There is something wonderful about having a garden and learning the process of farming, even if on a very small scale. I don’t know if it is the smell of the soil, the excitement of seeing little sprouts emerging from the earth, or the satisfaction of eating food that you have cultivated and cared for, but it is thoroughly and uniquely human. It is also something which can be extremely difficult and frustrating.
For these reasons, it is hard to think of a better image to describe the Christian life and our relation to God, than the one Jesus chooses today: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” Anyone who has grown any sort of plant which bears fruit knows exactly what Jesus is saying and what the relation of the branches are to the vine. It reminds us that we die spiritually, that we are incapable of producing fruit, when we are not attached to the vine, or when we are not connected to the roots which nourish us. It also reminds us that when we are attached, the fruit that we produce - the prosperity of the land itself, comes to us naturally, as a gift of God. The gardener does the work and the vine he plants carries the sap and all its nutrition to us, and we, because we are in the right place, prosper and produce for the world the fruit that it needs.
All of us want to do good things, we want to produce good fruit, but many of us - in trying to do good things, often end up feeling burned out, exhausted, resentful, and even despairing. Yet there are others - others who do as much if not more, others who are full of hope and of life, full of care and love for their neighbors and their world, who never seem to fall victim to this plague, but rather go and on, helping those around them by what they do.
How does this happen? Where do they get the energy to continue doing good when others say enough is enough? I think it is because they are connected to the source of hope, to the source of life, to the source of care and love, for their neighbors and their world. All these things are things that God wants us to do, they are part of what Jesus calls the fruit of being in him.
In a plant, fruit is the excess, the overflow of the life that it has taken into itself. The more life a plant takes into itself, the more life it produces. When there is an abundance of sunshine to fuel photosynthesis, and when there is enough water and nutrients in the soil to be passed up the trunk and into the branches, those branches thrive, and grow, and produce, and grow again. The plant and its branches don't have to force themselves to grow, they do not have to make a resolution to bring forth sweeter fruit, nor do they need to remind themselves to be more abundant in their production.
They simply need to be in the place the gardener has prepared, the place where the conditions for growth and fruit-bearing are found. For us the right place to be is in the vine that has been planted by God and which is tended by God - the vine which we call Christ.
Friends, each one of us here are part of the vine of Christ. We are able to produce tremendous quantities of fruit, conditions are perfect for our growth ——because God himself tends us and ensures those conditions are perfect. All we need do to be fruitful is remain a part of the vine, and perform the simple tasks that every branch performs as a means of maintaining a fruitful life in the vine.
Basically there are only two tasks we need to do, just as there are only two tasks that a branch in a vine does.
First - the branch, through its twigs and leaves, receives energy from the sun to fuel its growth. The leaves, by the miraculous process of photosynthesis, convert light into plant energy which helps to drive the system that produces fruit as its end result. So we too receive energy when we unfold ourselves before God and accept from him the light he offers to us in his Word, both the written word of scripture, and the living word of Jesus Christ.
Secondly - the branch, through its connections to the stem of the plant, receives moisture and nutrients from the soil, it receives the life-giving sap that makes its grow. In the same way we need to be exposed to the word of God, to the sacraments, to the daily graces of prayer, and the many other spiritual nutrients that the Church offers us. We need daily contact with these good things so that we might draw from them the strength and energy we need.
When we do these two things, we become like any healthy plant, which tracks the sun as it moves through the sky. They focus on it, they lean towards its light and turn wherever it is. If we abide in Christ, as branches on the vine, we begin to track the Son of God - when we lean out to receive God's word, when we absorb his words like the plant absorbs the sunlight, then we will have all that we need to get through each and every day. And not only get through the day but also produce good, holy, life-giving spiritual fruit for those around us.
There is indeed profound wisdom in the words of Jesus: “I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remain in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit.” Take a moment this week to go outside and look around at the trees and plants that are beginning their cycle of growth once again. God is a good gardener and what he plants and tends is tremendously fertile, incredibly productive.
God has planted the Vine called Christ in our midst, and when we are willing, he grafts us into that vine, and provides to us all things necessary for growth. All we have to do is remain a part of the vine and then we will produce fruit pleasing to Him and good for us and our world.
Praise be to God, our King, our Gardener, our life-giving Vine. Amen.
