pruning, anyone?

Wednesday of the

Fifth Week of Easter

May 13th

READING: John 15: 1-8

‘‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. 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.

~~~

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

REFLECTION

One of the motifs that rills through John’s gospel-account is “remain.” It’s an intentional verb: Richie McCaw remained on the pitch with a broken foot in his first Rugby World Cup victory, because he knew it could damage team morale if he were to leave. It’s a verb incorporating discipline and effort, rather than some sort of lackadaisical accident.

It is being used after Jesus assesses that he must face the darkness of all that is like to be ahead of him in Jerusalem as he confronts the religious and political (more accurately: politico-religious) hypocrisy of his time. “Intentionality” is flagged here, for the followers of Jesus are being told to remain in Jesus even as the going reaches its roughest. They don’t, of course.

The motif “remain” entwines with that other great emerging theme, the coming of the Paraclete, the “Called Alongside One,” the Spirit. Her task, amongst others, is to do the remaining: we can fight her being within us, but her nudges are towards gospel integrity. She will, as Baxter but it, “blow like the wind in a thousand paddocks / Inside and outside the fences,” blowing where she wills, but her will is always to exercise the will of the Son, who re-presents the will of the Father (that eternal, Triune dance again) which is that none shall be lost (John 6:39, 2 Peter 3:9).

Still: that pruning imagery is fairly categorical, isn’t it? Remain or be burned?

Text wars are so unhelpful. There is so much in the scriptures that speaks of the eternal patience of God, revealed in Christ-Saviour, made present in and by Spirit-Paraclete. We as individuals all have much burning to be done in our own lives. The church collectively has burning and chucking in the fire to be done. I have spoken for years now, ad nauseum I suspect, about the collapse of ecclesiastical infrastructure as the great work of God’s Spirit, the pruning of our shibboleths (currently accelerated by Covid-19). And humanity? The current chaos of the US leadership (especially exposed by Covid-19) is another reminder of humanity’s proclivity for what Paul calls “works of the flesh,” darkness in varying degrees.

Pruning happens, often brutally. It hurts.

And midst the pruning the best option is “remain.” If you’re ever lost in the Australian outback the key reminder is “remain” (with your vehicle: it’s easier to spot than a body). Remain with Jesus. Remain, with intention, with discipline (prayer, meditation, reflection, biblical study, all even possible in an age of Covid-19). Remain. But if you don’t (and I certainly stumble)? And for those who don’t or who never were? There’s always that other great theme: grace. The Shepherd Jesus goes an eternally long way looking for the lost sheep.