There are 73 books in the Bible, 46 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New. Many of our Protestant brothers and sisters will argue that there are only 66 books but that's a subject for another time. The point I want to make today is that if someone were to tell me that I could only have one small piece of the Bible to take with me to a desert island, I would have to pick today's Gospel and the few verses that follow it. If you ask me what I believe, this part of John's gospel says it all.
In last week's Gospel, also from John, Jesus uses the analogy of the shepherd and the sheep. It's one we're all familiar with. Jesus is the Good Shepherd watching over us, His sheep. You and I may not know as much about sheep and shepherds as Jesus 1st century audience, but we get the picture. Today's Gospel not only defines our relationship with Jesus, but also our relationship with God the Father and with one another. He tells us what will happen if we break that relationship, and if we read just five more verses, He tells us exactly what we must do to stay in the relationship.
This is a vine. It's in a pot. How did it get there? It was planted. God is the vine grower. Jesus is the vine. Each one of the branches represents you and me. If you or I don't bear fruit, God takes us away. He cuts us off from the vine and we all know what happens to a branch when it's cut off the vine. It withers and dies.
If we do bear fruit, God prunes us so that we bear more. How does He do that? Through the words Jesus has spoken to us. He says, "Remain in me as I remain in you." "Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, becauise without me you can do nothing." If we decide not to remain in Him, we'll be thrown out, thrown into the fire and burned.
It seems pretty simple to me, stay with Jesus, remain in Him, and we'll bear much fruit. If we don't, we'll be thrown into the fire. And that's where today's Gospel ends.
But if we read on, here's what Jesus says next, "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in His love." There's the rub. This isn't about lip service. We have to do our share. We have to keep Jesus' commandments. Notice He doesn't say keep THE commandments. He's not talking about the TEN commandments that Moses brought down from the mountain. though that's part of it.. He says "MY commandments."
What are HIS commandments? Keep reading. "This is my commandment: Love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." Remember, Jesus speaks these words just hours before He's turned over to the Roman soldiers. When He says "Lay down one's life for one's friends", He's not kidding around. That's what He's about to do.
To sum it up, Jesus is telling us we'd better stay connected to Him if we don't want to be thrown into the fire. And the way to do that is to keep His commandment to love one another. And the greatest love of all is to lay down our life for a friend.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Here's the part where the preacher (that's me) tells the congregation (that's you) how to use this lesson in your daily life. And, if you've been paying attention the last couple of weeks, you probably know where I'm headed with this. Long story short, fill out your ACA card and make as generous a donation as you can. There are lots of branches on the vine that need your help. We don't get to pick just the strong branches, or the healthy branches, or the pretty branches. We're connected to all of the branches. We help ourselves stay alive by helping those less fortunate than ourselves. This is the last weekend of the ACA drive and if you haven't filled out your card, today is the day. It just takes a minute. If you don't do it our ACA chairman will have to spend hours on the phone getting the information. Even if you can't make a pledge, please fill out your card.
Like Forest Gump, that's all I have to say about that because I really want to talk about Mothers' Day. God may be the vine grower and Jesus may be the vine, but when it comes to adding new leaves and branches and helping them to grow and prosper, you just can't beat Mom. Every one of our moms lays down her life, not for her friends, but for her children. From the moment of our conception when we are completely helpless and can't survive on our own until the day she dies, when she may be helpless and not able to survive on her own, our mothers are constantly laying down their lives for us. They nourish us and care for us, they love us and defend us with every ounce of their strength.
It doesn't matter if you're the Pope, or a prisoner on death row, your mother is the one person who will always take Jesus' message today to heart. She loves you no matter what. Maybe we should forget about sheep and shepherds, and vines and branches and just say that there is nothing on this earth that's stronger than a mother's love for her child, and Jesus loves us more than that.
Hopefully you'll get to spend time with your mom this weekend, or if you're a mom, hopefully you'll get to have a special day with your kids. But maybe not. Maybe your mom lives in another city, or maybe, like me, your mom's not around anymore. If you're a mom yourself, maybe you have rich kids who'll shower you with gifts, or maybe you'll consider yourself lucky to get a card from the dollar store.
