The Vine

The Rev. Joseph Winston

May 10, 2009

Sermon

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1
It is difficult to get a good night’s sleep when one must lie down on the hard
ground. The cowboy knew this fact. His body told him this every morning through
his sore back and aching muscles. Despite these painful reminders, he was a happy
man. He was not stuck behind some desk.
Work though still needed to be done. Slowly, he pulled himself off his blanket,
stuffed his sock covered feet into his boots, and stiffly walked towards to coals
that were last night’s fire. Taking a bit of kindling from the stack of wood, the
practiced hands quickly made a fire. Now with the campfire started, he could take
some time for himself.
He slowly sat back down and took off his well-worn boots. From his dusty
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3

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camp sack, out came today’s shirt and pants. Without hurrying, he put one arm
and then the other into the shirt. The jeans followed in the same manner. One leg
carefully placed into the pants and then the next. He slid his feet back into the
boots. To complete the outfit, the man put on his hat even though the sun was only
beginning to creep up into the eastern sky.
Everything needed for breakfast was in the saddlebag: a coffee pot, some cof-
fee, hardtack, and jerky. He poured water just enough water for a single cup of
coffee from his canteen into the blue porcelain coffee pot, added the coffee, and
placed the pot on the fire to boil. After taking a bite from the biscuit and the meat,
the cowboy went to go check on his horse.
All the while, the quarter horse had been watching this familiar early morn-
ing ritual and he knew that it was finally his turn. The cowboy untied the animal
and then took his faithful steed out for his morning walk. The prolonged drought
meant that the water level in the stock tank was lower than normal but there was
enough for the both of them. Realizing that the coffee was almost ready, the cow-
boy hurried the horse back to the fire. There he brushed down the animal and
saddled him up.
While enjoying the cup of hot coffee, the cowboy carefully listed all the work
that needed to be completed before sundown: ten miles of fence to check and to
mend if necessary, finding how much water remained in the tanks, checking the
state of the pasture, and recording all the calves in his log book.
The empty cup of coffee meant the workday had finally begun. Carefully, the
cowboy stomped out the last remaining embers of the fire, packed everything back

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into his saddlebag, and placed it along with the camp sack on the saddle. Finally,
he swung his long, lanky frame one to the horse and started down the line.
Etched deep into our cultural memory is our love affair with the cowboy and
his ways. From the skies, we broadcast music that would have been familiar to
the cowboy. At the most expensive malls in this country, we still can buy just
about every item that he wore out on the range. And if you want to pretend to be
a cowboy, we will let you. You can take your vacation on a dude ranch.
Our infatuation with the rugged individuals that appear in the stories about
the cowboys has become like second nature to us. That is why we believed the
fictional tail that I just told. No one questioned the idea that a man could be out on
the range all by himself. No one complained about the work that was required of
him. If truth were told, many of us would like to live this type of life. Who wants
to follow the commands of others? Who wants limits rather than freedom? Who
wants responsibilities when there is so much to experience?
It is obvious that we as a nation have wholeheartedly embraced the idea that
the world functions the best when it is “every one for themselves.” Our lives here
in the United States prove this.
It is a fact that all over this country, our children are abandoning team sports.
Most of them would rather play electronic games against a computer rather than
having a good time with their friends. In the few team sports that remain like
football or basketball, we celebrate the accomplishments of the stars and almost
never praise the work of the group. Our language speaks most clearly on this
point. We tell our children to go out and “make” the team as if their presence on

