Easter 5
May 6, 2012
John 15:1-8
There is a new game that has
developed in recent months amongst young people. It’s a social game…an experiment really…that
tells you a lot about my generation and the generations that have come after
us. What you do, is get a few of your
friends together and go out to eat.
After you have been seated at your table, your water has been poured,
and menus are in hand, you take a moment…pull your cell phones out of your
pockets and stack them in the middle of the table. They are not to be touched until the bill has
been paid and you are all ready to walk out the door. Sounds boring, doesn’t it? But here is the catch…say one of these phones
goes off during the meal…and you or your friend feel compelled to reach for
your tether to the world…unless it is an emergency situation, the person who
touches their cell phone first during the meal becomes responsible for picking
up the check for their friends. There
are variations that don’t involve a monetary penalty, but you get the picture…how
sad is it that we have had to invent a game to keep us off of our cell phones
for one whole hour while we sit and have actual conversations with actual
people, building on actual relationships?
Advertising agencies have
picked up on our addiction to social media and our technologically mediated
social lives and have banked on it. Last
year, a dentyne gum marketing strategy urged customers to make face time with
friends and family by playing scenes of people interacting with each other and
at the bottom of the screen there was a description of what was happening. A soccer player jumps in the air and runs to
his team that embraces him…description – friend request accepted. Two friends whisper a joke back and
forth…description – voicemail. It was
wonderfully clever but pointed out this same problem. In the age of smart phones, facebook,
twitter, tumblr, it seems like technologically mediated relationships have
taken over the social scene. We are more
and more connected to the world every day…and yet, studies suggest we have
never been lonelier. We need more
genuine relationships, more real face time…we need to somehow become more
connected to the source of our life together...
In order to help us to talk
about this, we need to back up a few weeks…back to Maundy Thursday…back to a
table where Jesus and his friends spent their last meal together…they had an
advantage over us, as they had no cell phones, no facebook, etc, at their
disposal…though folks sure have had fun guessing what holy week would have
looked like if Mark Zuckerberg had been born a few millennia earlier and
facebook were in existence. Fortunately
this was not the case and what we have is simply a rabbi and his friends
gathered around a table sharing a meal.
It is during this meal that we hear the gospel text for this morning, a
text which is part of Jesus’s farewell to his friends.
And for those of us who have
a love hate relationship with the gospel of John because of its simultaneous
concrete and abstract concepts, this is one of the classics that get folks hung
up…I am the vine, you are the branches…my father is the vine grower…abide in my
love and bear much fruit.
Think
about what a grape vine looks like…a strong base attached to the roots that is
woody in appearance, then a main vine coming out of the base which branches off
in all sorts of different directions, intertwining with one another along the
way…but each one ending in its own unique spot, where the fruit has an
opportunity to grow. The vines need
occasional up keep, pruning, to make sure that the optimal amount of fruit is
produced and that that fruit is healthy, ready for whatever application is in
store for it, be it eaten off the vine, made into wine or grape juice, turned
into jams. And sometimes, for whatever
reason, a branch withers and dies and must be removed so that the health of the
entire plant can be sustained and so the rest of the branches can maintain a
strong connection with the main vine, which provides them with all that the
branches need to thrive and produce much fruit.
Jesus told all this to his
disciples as they sat at the table and shared their last meal together, Judas
was about to run off to the Pharisees to tell them where Jesus was going to be
that evening…Peter was merely hours from denying Jesus three times…the other
disciples were hours away from deserting their beloved rabbi…and Jesus was
nearing the cross. Soon, his disciples
would be on their own and they would need to be prepared to continue to be in
relationship with one another and to remember and put to practice the teachings
of their rabbi…to abide in those teachings…without Jesus being physically
present with them.
As modern day disciples of
Christ, we are charged with the same task as the first disciples. We, too, are
like branches on a grape vine, intertwined with one another and connected
firmly with the main vine. No one asks
disciples of Christ if there is going to be pain, disappointment, and hurt
associated with the ministry we have been called to carry out…or if there is
going to be withering every once in a while during the course of this
ministry…but rather the question is when this is going to happen. We are all pruned from time to time so that
we can grow and thrive and bear much fruit.
We were chosen be disciples
of Jesus because we are beloved children of God, and we have received an
invitation to be in relationship with Jesus.
With this invitation to be in relationship with Jesus comes an
invitation to be in relationship with one another. Like branches on a grape vine are
intertwined, so are our lives intertwined.
The stronger the connection of the branches to the vine are, the
stronger the connection between the other branches are. It works in reverse, too….strong connection
with the branches can lead to a stronger connection to the vine. This is what happens in genuine community. We
physically come together and get real face time with real people and our
relationship with one another grows. And
what draws us together is our relationship with Christ. This is why church is
so important. We are brought together by Christ from different backgrounds and
interests and political views and are united by our love of Christ and our
desire to serve our neighbors. This is something
that requires person to person interactions.
As much as we like to think it can, technologically mediated
relationships cannot replace in person relationships…true, they can help us to
keep in touch with folks that we do not see often, but these relationships are
no where near as satisfying and healing as being with friends and family…be it
biological family or church family.
It is because of our life
together on Sundays and during the week that Christ has made us into a family,
so that we can show the love of Christ to those who need it most, so that no
one is alone in the midst of a stressful or tragic situation, so that we do not
have to be afraid to be vulnerable with one another and admit our shortcomings,
our failures and our doubts, so that we can all grow in our relationship with
Christ, and remember and put to use the teachings of Christ and bear much fruit
by loving one another and serving our neighbors.
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