John 15:1-8
1
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every
branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to
make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I
have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just 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. Those who abide in me and I
in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever
does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches
are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my
words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8
My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my
disciples.
When I was in my
early teenage years, I sort of became obsessed with paintball guns. There was this group of other young would-be
soldiers who used to play paintball on this big plot of land in the south part
of Ft. Collins, and how I wished to join them.
So when I asked my parents about it, you can image my shock and
disappointment when I was told that, no, I would not be joining this
testosterone-addled would be paint-militia anytime soon. How on earth could my parents turn down
something that was of such obvious importance to me?? I mean, a group of
sixteen year old boys shooting one another from close range with CO2-fueled
guns, what could possibly go wrong? So,
I kept pressing. Maybe it was the fact
that the necessary gun and equipment cost a lot of money. No problem, I could get a job. Or maybe it was the fact that these
paintballs could do some serious bruising.
Well, that could be dealt with, as well, by the protective
equipment. In the end, I suppose, what
was really at stake was that my parents, from that deep primal place of
instinct, simply did not think that making a regular habit out of paintball gun
fighting would be in my best interest.
Now, the specifics of why parents said no to this blooming hobby are, in
fact, far less important than the fact that they did say “no.” And every single one of us has had this
experience, of being told by someone that we love that our plans are not in our
best interest and that we must be told “no,” or in the case of you parents,
having to inform your beloved children that, against all their wishes and
desires, they cannot do something because it, in the long run, will not be in
their best interests, even though the child might not be able to see this at
the time. What pain on both sides of
this, as a temporary and momentary no is given for the sake of health and
wholeness that will outlast the fleeting desires of any given moment. Because I did outgrow my desire for a
paintball gun, and I can think of very little now that sounds less enjoyable
that being shot through by pain-filled pellets.
So, the old cliché actually rings entirely true: in the end, when I had
a little bit more understanding, a little bit more maturity, I actually did
thank my parents for saying “no” to me.
“I am the true
vine and my Father is the vine-grower . . . every branch that bears fruit he
prunes to make it bear more fruit.”
Well, how is that for a description of the baptismal life? If we find this to be startling, even a
little troubling, I suppose that is to be expected. Our cultural life, you see,
has gotten us to a place where we just do not understand spirituality in this
sort of way. Instead, we are more prone
to think about spirituality, about our life with God and ourselves, as this
sort of generic and perpetual affirmation.
There is no judgment, no pruning to be had. Instead, what we are asked to unlock some
latent potential that is deep within us or to connect to some gooey divine core
that has been covered up by years of painful experience. Yes, the message that we constantly receive
is that spirituality is matter of finding our true selves and harnessing the
power that is there present. What we
need, according to these systems, is not someone to tell us “no,” but to begin
taking part in some cosmic “yes” that we have too long ignored. Yes, we must find our own truths, whatever
they may be, and live into them as deeply and fervently as possible.[1] One must only scan the spirituality section
of a local Barnes and Noble to get a sense of what I am talking about.
While this may
be true for some of the spiritual projects we encounter around us, it is my
hunch that this symptomatic of a deeper, more universal human concern. How
deeply we desire to have everything we need within ourselves. You can see this not only in the writings of
Deepak Chopra, but also in some of the things that we value most about
ourselves and our culture, virtues like expressing our individuality or our
myths of self-reliance, and while this
sort of spirituality may have the best of intentions and signal a growing need
for the spiritual life in our culture and while there is certainly nothing
wrong with developing and cultivating our God-given gifts and talents, there is
this problem. When we seek nothing but
affirmation, nothing but development without critique, absolution without
confession, growth without honesty, we always end up in a dead end. For this sort of spirituality will finally reach
its dead-end, will cul-de-sac, in the never ending maze that is the human
heart. You see, the reason that these
sort of spiritualities will never actually work, the reason that they cannot
render us unto the living heart of God is as simple as it is painful: there are
times when the most loving and kind action that God can take is telling us “no,”
which is to say that we are in constant need of being pruned into the life of
God. And if you are anything like me,
you will run from this “no.” It is very
difficult to hear the truth about ourselves, to see in front of us all our fears
and insecurities, all our pride and despair, all of that stuff that keeps us
from genuinely loving God, loving one another, indeed even loving
ourselves. Yes, we would much rather
ignore any and all of that, and attempt to re-create ourselves through any
number of projects that do not ask to actually look at who and what we
are.
But here’s the
catch. God’s love in Christ is way too
real to let us continue in that uneasy ignorance, and isn’t that finally the
best possible news there is? That God’s love in Christ is too honest not to
engage us in our actual struggles, isn’t that finally a demonstration of just how
deeply God loves us, that God will not allow us to continue in paths of
destruction and harm? That God in Christ loves us enough to get down in the
deep muck of our lives and continually put to death all the things that keep us
imprisoned to decay? Yes, though it
wounds our pride and calls to question our despair, that God sometimes says
“no” to us is the best possible news that there could be, for this means that
God’s love is real and genuine and not some far off reality that does not have
any impact on the way we live. For as we
are baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, we can most assuredly expect
to undergo some pruning. Do not be
surprised, then, when we see some of our old habits, some of our old bondages
come under the divine knife so that you may grow more fully into the baptismal
name you were given. Yes, those things
that would keep you from the certain knowledge that you are a beloved child of
God, those things are going to have to be pruned away, be it the belief that
you do not merit Christ’s forgiveness or that you do not need it. Yes, and while we are at it, we can pretty
well expect the things that would keep us from genuinely loving our neighbors
to be cut down, as well. So we must not
be surprised when the Father takes from us our fear and mistrust of those who
do not share our worldviews or our tax brackets. These too will be pruned away, for Christ’s
love is for the whole of the creation. And this is the dare of the Christian
Gospel, to believe that even when God critiques and prunes us, God does this so
that you may live more fully into the life that you have already been given.
Does God say “no,” from time to time?
Well, yes, yes God does. But this
is only done so that God’s deeper “yes” may take on fuller flesh. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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