Easter 5 2021

May 2, Easter 5 | Acts 8:26-40, Psalm 22:25-31, 1 John 4:7-21, John 15:1-8 | Evan McClanahan | First Lutheran, Houston | 

Beware of pessimism! Even from among your pastors. Especially from among your pastors! Pessimism accomplishes nothing, hopes for nothing, and lives for nothing. You do not want to look back at your life at the end and think to yourself, “How much more I could have done and how much better if I have not been so pessimistic!”

Pessimism, and its even more diabolical cousin cynicism, is soul killing and remarkably easy to fall into. In fact, I would suggest that it is something of a default position. For why are we pessimistic and cynical? Because we expect things to go badly, right? Because in a fallen world, given enough time, they will.

But I am reminded of what we tell our kids on the baseball field when things go terribly wrong. You have to put the bad play, the bad throw, the bad umpiring – ahem – behind you. It’s over. There is nothing you can do about it. You have to move on. What is the next thing that is happening? What can you do now? While believing that you will win a baseball game will not ensure a victory, believing that you will lose definitely puts you much closer to losing.

Christians are the inheritors of many incredible promises. That should make us the most positive and hopeful people in the world. We are also keen social observers. We have this message to share with others. We have the command to love our neighbors. We have a worldview that we want to promote. We have beliefs that we cannot compromise. We are concerned about losing our rights to exist and thrive and promote. Because, again, we have a commission to make disciples. So, we are always looking for where we fit in, and changes in the culture that are not in our favor make us skittish or cynical. That often leads us to get mired in negative thought, even though we proclaim positive beliefs in our private life of faith.

But this is already an admission of defeat. To compartmentalize our life of faith as a matter of the heart or limited to a church building is ceding way too much ground. Unless our lives or livelihoods are at stake, we should not only see the promises of our faith as private victories, but public victories as well. In other words, Jesus himself does not limit his promises to the narrow windows of your private faith and your congregation…so why do we? We should be hopeful about the good that our faith will do for the world and in the world.

So beware of pessimism! Even from among your pastors. Especially from among your pastors! And I think about all of that because of our Gospel lesson this morning, a Gospel lesson that is full of promises that we might easily skip over. The first is that every branch on the vine that is Jesus Christ will bear fruit.

We recently watched a Netflix documentary on true love. It followed, you know, old people who have been married a long time. One couple in particular had been married for 60 years and by all accounts, born as much fruit as could be hoped for in this life. They had six children, a successful farm, and a happy home. And they were devout Christians. If that is the kind of life you want, if that is the kind of fruit you want to produce, then trust in Christ!

How does being a Christian help you bear that kind of fruit? Well, forgiven people forgive others. They have peaceful and harmonious relationships. They have hope that there is more to life than eating and working and sleeping. They love and serve their neighbor through work and volunteering and they have explicit commands to look out for them and care for them. Christians have a strong work ethic because we believe that sloth really is a sin. They are taught to guard their hearts and marriages, which provides for strong families as the foundation of all society. I mean, you put all of that together, does that not sound like a lot of fruit?

The next promise may sound strange. Jesus says, “You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.” What does he mean? Well, he may mean that Judas has left the gathering, so the body is now cleaned by evil no longer having fellowship with the good. It may be an allusion to how, in Leviticus, fruit was to have three growth seasons before it was worthy of a sacrifice on the fourth. These disciples were entering their fourth year of growth.

But the meaning, which I believe we can faithfully extrapolate to all Christians, is that we are cleansed by the word of Christ. For those of us with a conscious, those of us who are convicted that we have done wrong in the sight of a holy God and in the sight of our neighbors, this is a powerful promise. This is Christ saying that if he does not judge you, no one else can. You are free from the shame and guilt of past sins, secret sins, and convicting sins. When Jesus says you are part of his vine, nothing can tear you away from it. Not even your sins. You are cleansed by his word.

One of the reasons, I believe, that the Christian Church is in numerical decline, is because of the shame that is so widespread. As sin is more easily encountered and more secretly lived out, the Church is edged out. People believe that they can’t go back to church now because it’s too late, they are too deep in sin. But Jesus says no: you can be, and will be cleansed by his word. That is a promise. May God convict those who are afraid of Him to return to Him instead.

Jesus also says: “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.” I am so glad we have had leadership and participation in a more intentional prayer ministry. We forget that Jesus promises many times that he answers prayer and will grant what we ask. Does our pessimism keep us from being bold in our prayer? Do we not even bother to believe anymore that Christ can affect remarkable change in the world?

Healings can occur. Our enemies can be defeated. Indeed, we will often believe that we are outnumbered. But that is rarely the case. Change is almost always made by a vocal minority who truly believes in their cause. Headlines are generated not by majority views, but by the loudest voices. Germany was not a majority Nazi state. Russia was not a majority Bolshevik state. In fact, they all lost elections, but used strongarm tactics to take control. America is not a majority “woke” state. But somewhere along the way, the vast numbers of us who generally just want to be left alone, stayed quiet. Christians believe in the sovereignty of God, to be sure. But we should not be dour fatalists! We should ask God for what we wish, and our prayers will be answered! If we do not, or if we give up before we even have entered the fray, then losing is certain.

So don’t be a pessimist. Believing that all is lost is just the first tactic of the enemies of God. And yes, in case I haven’t been clear, Nazis, Bolsheviks, and at least some of the “woke” among us are enemies of God. They are not promoting peace and love and justice. They are promoting power and classism. But they have not won the day. They are just exposing that we are too afraid, for now, to make a public case for God.

So, when you are tempted to be a pessimist, remember the promises in texts like these. You will be made clean. Your prayers will be answered. The vinedresser will never forsake you. And you will bear fruit. Amen.