But if Jesus' words to us today are true, and we know that they are, there's a special place in heaven for mothers. "This is my commandment. Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's (kids)."
In last week's Gospel, also from John, Jesus uses the analogy of the shepherd and the sheep. It's one we're all familiar with. Jesus is the Good Shepherd watching over us, His sheep. You and I may not know as much about sheep and shepherds as Jesus 1st century audience, but we get the picture. Today's Gospel not only defines our relationship with Jesus, but also our relationship with God the Father and with one another. He tells us what will happen if we break that relationship, and if we read just five more verses, He tells us exactly what we must do to stay in the relationship.
This is a vine. It's in a pot. How did it get there? It was planted. God is the vine grower. Jesus is the vine. Each one of the branches represents you and me. If you or I don't bear fruit, God takes us away. He cuts us off from the vine and we all know what happens to a branch when it's cut off the vine. It withers and dies.If we do bear fruit, God prunes us so that we bear more. How does He do that? Through the words Jesus has spoken to us. He says, "Remain in me as I remain in you." "Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, becauise without me you can do nothing." If we decide not to remain in Him, we'll be thrown out, thrown into the fire and burned.
It seems pretty simple to me, stay with Jesus, remain in Him, and we'll bear much fruit. If we don't, we'll be thrown into the fire. And that's where today's Gospel ends.
But if we read on, here's what Jesus says next, "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in His love." There's the rub. This isn't about lip service. We have to do our share. We have to keep Jesus' commandments. Notice He doesn't say keep THE commandments. He's not talking about the TEN commandments that Moses brought down from the mountain. though that's part of it.. He says "MY commandments."
What are HIS commandments? Keep reading. "This is my commandment: Love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." Remember, Jesus speaks these words just hours before He's turned over to the Roman soldiers. When He says "Lay down one's life for one's friends", He's not kidding around. That's what He's about to do.
To sum it up, Jesus is telling us we'd better stay connected to Him if we don't want to be thrown into the fire. And the way to do that is to keep His commandment to love one another. And the greatest love of all is to lay down our life for a friend.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Here's the part where the preacher (that's me) tells the congregation (that's you) how to use this lesson in your daily life. And, if you've been paying attention the last couple of weeks, you probably know where I'm headed with this. Long story short, fill out your ACA card and make as generous a donation as you can. There are lots of branches on the vine that need your help. We don't get to pick just the strong branches, or the healthy branches, or the pretty branches. We're connected to all of the branches. We help ourselves stay alive by helping those less fortunate than ourselves. This is the last weekend of the ACA drive and if you haven't filled out your card, today is the day. It just takes a minute. If you don't do it our ACA chairman will have to spend hours on the phone getting the information. Even if you can't make a pledge, please fill out your card.
Like Forest Gump, that's all I have to say about that because I really want to talk about Mothers' Day. God may be the vine grower and Jesus may be the vine, but when it comes to adding new leaves and branches and helping them to grow and prosper, you just can't beat Mom. Every one of our moms lays down her life, not for her friends, but for her children. From the moment of our conception when we are completely helpless and can't survive on our own until the day she dies, when she may be helpless and not able to survive on her own, our mothers are constantly laying down their lives for us. They nourish us and care for us, they love us and defend us with every ounce of their strength.
It doesn't matter if you're the Pope, or a prisoner on death row, your mother is the one person who will always take Jesus' message today to heart. She loves you no matter what. Maybe we should forget about sheep and shepherds, and vines and branches and just say that there is nothing on this earth that's stronger than a mother's love for her child, and Jesus loves us more than that.
Hopefully you'll get to spend time with your mom this weekend, or if you're a mom, hopefully you'll get to have a special day with your kids. But maybe not. Maybe your mom lives in another city, or maybe, like me, your mom's not around anymore. If you're a mom yourself, maybe you have rich kids who'll shower you with gifts, or maybe you'll consider yourself lucky to get a card from the dollar store.
But if Jesus' words to us today are true, and we know that they are, there's a special place in heaven for mothers. "This is my commandment. Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's (kids)."
posted by Mike at 9:56 AM
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