B, Easter 5 – John 15:1-5 “Evergreen”

The Easter season sees us pondering the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And during the last couple of weeks we have been encouraged in the hope of our resurrection; we're called to turn from doubt and worry towards an eager expectation of eternal joy.

In the northern hemisphere things are flourishing as summer approaches, vines are carrying their fruit, flowers are blossoming! But here in the southern hemisphere as the days get shorter and the nights get colder, plant life is preparing to shut down for the winter months.

And so the pruning shears will be brought out and gardens will be severely chopped back. The winter pruning is not just a little trim to keep things in shape. No! While the plants are dormant and the trees are bare, the old and the ugly, the weak and the diseased, are hacked off and hauled out in preparation for the new growth of spring after a cold frosty winter.

As life ebbs in the garden one gets to experience a myriad of colours as the vines and trees lose their leaves. Then there are the colours and fragrances of roses giving their last hoorah before the petals fall off and each plant goes into a state suspended animation till spring.

Life is as much about death. What started out new and fresh and leafy green is now fading from fiery ambers and reds to a withering wintery brown. And with both one can appreciate the beauty of God's creation as the life cycle continues to revolve.

Imagine if gardens were not pruned and the dead, weak, dying or diseased remained on the vines and in the flower beds. The expectation of spring's new growth would be overshadowed by unsightly remains. No! It's best when nature finishes it show of changing colour to cut and clear, to prune and prepare for the newness of the next season.

God pruned his people Israel. It was a harsh pruning! He cut them back to a single stump, the stump of Jesse. And from that root came new life at Easter. The holy nation which became one person dead on a lifeless hanging tree sprung to life once again.

At the resurrection humanity was reborn through Jesus Christ. He was raised to life and now carries an all-knowing wisdom and knowledge bearing perfect eternal peace, an omnipresent holy counsel with complete understanding, omnipotent loving power, and reverent fear built on the Father's faithfulness. God loved us so much he pruned and recreated life itself in what was the darkest and most dormant three days of human creation culminating in a resurrection of life that will only get better.

Now today Jesus is God's new vine. This vine is the life centre of God's garden of grace. And we're branches of the vine in this garden. The people of God were reduced to one, but now from the grave, from the stump of Jesse the shoot has shot into an evergreen vine that will never fade or die and we the branches have been grafted into the vine.

Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." (Jn 15:1-5)

Saint Paul also testifies to our destiny in Christ saying to the Ephesians, "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit…" (Eph 1:13)

Being in the word we are grafted into Christ. We are the children of God because Christ is the new Israel. But unlike Christ we still bear the rot and disease of the old season, and as a result are constantly in need of being pruned into the branches that produce the fruit of the vine, the fruits of grace, mercy, and peace, that show the true beauty of the source of our re-creation.

When we have times of doubt and our faith seems to be wintery and worn, we do well to remember and trust what Jesus and Paul tell us… You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you.

On the other hand when we are tempted to believe we have remained in the vine long enough and we're attracted to cut ourselves off by believing in ourselves rather than God, we're also called to take heed of this warning…

If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. (Romans 11:17-23)

So like leaves on the vine, we start off green and fresh, and as time goes on we mature and colour with age. We all serve a function on the vine whatever stage of life we're in.

But unlike leaves that wither and fall off the vine, our evergreen vine will never let us fall away while we trust in him. Therefore, although we are foliage that changes during life, we are more like branches that grow stronger and stronger in the vine. As we grow in him we need more and more substantial prunings.

So as we are lovingly pruned by God the gardener, soon we'll face the greatest pruning of our lives – your earthly death. As we've been lovingly pruned throughout our lives we're called to live with the same reverent fear as Christ, trusting in God, in the wake of his faithfulness towards us. Not hoping to go back to the past, nor approaching the future with inward-looking fear.

But we strive in hope for what's in front of us where like the stump of Jesse, the dead wood and deciduous leaves will be left behind, and, we will spring into new life, being clothed with the lush evergreen righteousness of God's holy perfection together with him forever, Amen.