"Living And Loving In The Mystery of God" Easter 6 May 21, 2006

(First, read the text for this sermon: John 15:(1-8) 9-17)

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. The words we read last week, as from Jesus, in the 15th chapter of John, are necessary context for this morning’s gospel reading.

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. And then: I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

Here is part of the mystery that is God: God is relational within God’s self! God is interconnected. God is Father and Son and Holy Spirit, in divine relationship, all proceeding from the “stuff” that is God.

And here’s more. This imagery of a vine and its branches describes the Christ and his followers, and so you and I are included in the relational mystery that is God. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. … 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. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. It is Father and Son and Holy Spirit – and you and me! We are as branches, receiving nourishment from the essence that is God.
It is mystery – that God would be that relational.

(I use the word, “mystery,” not in the sense of an Agatha Christie mind-twister, with a riddle that’s figured out at the end of the story. The mystery that is God is impossible to fully comprehend or conceive. That’s because God is so far beyond what we can understand. We are drawn by God to explore the mystery that is God is, through contemplation and prayer and love. That is how we come to know God – in that mystical and experiential way!)

Here is part of the mystery of God: that God is not aloof, apart, far removed up in the clouds. Instead, according to the witness of the Bible, God is interconnected in love and in relationship with us, as intimately as a vine is intertwined with its branches!

I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. What is that fruit? That’s what we discover – as we move from last Sunday’s reading to this morning’s verses in John.

Listen to how it goes. "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.” Love! Then we read: “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.” And now, here is the result of keeping God’s commandments! “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” Joy! The joy of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit! Joy that is complete, from following God’s commandments to love!

The mystery of God is made up of joyous love. It’s mystery worthy of prayer and contemplation, because this isn’t anything even resembling romantic love. This love has nothing to do with the romantic illusions we construct of ourselves or of another person with whom we have “fallen in love.”

This is the mystery of joyous love that is commanded! "This is my commandment,” we read, “that you love one another as I have loved you.” It is the mystery of love that is modeled after Jesus. It is love that is self-giving. It is love that is ultimately demonstrated by Jesus’ self-sacrifice for us: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” What is accomplished by Jesus’ self-giving love? We are made friends with God! And others – even those we don’t like – are made friends with God. (It’s all God’s initiative.) And so, we are called to love even those we don’t like – because God has made them friends!

In this love, God includes us. God incorporates you and me in the mystery that is God.

Living as a Christian means surrendering ourselves more deeply into the mystery that is God. Then, our actions, of Christian compassion, come out of our surrender into the love that is God.

I think that points us towards understanding the whole idea of “commandment” in this reading from John. “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. … This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” It seems obvious, from the context of the passage, that Jesus is not commanding us to do something that we don’t want to do! Our obedience is not that of servants, an alien and grudging obedience. It is, rather, that of friends. When friends serve each other, it is in the spirit of encouragement. It’s what we want to do. (I think that is the way to understand any Biblical commandments: that we obey them as response to the love that is God.) Love arises out of obedience, and obedience out of love. It all begins with God’s initiative, through Jesus’ self-sacrificial love. And as we respond in obedience, by doing works of love towards others, we bear fruit, as branches of the vine.

It is love and obedience and friendship, all intertwined, living and loving in the mystery that is God.

It is incomprehensible!

It is mystery that can only be entered into and experienced.

It is joy! “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”

Thanks be to God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.


Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia