Being vs. Abiding
John 15:1-17
Christian faith can be simply defined as “a religion of believing in Jesus Christ.” And the contents and fruits of this faith largely depend on who (what) Jesus is to me and what Jesus does for me. Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15). Jesus asks this question because the life of the disciples lies in the correct answer to this question. Actually, people have “more fundamental questions” in their hearts, which are about “I.” Who (What) am I? What is the reason, meaning, and value of my life? How and why do I exist? Where did I come from and where am I going? Where can I find my true happiness? Some may say, “I don’t struggle with such questions. I just live.” But even those who say so have some answers to these questions. I believe many religions and philosophies in the world exist to explore and answer these questions. But, Jesus, putting aside all these important questions, asks his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Why is this question so important? It is because we are not “beings” who can exist by ourselves, but “abiders” who have to rely on something (or somebody) in order to maintain our lives. Therefore, the value and fruit of our lives is not determined by “I” but by “that which I abide in for my life.” This is what I want to say through this sermon.
In today’s text, Jesus compares God, Jesus himself, and his disciples, respectively, to the gardener, the vine, and the branches. The gardener, the vine, and the branches are distinguished beings but they have one common goal. They are closely interconnected by this common goal, and work together in order to achieve the goal. What is the common goal? It is “fruit,” “having the branches bear much fruit.” Fruit is one of the main themes of the Bible. In Genesis 1, God creates plants and animals. As for the plants, God says, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it.” The most basic property of plants is that they have seed in them and bear fruit. Through the seed and fruit, they grow and multiply, and supply food to the ecosystem created by God. This is also the case for animals and man. God blesses them by saying, “Be fruitful and increase in number!” Although the words “seed” and “fruit” are not used, this blessing of God can be understood in the same context. Fruit is the result of God’s blessing, and itself is a starting point of another new blessing. Every individual life is endowed with the blessed capability of growth and multiplication through its seed and fruit. This is also the case spiritually. In Genesis 2-3, we can see two notable trees. One is the tree of life and the other is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God prohibited the man and woman he created from eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But deceived by the serpent’s false temptation, they violated God’s command and ate the fruit. Because of this, they were driven out of the Garden of Eden, and had to work hard in the field to get food for their lives until they die. That is, they planted “the seed of sin,” and bore its fruit. In order to save us as such, God sent us Jesus Christ. God sent him so that we may receive Jesus as “the seed of righteousness” and bear its fruit, which is righteousness and eternal life.
As we know well, fruit is the “outcome” that the farmer harvests in the last days. The farmer scatters seeds in the spring and works hard in the field through the hot summer only because he expects the harvest of fruit in the fall. In other words, fruit is the only reason for the farmer’s long toilsome labor. If he cannot get fruit at the end, all of his labors are meaningless. The farmer’s hope is only in the last harvest. Looking forward to this hope, he gladly endures all the pains and sacrifices. From the viewpoint of the farmer, this is a matter of course. However, it is not easy to relate fruit to our lives. It is because we don’t see any good fruit ahead except “death” as what we expect at the end of our lives. Our last day is not a harvest time. When the day comes, even we have to give up what we have achieved through our lives. People do not wait for this with expectation. Rather, we fear to see the last day, and want to stay away from it. We work hard to keep our health and youth. Even with these efforts, we cannot escape from the last day forever. We have to face it someday. And a fact we should remember is that there is somebody who is waiting for the harvest time, expecting fruit from us. He is God the Gardener. In Jesus’ parable of the vine and the branches, “my Father” God is the Gardener. God is the owner of the vineyard, and therefore, he is the owner of the vine, and the owner of the fruit. Will the Gardener value his vine? He does very much, of course. But the Gardener values the vine because of its fruit. Verse 2 says, “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” The Gardener takes care of the vine in that way that the vine bears much fruit. For this, he cuts off fruitless branches, and prunes fruitful ones so that they become even more fruitful. The way that the Gardener takes care of the vine looks much different from the way that we take care of ourselves. We may not like the word “cut off.” We may say that “fruit” is not everything of our lives and it is unjust to judge our lives based on our “fruit.” Furthermore, we firmly believe that “My life is my own,” and cry, “Whatever fruit I bear, it is just my business. Leave me alone.” But this is not the truth. God does not think so. God the Father is the Gardener, and he expects fruit from us, and he guides our lives so that we bear fruit. Our lives should be found, guided, and lived in this Gardener. And only in this truth, we can find the answers to our important questions such as: Who (What) am I? What is the reason, meaning, and value of my life? Where can I find my true happiness?
