Fruit-filled

John 15:1-8

5th Sunday of Easter

Happy Mother’s Day to all our mothers. As you can see from our Scripture readings today and from our worship liturgy and music we have a theme of “love.” Love from God and for each other. We also hear the familiar metaphor Jesus uses that He is the vine and we are the branches and that through Him we can bear much fruit.

But what I thought about today, and maybe it came to me when I was hungry, was a jelly-filled donut. Yes, you heard me right, a jelly-filled donut. I think this came to me for a variety of reasons. First, my children watch a Christian video series called “The Donut Man” where the example is used of a donut having a hole like we have a hole that only God can fill. I thought I could build on that idea today. Second, is that I love jelly-filled donuts, especially raspberry. What better way to talk about a fruit-filled life then with a jelly donut – right? Ok, so maybe it is corny – but here goes.

How many of you, when you eat a jelly donut make a mess? I know I do. No matter what I do the jelly spills out all over my hands. I can try to eat it many different ways, and believe me I have had a lot of practice, but I still make a mess. This is like our life in Christ. When we are connected to the Vine, His love spills over into all of our life. We can’t help but show God’s love and bear fruit when we are connected to Jesus. And sometimes it is messy.

Too often we as Christians want everything, our life included, in nice neat package. We try to put our lives together in nice neat ways but we know that life can be messy. Too often things don’t go according to plan, things fall apart, and things get messy. Like trying to eat a jelly filled donut you will get messy. That is sin, which is our messed up lives, that is the devil trying to destroy tour lives.

But here is the wonderful message of the Gospel. God knows our life is messy and He is right there with us. In fact I think God often uses our messes to bring His healing and mercy to us. Life is messy, but God is there with us! In Jesus we have one who comes to us and holds out His hand welcoming us into His arms. He helps us clean up our mess!

It is also in the mess that we can shine God’s love to the world. Again, we too often want things clean and neat but in the midst of life things aren’t neat. And it is when we get in and get messy with life that God will truly use us to love one another. That is what John was telling us in the lesson from 1 John – we have a God who loves us and allows us to love others. That really is the purpose of the Christian life – to love others as God has loved us.

And that isn’t always easy. In fact it can be messy. Haven’t you been thrown into situations that you would have rather not been in? You may have felt totally inadequate to handle the situation. And yet it all works out in the end. You learned about things you never would have had you not gone though the tough situation. And you were able, maybe even in a messy way, to show the love of Christ.

For me I always want to have the right words to say, the right Scripture to quote, the perfect prayer. But often it is in the quiet moments, the times I don’t open my mouth, that God can use me to help others. It isn’t a nice neat formula, but it is staying connected to the source – Jesus.

When we want things nice and neat that usually mean we want it to go our way. But showing the love of Christ has nothing to do with us. It is all about Jesus. That is what he is saying in the Gospel lesson today – we are to be connected to the Vine. Too often we get the cart before the horse and think that we need to do “things”, “good things” to show that we are a Christian and then we can see how we are connected to Jesus. But it is the other way around – to do good things we have to be connected first to Christ. Jesus even goes so far to say that we will bear good fruit (not maybe) when we are connected to Him. Or as John says that if we say we love God but hate our brother we are a liar. Like the jelly donut – we can’t help but show God’s love when we are connected to the Vine – Jesus Christ.

Martin Luther said that we are all the Mask of God in that when we have Christ in us we then become God’s hands and feet as He comes to the world. In our own unique, God-given ways we help the world as God had planned. The love of God, the fruit of the branch, comes out in our lives as God uses us to help others. A great example today is Mothers. God uses mothers to help show love and care to their children. God gives mother the duty to raise children (as well as fathers) in a loving way. Mothers are a mask of God’s love and are used by God to care for the children of the world.

Mothers are only one example – as many people are here today (and more) are there examples of how God will use you to show His love. We are made in the image of God and restored to that image through Christ. Part of that image is creativity. We are called by God, as we are connected to the Vine, to be creative and show the love of Christ in our lives. And that may not come out in nice neat formulas, or plans. It may be very “messy”, but it is still the love of God. When we are connected to the Vine we can’t help but shine Jesus love. We are like the jelly donut, no matter how hard we try to keep the jelly contained we can’t. The love of God will bear fruit in our lives and will shine forth. Let God use you, let God come into your messes, let God be creative in you life and let the love of Jesus Christ come spilling out to the World.

Amen.