Thrown Away Branches

St. Paul’s Church in Bergen, Jersey City NJ

May 3, 2015

Year B: The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Acts 8:26-40

Psalm 22:24-30

1 John 4:7-21

John 15:1-8

Thrown Away Branches

            Alleluia! Christ is risen!

            The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

            If you were in church last week, you may remember that we heard Jesus use one of the most familiar Christian images: Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, lays down his life for us.

            And in last week’s gospel passage, Jesus also says that there are other sheep out there who need to be brought into the fold so that we may all be one as Jesus and God the Father are one.

            It’s a powerful and comforting image of Jesus and us.

            Today we hear Jesus using a different image to describe the relationship of God, Jesus, and us.

            Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.”

            And later, Jesus says to his disciples, “I am the vine, you are the branches.”

            This is another powerful image, isn’t it?

            God is the vinegrower who has planted Jesus the true vine – has planted Jesus among us – and we are all branches.

            And, once again unity is important to Jesus.

            You and I – the branches – we need to stay connected to Jesus the vine – need to stay connected so that we receive the gift of life – need to stay connected so we receive the nutrition that we need to live abundant lives – need to stay connected so we can bear fruit.

            Jesus also says that God the vinegrower – like all gardeners – needs to do some pruning so the vine and the branches are healthy.

            So far, so good.

            We all know in our lives that pruning is required – the excess, the not so good, needs to be cut away – so that we can center ourselves on what’s most important.

            Finally, though, there’s a warning about the branches that don’t stay connected to Jesus – that don’t stay connected to the vine.

             They wither and die – they become good for nothing and are burned.

            So, the message is clear: we need to stay connected to Jesus the vine.

            How?

             We stay connected to Jesus the vine when we gather here to pray and to sing and to take the Body and Blood of Christ into our bodies and souls.

            And, we stay connected to Jesus the vine when we follow the great teachings we heard today in the First Letter of John:

            “Beloved, since God loved us so much, we ought to love one another.”

            And then there’s this:

            “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.”

            Jesus is the vine. We are the branches.

            Like I’m sure most, if not all, of us, I have been deeply saddened – but, let’s be honest, not surprised - by the events in Baltimore last week.

            How could we be surprised after Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island and countless other places where people of color and others have risen up after perceiving disrespect and abuse from the police?

            How could we be surprised since we see our own city with block after block of deep poverty, crime, and despair in the shadow of our gleaming downtown built with tax breaks for people who can actually afford to pay taxes?

            How could we be surprised that the rage boiled over once again – that self-destructive rioters once again burned down their own communities?

            How could we be surprised?

            As I’ve thought about Baltimore and the condition of our cities and our country – our country in which one out of every four adults – about 65 million Americans! - has a criminal record – our country which has five percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s prisoners - our country in which if I get pulled over for a broken taillight maybe I get a ticket but if a person of color gets pulled over for the same offense who knows what might happen…

            As I’ve thought about our country I’ve realized that somehow we’ve misunderstood Jesus’ words in today’s gospel.

            God does the pruning.

            God throws the dead branches into the fire.

            Not us.

            But that’s exactly what we’ve done.

            We have cut off so many people in our country – denying our unity, denying them a decent education, denying them equal opportunity, treating them as less than human and certainly not worthy of respect – we’ve cut off these branches, leaving them good for nothing, and yet are somehow surprised when, from time to time, they burn as they did last week in Baltimore.

            As I read in an article this past week, there are “…bone dry logs, twigs, and kindling stacked high in every corner of impoverished neighborhoods.”

            Truth.

            Yes, over the years there have been all sorts of government and non-profit anti-poverty programs – and sometimes they’ve helped, though, of course, they’re always the first things to get cut when budgets need to be balanced.

            Someone I know who’s on food stamps recently had her benefit cut to $16 a month!

            And, yes, we spend a lot of money on public schools in places like Baltimore and, yes, Jersey City, often with very little to show for it.

            Money and other resources are surely needed but, it seems to me, what’s really lacking – what’s really needed in our country today is… love.

            The author of First John writes, “Those who say ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars.”

            And, that’s on all of us.

            Jesus is the vine and we are the branches.

            We need to stay connected with the vine by loving one another, especially those who are hard to love – by loving not just the nice people who come to church with us week after week – and not just our families and friends – but by loving the guy selling loose cigarettes on the corner or the mother who is a heroin addict or the guy who’s a little slow maybe because he grew up around lead paint or menacing teenagers hanging out in front of the bodega probably up to no good or those who take advantage of a situation to loot stores.

            It’s time – long past time actually – for us to stop trying to do God’s job.

            It’s time – long past time – for us to stop deciding which branches are dead.

            It’s time – long past time – for us to stop cutting off what we think are dead branches and leaving them to burn.

            And if we don’t stop deciding which branches are dead, if we don’t at least try to love those who are hard to love, we may find to our horror that God decides that we are the dead branches to be gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.

            Jesus is the vine and we are the branches.

            And, as the branches, we stay connected to Jesus the vine when we love one another.

            “Beloved, since God loved us so much, we ought to love one another.”

            Alleluia! Christ is risen!

            The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

            Amen.