The biggest work God did for our fruitful life is that he gave Jesus to us. Jesus calls himself “the true vine,” and us “the branches.” The vine is quite meaningful to the branches. First of all, the traits of the branches are all determined by the vine. In Romans 11:24a, St. Paul says to the saints in the Roman Church, “After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree ……” Although this saying used “olive tree” instead of “vine,” it shows clearly how we became the branches of Jesus, the true vine, and what happens in the process of grafting. Paul says that we “were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature.” This “wild olive tree” means the world in which the Roman saints had lived before they met Jesus. This world has a dark stream of the mixture of idol-worshipping, greed, deceptions, and all kinds of godlessness and wickedness. In the past, the Roman believers had sucked this dark stream everyday like breathing the air, drinking water, and eating bread. But they were cut out of this wild olive tree. They were completely separated from it. They died to it, and got nothing to do with it. And instead, they were grafted into a cultivated olive tree contrary to nature. “Contrary to nature” is quite meaningful. We were cut out of the wild olive tree, and we still have the wild nature in us. Nevertheless, we were grafted into a cultivated olive tree. Then, what would happen? Romans 11:17 says, “…… you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root.” Now we absorb the nourishing sap from the good olive tree, and this nourishing sap cleanses the wild nature in us, and creates holy and fruitful traits from the good olive tree. This doesn’t happen naturally, and it requires the efforts of going against the wild nature. It can cause a surgical pain. In order to avoid this pain, we may hold onto the old wild nature. Going further, we may demand Jesus to satisfy my desire rather than absorbing the nourishing sap from him. Then, we will remain to be fruitless, and after all, be cut off from the good olive tree. Jesus said to his disciples, “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” Jesus’ word is pure clean spring water with no pollutants of sinful desire at all. There is no water as such in the world. Lessons out of human wisdom may sound great but they cannot cleanse our souls. It is like trying to clean ink stain with black ink. Only the word can cleanse us from our sins and desires. When we hear the word of God, meditate on it in our hearts, and receive and obey it by faith, the water reveals our wild nature and cleanses it clean.
Let me read verses 4,5. “Abide in me, as I also abide in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must abide in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Jesus says to his disciples, “Abide in me.” There is nothing better than a branch abiding in the vine that demonstrates well the meaning of “abide in.” We do not treat a vine and its branches separately. They are just one body. And as Jesus said, “abiding in the vine” is the best way of our existence. By being a branch of the vine, I keep alive, maintain cleanness (holiness), and, going further, bear much fruit. In a sense, living as a branch of the vine looks somewhat unstable and imperfect. If I become “a stand-alone independent tree,” I may be freer and more stable, and have a better chance to achieve “more perfect I.” But this is impossible. Man cannot be a stand-alone tree. Man was created to abide in and rely on something (somebody). We basically have to breathe the air and take food and drink in order to maintain our lives. We also need to live in communities such as family, society, and state and be recognized by others as a meaningful member of the communities. Moreover, we should work and make a living for ourselves and our families. We always exist as a branch abiding in some tree. God introduced himself to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” God is the only absolute being who can exist by himself apart from anything, and free from any condition. But we are not such a “being,” but an “abider” who needs to rely on something (somebody) for existence. Of course, we may choose what I would abide in for a richer and happier life. For this, most of people choose money, namely, economic wealth. In Acts 8, there is a magician named Simon. When he saw Jesus’ disciples Peter and John gave people the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he tried to buy with money the power of giving the Holy Spirit to people. Peter rebuked him, saying, “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!” Magician Simon abided in money. And now he came to perish together with money. This is the tragic destiny of all who abide in something perishable, not in God. Their lives are like a house built on sand that falls down from its foundation when the rain comes down and the winds blow.
A branch is imperfect. Because it is imperfect, it has to rely on the tree for everything. As long as the branch abides in the tree tightly and faithfully, it can enjoy the same life, strength and richness of the tree. That is, the branch can be as perfect as the tree. Kierkegaard said, “To need God is perfection.” According to him, “A human being is great and at his highest only when before God he recognizes that he is nothing in himself.” And he takes Moses as an example. When God called Moses as the savior of his people Israel, Moses resisted God’s calling with negative views of himself. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11) “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” (4:10) “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” (4:13) But God replied to Moses’ imperfections patiently. “I will be with you.” (3:12) “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” (4:11-12) As he promised, God was with Moses, and raised him as if he were God to the Israelites and to Pharaoh (4:16, 7:1). When Moses mocked himself, saying, “Who am I?” God didn’t say to him, “No! You can do it! Trust in yourself!” Instead, God said, “I will be with you.” Considering this, we can understand why God called Moses as his servant, and Jesus called the unschooled Galilean fishermen as his disciples. It was not because of their perfection but because of their imperfection. Even the disciples had to go through some special treatment until they fully recognized their nothingness and received Jesus as their true vine. In this way, they became ones who needed God desperately, became abiders, became perfect, and became fruitful branches.
Today’s text mentions “bear much fruit” several times, but it doesn’t say what the fruit specifically means. It is not easy to describe in a word the fruit we would bear in Christ. In fact, “abiding in Jesus” means that we are now in a world that is totally different from that we have lived in before. It is comparable to a pauper who has, all of a sudden, become a royal prince living in the king’s court. In today’s text as well, Jesus says to the disciples, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (8) And he also says, “You are my friends if you do what I command.” (14). As long as they abide in Jesus, their being has been radically changed. Those who love money don’t say, “I want to make money for this and that.” It’s enough just to say “I want to make money.” It is because money itself has an inherent value in it. This is also the case in our relationship with Jesus. We don’t love Jesus “for this and that.” We love Jesus and his word. It is just because we love Jesus, and want to be loved by him. It is because we need Jesus. Then, as a matter of course, our lives bear all kinds of beautiful fruit that are pleasing to God. Most of all, we bear the fruit of righteousness (2Corithians 9:10) and the fruit of eternal life (Romans 6:22). These fruits are glory to God, and never perish. I thank and praise God for Jesus’ being the vine and our being branches abiding in him.