Entwined
July 14, 2024
John 15:1-17
As the Father loved me, I too have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete. This is my commandment: love each other just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends.
John 15:9-13 (CEB)
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Jesus’ teaching on the vine and the branches is fairly commonplace in the church, and in many ways, the
lesson seems obvious. A branch that is not connected to the vine will die. In the same way, we must remain connected to Christ or we will die in a spiritual sense. Simple as that… or is it?
The problem is that too often we interpret this like we interpret far to many passages of scripture, through the lens of modern American individualism. So long as “I” remain connected to Jesus, “I” will be ok. But what if the “you” is plural? What if it’s not just about each individual and their own private, personal relationship with God, but more about our collective connection to the vine. After all, Jesus says “you are the branches”, not “the branch” or even “a branch.” “You” is all of us.
The thing about a vine is that it is impossible to tell where one branch stops and another begins. They are entwined together as they grow out of the central vine. Yes, each branch must be individually connected to the vine, but it is equally true that branches are inextricable from one another and if one is broken or diseased, it must be cut off in order not to hinder the growth of the other healthy branches. In other words, each branch depends on the health of the others. We depend on each other. Christianity can never just be about “me and Jesus.” The health of our connection to the vine impacts the health of every other branch as theirs impacts our own spiritual healthy. We are always strong together than we are apart. A vine with one lone branch can never be healthy or fruitful. We need every one.
Part of this means that we do not come to church for ourselves. We do not come to hear a good message, sing our favorite hymns, and go home feeling better about ourselves. No, we come for one another. We come not to be served, but to serve. We come not just to receive, but to give. We come because we belong to one another, we are part of one another, and we cannot simply choose to disconnect from our fellow branches without also cutting ourselves off from the vine.
It seems easy to love God, or to love Christ, but other people are not always so lovable. As Episcopal Priest Sheila McJilton puts it, other people “demand too much of us. They disagree with us. They don’t act the way we think they should act.” Yet, to stay connected with Jesus is also to stay connected with them. To abide in Christ is also to abide in community with others who may not be very easy to abide with. Being a Christian is not about what we get out of it. It is about being part of something bigger than ourselves, committing ourselves to the good of one another, whether we feel like it or not. “As branches, we connect to Christ until we encircle each other in intricate, interwoven relationships. In Christ, we grow in love."