Mark 1:14-20

The Fifth Sunday of Easter | 28 April 2024 | Sermon on Mark 1:14-20 | Paul Bieber |

John 15:1-8 Revised Standard Version

¹ Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.

also

Acts 8.26–40

Psalm 22.24–30

I John 4.7–21 

The Vine and the Branches

Grace, peace, and much joy to you, people of God.

Jesus lives! At the heart of our Easter faith is the conviction that he is alive among us, acting in our lives and in the world. The image of the vine and the branches goes even further: we live and act fruitfully only as we abide in him. “In him was life” (1.4). “As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself” (5.26). “As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will” (5.21). He offers us life, life in him.

He calls us to abide in him—remain with him, dwell with him, make our home in him, such that he is the pattern and guide of our lives, the vitality of our lives, now and forever. St. Paul says the same thing: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God” (Gal 2.20). Faith receives this gift of life. We live by faith.

We are not left on our own to construct a meaning for our isolated existences. We are joined to the risen Christ so that our lives may be meaningful and fruitful. We are called to abide in this relationship. Here at the center of the Farewell Discourses, St. John’s account of what Jesus said to his disciples in the night in which he was betrayed, is the image of the vine and the branches.

Jesus is the true vine, we are the branches, and the Father is the vinedresser. Actually, St. John’s word here, geōrgós, simply means “farmer” or “gardener.” All things begin with the Creator, the original Gardener, the Owner of the field or vineyard in all the agricultural parables, the Sower of the Word who became flesh and made us members of his resurrection body, branches of the living vine.

As with all the agricultural parables, so in the image of the vine and the branches, the goal is to bear fruit. More specifically, when we abide in the vine, when we remain joined to Christ, we bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control (Gal 5.22). To abide in the vine is to abide in Christ and his Church.

The Church—the community of faith extended in time and space—helps seekers understand the source of meaning for our lives—most notably, the scriptures. This is what happens when an angel sends Philip to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza (names in today’s news that have thousands of years of history behind them), and then to a chariot in which a man is sitting, reading the prophet Isaiah.

The man is an Ethiopian, a court official of the Ethiopian Queen. He is a eunuch, that is, a man who has been castrated. It was customary for castrated males to hold positions of importance in oriental courts. This man is wealthy and educated. He can afford a chariot roomy enough for himself and a guest, and a driver. He can afford a large and expensive scroll of the Book of Isaiah, which he is reading. Philip hears him as he approaches. It was customary in ancient times to read aloud, even to oneself. The way Ambrose, fourth century Bishop of Milan, read silently was a puzzle to his student Augustine.

One more element of the Ethiopian’s identity is his relationship to Judaism. Philip encounters him as he travels home from his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Worship must have been somewhat bittersweet to him, though, because, as a eunuch, he could not go any further into the temple than the outermost Court of the Gentiles. Deuteronomy 23 says that no eunuch is eligible to be a son of the (old) covenant.

Yet he wants to understand. He is reading Isaiah’s fourth Servant Song, but he has a rather important question: “About whom does the prophet say this?” Philip proclaims the gospel to the Ethiopian, beginning with the song of the suffering servant—the song, for the Church as a community of interpretation, of the suffering Christ. Philip’s ability to interpret Isaiah’s servant song in order to speak of Christ to the Ethiopian is a continuation of the risen Jesus’ interpretation of the scriptures to the disciples as applying to himself.

For the Ethiopian and for all others in Acts, the understanding of scripture becomes complete only when they have both read the prophecy and accepted it as interpreted to apply to the crucified Christ. This interpretation is provided by the apostolic preaching, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The apostolic proclamation of the gospel begins with scripture and leads to sacrament.

This man was prevented from full participation in the old covenant, but, having been catechized and having asked for Baptism, nothing prevents his full participation in the community of faith. He returns to his own country to begin the history of Christianity in Ethiopia. This story of one of the people from among every nation whom God is calling, grafting into the vine, ends with him going on his way rejoicing.

We, too, have cause for rejoicing. Joined to Christ and his Church, we do not operate out of our own power or goodness. We tap into the source of power, goodness, and vitality. Today’s reading from I John sets forth the basic orientation points of this abiding life: believing that Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world to how us God’s love, and keeping his commandment to love our brothers and sisters; just so we abide in God and God abides in us, who confess that Jesus is the Son of God.

“God is love,” says John. Love is not an emotional state; love is the abiding presence of God. Love is defined by the character of the risen Son of God who lives and acts in our midst, who bore our sins that we might live through him, doing the will of the Father who sent him, empowered by the Spirit who has  been given to us so that we might bear fruit. The story of God’s love shown in the life and teaching, the cross and rising, of Jesus Christ becomes the truth by which we live and and understand and die and rise again every day of our baptized life.

The work of the vinedresser, to keep us fruitful in the true vine, is baptismal work, but you can only see this—hear this—in St. John’s Greek words: The vinedresser prunes (katharoi) every fruitful branch; you are already made clean (katharei) by the word of Jesus. That is: We were made clean (katharós) by the word joined to the water of Holy Baptism, but we still need daily pruning, that is, cleansing (kathaírō). It takes a lifetime of daily returning to Baptism to abide in Christ, to tap into the source of living water, to remain joined to the living, holy vine.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

—

The Rev. Dr. Paul Bieber

San Diego, California, USA

E-Mail: paul.bieber@sbcglobal.net