Jesus uses the word “abide” to describe it. “Abide in me as I abide in you.” In a sense, a vine and its branches abide in each other, they live in each other.
Immersing myself in this imagery raises a question about vines. Where does the vine begin and the branches and/or trunk and /or roots end? If you have ever tried to pull up a vine from a flower garden, you know that it seems like it will never end. So it is with a grapevine. In fact, a vine is made up of roots, trunk and branches. Jesus did not say that he was the “trunk” or the “root”, but the vine — the whole thing. While we tend to think of Jesus as the Christ being the whole package, here Jesus suggests that without us, the branches, he, the vine, is incomplete. We are part and parcel of the whole. We are necessary for, as part of the vine, we complete the person and work of Christ. Paul described this relationship as the mystical body of Christ. For John’s community and for ours, that mystical body is the church, the community of the faithful. This community is not only founded on Christ, but also manifests the Christ in the world. We, the branches, make the whole vine a living presence in the world.
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