The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
and those who seek the LORD shall praise him: *
“May your heart live for ever!”
Today we hear in our Gospel reading from John, the final “I am” statement from Jesus. It is a part of Jesus’ farewell to his beloved followers. He has washed their feet and given them a new commandment, to love one another and now he comforts and encourages his followers from 2000 years ago and us today with the promise that we are not abandoned or left alone, but can be confident of Jesus’ continuing presence with us in the world.
The text begins with the divine name, ego eimi, which is the Greek form of the tetragrammaton, YHWH. This is the name given to Moses when Moses asks who he should say has sent him to free the Israelites from slavery. God responds, “I am who I am,” or “I will be who I will be.”
With “I AM” on the lips of Jesus, the author of the fourth gospel declares that God is present in the world and is found in Jesus. And God is present in ways that are everyday approachable and understandable. In this reading he is the vine—the grapevine ampelos. And not just any generic vining plant, but vitis vinifera, the fruiting grapevine that produces wine. Vitis, the botanical name for grape, is etymologically related to the word, vita, life. I am the true vine; I am life.
We are the branches. The power of love and abundant life that flows from God into Christ flows also into the community that gathers around Christ and shares in Christ’s overflowing love.
Through this connection to the vine of life, the community is filled with the creative, loving and merciful energy of God, that same love that flowed through Christ. And because of this creative and loving connection, we will bear fruit. Christly fruit, Godly fruit, the fruit of love.
In this image of vine and branches, in this beautiful picture of an intimate relationship with God and Jesus, the “you” in the passage is always plural. It is not a private prayer formula, it is an image that indicates profound dependence, profound reliance in and with all of God’s children. Because at the source of our life we are belonging and relationship—first with God in Jesus, but then extending out to all. Life is grounded in community. We are planted and grow alongside our neighbors. Our vines and root systems are enmeshed. We are dependent on the same water and the same air. Jesus teaches us that we cannot love God without loving one another.
We are all interconnected with each other. As Christians we are to love and serve each other in the name of Christ. Through the source of our life and love we are to reach out and bring God’s love to all we meet.
And this is a great charge. We are naturally drawn to love those close to us.–to love friends and family. But we are to love all, for if we love each other, God abides in us—makes his home within us– and God makes our love whole—perfected—packed with fruit—enough to give life to others.
As followers of the living Christ we know that living our lives in accordance with Jesus’ model, that we can be called to share God’s love with unexpected people. In our reading today from Acts, we hear about Philip who has come to be known as the evangelist.
Philip is not to be confused with one of the original 12. Instead Philip was chosen by the apostles to take care of the poor who as members of the Greek Jewish community were not receiving their fair share of food and clothing—the things they needed to live.
Philip along with six others, as Greek speaking followers of the way of Jesus, were selected to make sure that the members of this Hellenistic community were cared for, in particular the widows. So his role in the community is fairly well outlined. But the Holy Spirit always has a way of expanding our job descriptions. Philip is first sent to Samaria where he has great success teaching and healing and bringing people to Christ. And then Philip is told by an “angel of the Lord” to get up and go. He is to head south into the wilderness along the road between Jerusalem and Gaza. And he does. He gets up and goes without planning an itinerary or even knowing who he is to meet—he just goes in response to the directions of an authoritative angel.
And when he arrives he sees an Ethiopian official—a man of great power and wealth— traveling the same route in his chariot reading aloud from a scroll containing the writings of the prophet Isaiah.
We learn that he is in charge of the treasury of the Candace (kan DAK-ke)—the queen who is the head of the government of Ethiopia. We know that he is wealthy because he is riding in a chariot large enough for him to be seated and he has a private driver. We know he is well educated because he is able to read sophisticated Greek and we know he is devout because he is reading from a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He has been to Jerusalem to worship and is on his way home. We also hear that he is a eunuch, a man whose sexual being has been altered to allow him to serve in the queen’s court.
Philip overhears this man reading scripture aloud and is directed by the Holy Spirit to “go and join him.” What follows is a beautiful picture of an honest and mutual seeking. Philip joins the man and engages him in conversation through the question about what he was reading.
The man then invites Philip into deeper conversation, to help him understand what he “did not get”—and apparently had not gotten in Jerusalem. So Philip sits with him in the chariot and through their mutual study of scripture Philip has the opportunity to “proclaim the good news about Jesus.”
