Sermon from August 25, 2024, by the Rev. Dr. Tara W. Bulger

Second Lesson John 15:1-11

”I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit.

Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.

Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

In the past few weeks we have been looking at the way we do worship. We’ve looked at the movements of worship: gathering in God’s name, proclaiming God’s word, and today we look at responding to God’s word. The idea of this series is simple: the pattern of our lives should look like the pattern of our worship. Just as we do these things—gather, proclaim, and respond—in worship, we should do them in all of our life.

After hearing the word of God proclaimed in worship, we should respond to that word. That is what is at the heart of our reading today from John’s gospel. Jesus is teaching is disciples when he is nearing the end of his life. This is what he teaches them—that because they have known him and heard his word, they should respond. And their response should be to bear good fruit.

The disciples have been in the presence of the living God in the person of Jesus—that should demand a response. They have seen all that Jesus has taught, they have been present for the healings, and now in this passage Jesus tells them that he is the vine and they are the branches and as such, they should bear good fruit.

That language of vines is something that was familiar to the disciples. They knew that, in the Old Testament, Israel is described as a vine that God took out of slavery in Egypt and planted it in the promised land. The hope was that Israel would become, in Hebrew, the Tikkun Olam—literally meaning “repairers of the world.” That Israel would be a light to others leading them to belief. But it did not happen that way. Jeremiah said that the vine of Israel acutally produced wild grapes—people who were rebellious and not faithful to God.

Now Jesus tells his disciples that he is the true vine. It is Jesus who will be the light to the world, the Tikkun Olam. And in knowing Jesus, in hearing his teaching, and claiming him as our savior, we too become the Tikkun Olam. We become people who are repairers of the world. That is the response that Jesus expects of his followers.

Notice that we cannot be a repairer of the world unless we remain in Jesus—unless we are close to the true vine. We are to be in constant relationship with the one who calls us to this work, relying on God to prune and train us in the way we should go.

And notice too that Jesus says this work will be joyful. It is the greatest joy to be used by God.

Last week I heard someone give speaking advice to a young girl. The speaker was very good at public speaking and afterward this girl, about 13 years old, asked her, “How can I be a better public speaker? When I have to speak in front of people I keep worrrying about how I look and I stumble over my arguments. I’m not very good at it.” And the woman told her, “Think about this: if you were in a burning building and only you knew how to get out, would you stand in front of people and worry about how you looked or how you were speaking? No. You would just clearly and confidently tell people how to get out of the burning building. That is the trick to public speaking—you have to realize the information you have to share is that important.”

Friends, the world is a burning building. It is a place where people are suffering and lost and you have the knowledge of our savior and his words of healing. You who know Jesus—-you have to respond by repairing the world in a million large and small ways. You, as a follower of Jesus Christ, are now the Tikkun Olam and the world needs you. May we respond with all we have. Amen.