3
the team is what transforms the group from losers into winners. Our educational
system is exactly the same. We do not grade our children on how well they work
well together. Instead, our annual performance tests see how well each individual
scores. The business world continues this trend. High profile companies look for
“star players” who can advance the bottom line. Once again, our language tells us
this same reality. We can find many books that will tell us how to be a “self-made
millionaire.” Just try to find one that tells you how to be a successful team player.
Even in the military, a place that should understand the benefits of teamwork has
two slogans that say otherwise. The generic advertising tag line for the US military
is “Be all that you can be.” And the Army’s phrase is “An army of one.” Both of
these phrases tell us that as a nation we love the strong and rugged individual.
Today’s Gospel lesson provides us with a completely different way to look at
life. Instead of praising the individual with their unique attributes, Jesus tells us
we are all the same. We are branches of the vine.
In this world describe by Jesus, we all have jobs. The Father’s role is one of
vine-grower (John 15:1).2 Specifically, this means that He takes care of the vine
every day so that it bears fruit. He tends to the plant. He tills the soil. He waters
it when needed. He feeds it with the best fertilizer that money can buy. As the
One who looks after the vine, the Father is very concerned about its health. Even
today, the Father removes the branches that do not produce grapes (John 15:2a).3
2
This work by the Father is not a lesser role than what the Son does since the Father provides
what the vine needs to grow. Luke Timothy Johnson; Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., editor, The Acts
of the Apostles, Volume 5, Sacra pagina, (The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical
Press, 1992), p. 422.
3
The verb to remove (αἴρει) is in the present tense. The taking away of branches is happening

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He then discards these cut down branches because they are completely worthless
to Him (John 15:6b).4 Like all other farmers, the Father wants the best possible
harvest. This means that He always trims the branches producing fruit so that their
yield increases (John 15:2b).5
As the vine, Jesus provides life to the branches (John 15:1, 5). He gives the
branches vital nutrients that He extracts from the soil. He provides us with life
giving water. He supports us.
We are the branches in the story of the vine and its owner. According to Je-
sus, we must do two things. First of all, we must stay attached to the vine (John
15:4). Just like with most other plants, branches cannot grow on their own. Sep-
arated from their roots, branches wither and die. That is why we cannot remove
ourselves from Jesus. Secondly, the vine-grower expects that the branches bear a
good amount of fruit (John 15:5). Branches must be trained to do this and so must
we. The Father continually prunes the branches, cutting back on each of us for one
reason. We need to love God and our fellow humans. This is the fruit that Jesus
speaks of.6
Being a branch attached to the vine that is Jesus has three frightening results.
The first is this. Many of us have come to the mistaken belief that God no longer
cares what we do. We constantly hear this message in society and it is accurately
summed up in the phrase, “It’s all good.” Do whatever you want. It’s all good. All
right now.
4
The verbs to throw (βάλλω) and to wither (ξηραίνω) are both aorist (ἐβλήθη and ἐξηράνθη).
This expresses a fact that is always valid. Johnson, Acts, pp. 421, 423.
5
The verb to to prune (καθαίρει) is also in the present tense. God is adjusting each of us.
6
This commandment is summarized in John 13:34-35. Ibid., p. 420-421.

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that matters today for us is experience. Advertisers tell us, “Just do it.” Try it and
see if you like it. If not, then go and try something else.
Today, we firmly believe that no one can challenge lives that we lead: not our
friends or family that care about us, not the pastor calling for the discipline of the
unrepentant sinner, not even God can punish us. We have arrived at this wrong
conclusion since we believe what we say to ourselves: “It’s all good.” . . . “Just do
it.” In our world, no longer is there right and wrong. Rather we say, “That did not
work out for me.”
The lesson from Jesus today stands in stark contrast our attitude. Jesus clearly
tells us that the Father acts decisively in our world today. He destroys the people
and the churches that remove themselves from Jesus.
The Father changes even those who abide in the vine. Jesus tells us that God
the Father loves us so much that He will not leave us alone. He prunes us individ-
ually and as a church so that we follow the great commandment to love God and
our neighbor. That is why we cannot continue to have the line in our bulletin that
reads, “Leave as You Would Like to be!” God the Father does not leave you alone.
He always is working on you. To deny this is to reject the work of the Father.
This brings us to the second consequence of today’s Gospel. As branches, we
are required to bear good fruit (John 15:2, 5, 8). Many Lutherans become ex-
tremely nervous when we hear the command that we must do something. Almost
immediately, we protest this requirement because we either feel it leads to us be-
lieving that our works make us right before God or that works of charity are not
something that Lutherans do. Neither reason is correct. The Lutheran Confessions

