Bearing Fruit
John 15:9-17
Rev. Dr. Mary Alice Mulligan
John was the final Gospel written several generations after the earthly ministry of Jesus. Last Sunday we listened to the beginning of the 15th chapter of John, during Jesus’ final conversation with his followers before his arrest. He used the analogy or figure of the vine and branches. As branches are intimately connected to the vine, so are we to abide in Jesus, both by following his physical directives and by connecting spiritually with him. We are to let the very being of Christ flow into our lives to fuel us.
Today we pick up from where last Sunday’s reading ended. Jesus continues the figure of the vine and branches, but he expands the image, by talking about divine love. The Greek word for “love” used throughout this section is agapé, meaning the selfless love which desires the best for the other person. From the 15th chapter of the Gospel of John, listen for the word of God.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. [John 15:9-17]
God creates everything from love. The divine plan for creation comes from love. Just think what that means. All of creation exists on purpose. Divine love is the source of every single item. So, for instance, seasons turn from one to the next intentionally. Obviously in much of the U.S. this allows land to rest over the winter, then a time of rebirth, new crops, and harvest; followed by a period of decay so nutrients can return to the soil to feed the next year.
But what about hurricane season? How is that a good idea? Actually, the Weather Channel says tropical storms often end droughts. In 2012 almost all of Florida was in drought; then hurricane Debby came and only a small area was in mild drought after it passed. But there’s more. Hurricanes often end red tide, help maintain worldwide global heat balance, replenish barrier islands with sand and nutrients, and do an amazing job of spreading seeds and spores miles inland to stir new plants to life thus drawing new animal life to areas, too. It’s amazing how divine energy manifests in creating an ever-changing, ever renewing world, where creative power is spreading holy care all around. God’s handiwork is ongoing.
When someone’s child looks very much like them, people used to say, “He looks like his Daddy spit him out whole.” Not a very elegant image, but the meaning is clear. The off-spring is the “spitting image” of the parent. The universe reflects its Parent in the same way. God creates from God’s very being. The First Letter of John tells us God’s being is love. God’s very being is love, so the universe is planned from who God is, namely agapé love.
So, the loving plan includes us. We are part of the universe, so we are part of God’s divine plan. Let’s think what that means. When John reports what Jesus said on his last evening with his followers, he tells us we did not choose Jesus. He chose us! He reached out to us first. Last week we heard Jesus say, “Abide in me.” We should get connected to him in our physical actions and in our spiritual life. But today he says something even more intimate. “Abide in my love.” Live out of the very source of life, which is divine love. The plan for us, according to Jesus’ directions, is to follow his commands. And we can do what he says, because we are connected to him. His power fuels us.
As messed up as we are, Jesus has chosen us; he has already reached out to us; and is already calling us friends. He loves us. So we can do what he commands. He directs us to abide in (live out of) his love, which empowers us to love others. Studies show people begin to resemble their friends as they spend more time together. Not just their laugh or their accent, but their weight and shape get more and more alike. More importantly, they take on each other’s values. One commentator noted that since Jesus calls us friends, he expects us to behave accordingly, adding: “Friends form each other in the moral life, taking on each other’s characteristics – both good and bad. We are known by the company we keep; in fact, we are very likely to become the company we keep.”[1] An ongoing connection to Jesus is the best way to become like him, which is exactly his plan. He chose us. His plan includes a place for each of us. The love of Christ is a gift from God which shapes our character, strengthens us, as it did the first century church, into people of the Way. E become people living out of the love of Jesus. Agapé love, meaning selfless and self-giving love, is God’s plan for all of us. We are already included in God’s loving plan.
So, we are to bear divine fruit. Jesus says numerous times: our job is to bear fruit. Here on the evening just before his arrest, he repeats: “I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.” But what does he mean by bearing fruit? He means following the purposes of God, through the power of divine love to help shape the world as God wants it to be.
Certainly bearing fruit means freely sharing the good news of God’s love revealed through the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus, especially with those who do not know the overwhelming love God has for them. The St. Andrew family often shares the grace of God with the men from Project 180, when we cook and eat together. By our actions we are saying to each of the men, “You matter to us.” And their actions are saying to each of us, “You matter to us." And each person also tells the others, “You matter to God.”
But the men from 180 have worked really hard already. They are actually easy to love. What about people who aren’t loveable? What about those in society who are easier to hate or those who hurt us or those we just can’t stand to be around? Bearing fruit with them is not easy. Vineyard experts report the best grapes grow closest to the main vine, so we need to stay close to Jesus if we are to bear good fruit. We must try to see those we find unlovable through the eyes of Jesus. As we strive for the well-being of each person, we learn to include those we thought were unlovable.
Remember how earlier in the Gospel, Jesus says if a grain of wheat just sits there, it remains a single wheatberry? But if a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it grows and bears much fruit. (Jn. 12:24-25) So, each follower has to figure out what it means to die to ourself. Do we give up striving after wealth? Die to our prejudices or resentments? Make ourself pray for the person we would prefer to hate? These are not easy tasks. To live according to some of these directives might actually feel like we are dying. After all, we like resenting the person who hurt us. But Jesus says, not only forgive that person, but give up the resentment. See in that person the image of God; sense how much God loves them, and then love them too. An Eastern holy man once said, “Learn to love those you cannot love. To love those people is to love God.”
This is tough stuff. Fortunately, the love of Christ which is extended to us, empowers us to love, even those we don’t want to, for the presence of God is in the other person, too. The love of Christ is shaping us into the people God wants us to be. Then this amazing thing happens. When we live out of the love of God, abiding in the grace of Christ, forgiving those offenses, we catch a glimpse of God’s promised Realm manifest among us. Our hope of glory breaks in now, all around, on everyone. There’s the rich and glorious fruit that will last. Connected with Christ, living out of the love of God, we bear holy fruit.
[1] David Cunningham, “Theological Perspective,” Feasting on the Word (sixth Sunday of Easter), year B, vol 2, 500.