This story invites us to think about whom God sends us and who is placed in our path. And how do we respond? Do we mainly see them in terms of identity that set us apart such as social, economic, racial, ethnic, gender or other markers. Or through grace do we see them as unique persons created in the image of God in whom God is already at work?
In our story today we should notice that the Spirit had found the Ethiopian seeker long before Philip arrived. Philip was sent to meet him on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. God’s messenger is sent to go out to meet the one who is seeking God. And when they come to a body of water, Philip and the Ethiopian seeker both enter into the opportunity for baptism.
This is a different way of seeing how we share the gospel with others. We often spend a lot of time in the church preparing for the guest who comes to worship on Sunday mornings. And while we are overjoyed to welcome all who are searching for God’s love in community, we probably know that God also intends for us to go out into the world to meet the seeker, to find her where she is and join her there.
So much love can be shared in a quiet conversation between one person and another on the road, often about life’s deepest questions.
I give thanks for ways in which you offer yourselves to others, welcoming others, inviting them into a repository of love. But just as Philip had no idea where this encounter on the road would go, but simply responded to the Spirit’s lead, joined the man on his journey, and confessed his faith when the conversation went there–this is something each of us can offer to those we meet wherever that is.
While we may not see ourselves as evangelists–we may not feel confident in our ability to articulate our faith journey or witness convincingly to the Gospel–in giving ourselves in love, we always share the good news. Each of us in our own way has the capacity to enter into God’s work in the world and allow ourselves to follow the lead of the Spirit.
We never know where the Spirit will direct us, but through our connection to the vine of life, we will bear fruit. Meister Eckhart wrote that a plum brings forth plums not by an act of will but because it is its nature to do so. So the community of faith in Jesus Christ—gathered around Christ, partaking of Christ, allowing the being of Christ to flow unimpeded through all the branches—produces what it, by its nature, must—Godly fruit of compassion, loving kindness, mercy, patience, wisdom and love.
And how do we make ourselves available to be sent to those God intends for us? We open our hearts, we open our ears to listen, we open our eyes to see those in our community in need of love. This may be someone who lives close by, this may be a member of our church community, and this may be someone who is very different from us—someone with different life experiences, someone with different life choices, someone who may look for all external purposes to share nothing in common with us.
But through Christ we are all a part of the true vine—the life— Jesus Christ—we all are loved and cared for and pruned by the one God who sends rain and sun on us all. We are all of the same root and we are all dependent on the health of each other.
It is easy if we look, to see the fruit of compassion, mercy, and love in the world around us. Last week we heard the news of the terrible earthquake in Nepal. And once again we have seen the capacity of people to respond: communities, countries, and individuals sharing money, people, and supplies to join in supporting those in need. Today we will begin an offering at Grace to share from our bounty with those who have lost almost everything.
In Baltimore, a place where Sey and I lived for many years and raised our two older sons, we have seen an outpouring of love, compassion and concern from community members and people of faith, standing alongside their neighbors in pain– offering prayers and presence. Clergy and faith leaders from Maryland and beyond have stepped in to offer counsel, to bring together many people in the city to work together for sustainable change, to offer training in nonviolent resistance, and to open their houses of worship as “safe harbor churches. “
Everyday we have the opportunity to see God at work in our lives. When have we encountered a Philip running alongside us helping us to understand God’s love. And how have we offered ourselves to share the good news about Jesus with others?
At times being fruitful can seem such an impossible stretch. We may feel inadequate. We may feel spiritually needy. Our faith can seem frail and insecure. But we are never on our own. That is the beauty of being a branch. Over time we draw health and vigor from the vine. With the turn of each season, the fruits of grace and love swell within us until they burst forth to the glory of God in worship and fellowship, in service and stewardship, in love and in joy.
So the worshipping community gathered around Christ is nourished by Christ. It is the very energy of God that flows through the community. (I in them, and you in me…Abide in my love.) And the branches thoroughly nourished produce fruit. Fruit for the life of the world, for the ongoing creating of the universe, for the becoming of the human community. That the Word made flesh in Christ may again be made flesh in the world.
Christ is the true vine. We are the branches. We are to bear fruit according to our nature, which is God’s love incarnate in Christ, offered for the life of the world.