Easter 5B

Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed - Hallelujah!)

How connected are you? What do think of when I ask that? When I was a kid, I would think of being “connected” in terms of who I knew. That was definitely true as I became an adult, and mentors would tell me “it’s not as much about what you know as it is who you know.” I think that principle still carries a lot of weight today.

But when you use the word “connected” in 2021, I strongly suspect that most people know are thinking digitally. Do you use Facebook? How many “friends” do you have on your account? How about Twitter? How many followers? Instagram? Snapchat? Parler? MeWe? Gab? The list gets longer every day. How many such accounts can you juggle?

Even one account on these platforms…I can’t help but wonder, how “connected” are we really? Let’s just look at the one most of us are probably familiar with: Facebook. This is a great way to stay connected with friends you don’t see as often as you used to, especially if you’ve moved away, or they’ve moved away. It makes great distances seem much closer.

And Facebook has been a real help to our church family - and many others - during the pandemic. We’ve been able to take a camera and our sound system and let our church family still hear God’s Word even when they couldn’t make it out of their house. And, to my great surprise, our worship services have been shared with friends and family, and we’ve had people “join” us virtually that might not otherwise have even known the name of our congregation. People from all across our state and neighboring states…even as far away as Canada have watched our worship services. So yes, Facebook has certainly blessed us in a variety of ways.

But such digital connection - virtual connection - has its limits. We don’t like to talk about that, but it’s true. First and foremost, I cannot give you the Lord’s Supper over Facebook. It simply isn’t possible. This meal is to be eaten in the presence - the physical presence - of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We must be physically, not virtually, together. This is - I believe - the most important limitation of this digital platform.

Now of course those of us who use Facebook use it for much more than just worship. But there, too, it has limitations. Most of our interactions there are just typing words - written communication. In that medium, you cannot hear tone of voice, you cannot see facial expression, you cannot look the other person in the eyes. So much of what interpersonal communication *is* is lost. And many, many times there is a breakdown in that communication. Feelings are hurt, offense is taken, emotions run rampant…because something was not communicated properly. Most of these incidents could be prevented by a phone call or an in-person conversation, where those other elements of communication *are* present.

Another limitation of this digital platform is that people tend to enjoy what some people call “virtual courage”. Some of these keyboard warriors sit behind their computers, typing away, and feel like they can get away with saying some of the most abrasive, offensive, vitriolic things and have absolutely no one to hold them accountable. I heard one celebrity a few months ago make the comment that these folks say these things online only because they’ve never had someone punch them in the nose for saying that kind of thing in real life. Yeah, no kidding. Many of these people would definitely get popped in the mouth for most of what they say…if it was said face-to-face. But online, there’s no accountability. There are no consequences for any of it.

Perhaps the saddest limitation of this platform is that the connections on there are superficial. Connections that exist only on Facebook are not deep, meaningful connections. I have seen people who measure their own self-worth by counting how many “friends” they have on Facebook. Sometimes those numbers are in the thousands. When did people start to think that friendships are more valuable when measured in quantity instead of quality? I don’t know of any time in history, or any person who’s ever believed that to be true…until the advent of social media platforms, like Facebook.

The problem with this is that you can’t truly “connect” with someone if they are only ever on the other end of a keyboard. You can’t sit next to them and let them lean on you. You can’t hug them. You can’t shake their hand, pat them on the shoulder, or slug them in the arm. There is no physical component to such a relationship…and that’s a dangerous thing.

Jesus describes for us in today’s Gospel lesson what true connection means for those of us who are connected to Him: “I am the vine; you are the branches.” This is one of those passages that most likely all of us have heard dozens of times. But it’s quite possible that we’ve heard it so much that we don’t really think about it…or at least we don’t think about it deeply enough. I want to spend a little time doing that this morning.

Although he doesn’t say it in John’s description of this scene, Jesus’ metaphor is most likely using a grapevine for its object. A grapevine that is grown properly and cared for can last for many years, and will be productive for a great many of the years that it’s alive. As Jesus describes it, the vine is the main part of the plant that goes from the roots to the branches, carrying the nutrients and water that feeds the branches and helps the plant to grow bigger and stronger. And as the branches grow, they are also where the fruit will grow…if they are cared for properly.