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speak clearly to us on these points. Over and over, the confessions remind us that
our work never brings us favor in God’s sight.7 We hear the same thing in today’s
Gospel Lesson. The work of producing fruit does not clean us. The freely given
Word of God saves us (John 15:3).
The third result of today’s Gospel Lesson is this. There is no such thing as
an individual Christian. This scares us because we have completely adopted the
American ideal of individualism that allows every one to be different. We are
literally afraid of begin absorbed into some mass collective where no one can be
distinguished from anyone else. However, this is not the world that Jesus reveals
to us. Instead, Jesus shows us the love found in the Trinity. This love is much more
than an emotion that we feel. In the Trinity, love is the way of life. The love of the
Trinity brought existence into being. The love of the Trinity spills into every part
of creation. The love of the Trinity brings us salvation. Jesus invites us into this
love and as children of God; we share this love with everyone. This is what God
wants us to be: One with the Trinity.
We constantly rebel against being incorporated into the Trinity because each
of us believes that we are the center of the universe. We see this in our actions. We
do not take care of others and we forget that we need God.
The other less commonly discussed reason why we are fanatically individu-
alistic in this country might strike you as either backward or just old fashioned.
In our discussion about our love affair with individualism, we were only able to
7
For example see Augsburg Confession, Article XX, n. 9; Theodore G. Tappert et al., editors,
The Book of Concord, (Fortress Press, 1959), p. 42.

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see the results of our relationships with ourselves. For example, while we saw a
decrease in team sports we were not able to identify the power that causes us to act
like this. The traditional name for these forces that have no name or no face, that
are formless and at the same time nowhere and everywhere is demonic.8 These
forces of evil want to do everything in their power to keep us away from being
One with the Trinity.
Jesus came into the world to show us how to live and to overcome the evil
forces in the world. He accomplished both of these items by giving Himself to
other people who never deserved His love. One famous and well known example
of giving all of yourself for another person is the parable of the Good Samaritan.
In this story, an ordinary man goes from Jerusalem to Jericho. Somewhere along
the way, he was attacked by robbers, and beaten within an inch of his life. Both
a priest and a man that should have known better saw him lying on the side of
the road but they just left him to die. Only the wounded man’s sworn enemy,
the Samaritan, stopped to help him. The Samaritan then took the injured man to
an emergency room and stayed with him through the night. In the morning, the
Samaritan completely paid the bill and left enough to cover the man’s rehab. As
the Samaritan left the ER, he told the told the billing department that he would
cover all future expenses.
This is how God acts. Jesus gave you forgiveness, not because you are an
individual, self-reliant independent American but because He wants you to live
8
Arthur C. McGill; Lindell Sawyers and Ray T. Woods, editors, Suffering: A Test of Theologi-
cal Method, (Philadelphia, PA: The Geneva Press, 1968), p. 41.

8
with others. Jesus gave you life, not because you deserved it, but because He
loves you.
The idea that anyone can be completely independent of other humans is a
complete myth. The single cowboy does not have the means nor the resources to
create everything that he needs to live. You did not will yourself into existence nor
can you live all alone. You were created to live in community with others.
God has gathered us together in this place for three reasons. First, we come
together to worship God and thank God for the gifts that we have been given.
Second, we have been given others that need our assistance. Finally, we have been
commanded to tell others about this amazing God who gathers us together as His
children.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.”9

References

Johnson, Luke Timothy; Harrington, S.J., Daniel J., editor, The Acts of the Apos-
tles, Volume 5, Sacra pagina, (The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN: The
Liturgical Press, 1992).

McGill, Arthur C.; Sawyers, Lindell and Woods, Ray T., editors, Suffering: A Test
of Theological Method, (Philadelphia, PA: The Geneva Press, 1968).

Tappert, Theodore G. et al., editors, The Book of Concord, (Fortress Press, 1959).
9
Philippians 4:7.