"Life on the Vine" John 15: 1-8; Jonah 4: 1-11

The second week of our Lenten preaching series and small groups focusing on how we "engage" God's story; our story; and the world around us.

This week we shift to our own story.  The foundation for our story is God's love for us.  An example from the curriculum comes from Brennan Manning, who shares that we he sees God face to face, the one question God will ask is "Did you know how much I love you?"

The text that is part of the curriculum is the John 15: 1-8 text, but I had to add the Jonah text as I reflected on Manning's question.  Jonah did know how much God loved him and how much God loved others.  That, of course, is why he runs away from God.  he knows that God's gracious love will forgive the Ninevites, and he can't stand the thought of God's gracious love being extended to them.  In that example, we are both reminded of God's great love for us, but also our tendency to appreciate God's love more for us than for others!

The John passage uses the image of the vine branches.  Jesus explicitly states that God is the vine grower; Jesus is the vine; we are the branches.  I have looked at numerous images of grape vines and read all about grafting, vine branches, vine shoots, vine roots, and I still can't quite get it figured out, or at least the distinctions Christ was making between the vine and the branches.  But, I think the point is that we are called to abide in Christ's love -- our lives so intertwined with his that we bear Christ's fruit in the world.    This would not have been a new image for those who had grown up in the Jewish tradition.  The prophet Isaiah, for instance, refers to Judah and the house of Israel as the "vineyard of the Lord (Isaiah 5: 7).

Of course, we also need to acknowledge that God is the vine grower.  We do not get to decide what role we are going to play, nor are we the ones in charge of the crop. God "prunes" the branches.  The Greek verb kathairo used in vs. 2 can mean"prune" or cleanse," which ties the vineyard image in to the theological image.

I have been reflecting on the Greek verb meno.  In an agricultural sense, it means "remain on the branch."  John adds a theological insight that gives it the meaning of an "inward, enduring, personal communion" to describe Christ's relationship with God and now our relationship with Christ.  (Walter Bauer, A Greek -English Lexicon of the New Testament, 503-4; New Interpreter's Bible, Vol. IX: Luke, John, 758).  We are called to focus on abiding in Christ.

What grabs your attention in this John text?  how do you understand the image of the grape vines and branches?