If a branch is separated from the vine, it cannot grow or bear fruit. And it cannot continue to live. It will dry up, wither, and eventually die. If a branch is to do what it was grown to do, it must remain connected to the vine. A branch is the plant’s way of sending more of itself to gather sunlight, to grow fruit which will spread its seed, and to help the plant to get bigger and create more plants. The purpose of each branch is to do exactly that.

For those of you who have green thumbs, you know that if you have a plant with a branch that’s dying, you know that you must cut out the dead part to save the plant, right? The plant will try to feed and nourish the dead part at the expense of the healthy parts. So you “prune” - you cut off the dying part so that the rest of plant can thrive. Doing this can improve the growth of the plant, and even the growth of the fruit.

Jesus is using this metaphor in this way for us. It starts out rather judgmental, doesn’t it? “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he (the Father) takes away, and every branch that does not bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” That sounds pretty harsh. Why would Jesus say such a thing? Because what Jesus is talking about is serious stuff, and there are serious consequences to what he’s talking about.

Basically there are two kinds of branches here: those that do not bear fruit, and those that do. Those that do not bear fruit are not connected to the vine. Let’s be clear about what this metaphor means. Jesus defined it for us: we are the branches. He is picturing his people and whether or not they are connected to him. Those who are not connected to him do not bear fruit. They cannot. Such a branch will die. This is a strong warning from Jesus. He doesn’t want these branches to die.

“As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” Those branches - those people - who *are* connected to Christ, *will* bear fruit. If we are connected to Christ, we are being fed by him, nourished by him. We are receiving from him those things that we need in order to bear fruit. “Fruit” are those things that result because Christ is at work in us. He has given us eternal life, and he feeds us constantly with his Word and his Sacraments. There is NO MORE INTIMATE way to be connected with Christ than through His Sacraments. Fruit *is* going to come as a result of being constantly fed by him.

One more thing: what is this pruning that Jesus talks about in his metaphor? If we’re living out our faith, we’re going to face hard times. All of us do, don’t we? We have things that challenge us, things that make us doubt, things that just make life difficult. We know from Scriptures - especially the story of Job - that while God doesn’t cause these things, He does sometimes allow difficulties to happen in our lives. And those difficulties can serve as pruning…that *is* sometimes God’s purpose for letting us face that. Not always, but sometimes. Something in our life that needs to be pruned away…and that something is often a “thing” we don’t want to let go of. God will find a way to prune it out of our life.

So we have two different warnings here that we can all reflect on here. Who is it that is not adequately connected to Christ? And what is it in our life that needs to be pruned, so that we may bear fruit? As for the first one, I think that if we know someone whose connection to Christ isn’t what it could be, it’s not our job to prune them. I think it’s our job to try to reinforce their connection. I think it’s our job to try to repair that branch by picking them up and reattaching them to the vine. Even though this metaphor is about branches of a plant, we are talking about our brothers and sisters in Christ. We don’t just leave them behind. Besides, it’s not us who do the pruning of the fruitless branches - that’s up to God.

As for the fruit - a couple of things to remember. First, it’s not up to us to judge whether the fruit is “good” or not. Jesus doesn’t mention that even once in this parable. Again, that’s up to God. The Father is the vinedresser…so that will fall under His judgment. Second, look at verse 8 again, because there’s room for misinterpretation there. “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” It’s important to point out here that bearing fruit does not make us disciples. It’s not something we have to do in order to be God’s children, or to earn His love and grace. Rather, since we *are* God’s children, we are connected to Him…we are His disciples…and because we are His disciples, we *do* bear fruit…fruit that comes from His inspiration. By being fed from the vine - through His Word and Sacraments…we are healthy enough to bear fruit…and we do. I encourage all of us to be open to listening for God to tell us what fruit He wants us to bear.

We are in a time of waiting for Christ’s return. This is the season of Easter, and so we have the Risen Christ who has shown us the ultimate promise of God - our eternal salvation. And we wait for that day and Christ’s return. Until then, we are nourished by Him. We come to His house to listen to His Word proclaimed and receive him in His Holy Supper. He has done what had to be done to save us all. Thanks be to God.

So while we wait, He calls us to stay connected to him. Really and truly connected. Connected deeply enough that we can be fed by him, and that we can grow. May we continually abide in Him, and He in us!

Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed - hallelujah!)