Fruit

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
May 2, 2021

5 Easter B 

          Last weekend, two fully vaccinated long-time friends and I got together for the first time in many months.  Lisa lives in Cincinnati and Cathy lives in Columbus so the three of us span 1-71 in Ohio.  We are not childhood friends, or even college friends, but we have been friends long enough to complete each other’s sentences and generally know what the other is thinking.  During the pandemic, we have texted, talked by phone, emailed, and zoomed.  But while all of those ways of communicating kept us connected on one level, aware of what was going on in each other’s lives and able to both see and hear each other, being physically present with each other nourished our souls well beyond what any zoom call could, as wonderful as those were when we could not be together in-person.  Being together last weekend was a reminder, as if we needed one, of how we are nourished and sustained by our deep connections with each other. 

          Jesus is talking about even deeper connection this morning when he describes the way he and God are connected as vine and vine grower, and the way Jesus and his disciples are connected as vine and branches.  Jesus states this as fact.  “I am the vine.  You are the branches.”  Jesus does not say “You are the branches once you have earned being a branch or once you prove that you can bear fruit.”  Being a branch of the Jesus vine is simply who we are as Jesus’ disciples.  The intensity of that relationship is described when Jesus says “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”  Nothing.  Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing.  But if we abide in Jesus, we will bear much fruit.

          So, how do we bear that fruit? 

          Jesus tells us that if we abide in him, as the branch abides on the vine, we will naturally bear much fruit, just as the branches do.  Yes, some fertilizer, pruning, and other gardening-type tasks help the branches bear more and better fruit, and we do that by nourishing our relationship with Jesus.  Prayer, Bible study, worship, and our additional spiritual disciplines, whether done together or individually, all nourish our relationship with the vine.  But the fruit comes naturally because bearing fruit is what the vine just does.

          What is the fruit that we are to bear as followers of Jesus? Our readings from 1 John this Easter season are pretty clear that the fruit we are to bear is love.  I John picks up on Jesus’ words this morning when the writer says “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”  1 John comes down very hard on those who do not love their brothers and sisters, their fellow human beings: “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.”  Love is the fruit of the Jesus vine.

          Neither Jesus nor 1 John is talking about either sentimental love, or selective love.  If we want to know what the fruit of the Jesus vine looks like, what the love of someone who abides in God looks like, we need look no further than our reading from Acts this morning and the encounter between Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.  Philip, at the urging of an angel of God, travels a wilderness road he had not planned to take.  Philip sees the Ethiopian and, at the angel’s urging, does not walk but runs up to the chariot where Philip hears the Ethiopian reading the prophet Isaiah out loud.  Philip is in no hurry to be on his way and takes time to explain the scriptures, leading the Ethiopian to desire baptism, which Philip does.  Then Philip is snatched away by the Spirit, and the Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing. 

This odd little story teaches us much about the kind of radical love that is the fruit of those who abide in God.  First, that love will often be inconvenient.  Following the wilderness road from Jerusalem to Gaza was not on Philip’s agenda when he woke up that morning.  But Philip went, obedient to the urgings of the Spirit, and gave generously of his time to explain the scriptures to the Ethiopian.  Secondly, the love that comes from abiding in Jesus does not discriminate.  The Ethiopian, while a trusted member of the Queen’s court, was nonetheless an outsider in society because he was a eunuch.  Philip does not blink when he is told by the Spirit to go over to the Ethiopian’s chariot and get in, nor does he hesitate to baptize the Ethiopian.  And thirdly, Philip knows his scripture so well and is so nourished by the scriptures that he has no problem explaining the passage to the Ethiopian.

Jesus reminds his followers that our connections with God, each other, and the whole human family are a fact which is why, during this pandemic, we have missed being together in person so very much.  But Jesus also reminds us that as deep and wonderful as our connections with each other may be, those connections are not an end in themselves.  They are designed to bear fruit that will last.  That fruit is love-love that will sometimes be inconvenient, love that transcends any differences between or among human beings, and love that needs to be nourished to be healthy.  That kind of radical love is impossible for Jesus’ followers if we are not nourished by our attachment to the vine.  Jesus is the vine.  We are the branches.  When we abide in Jesus, and are nourished by the vine, we will bear love that will last even and especially as we see our way through our current challenges.

                                                                   Amen.