St. Catharine Church in Spring Lake, April 27, 2016
One of the most enjoyable trips I ever made was to the vineyards in Napa Valley, California. Have you ever been there? It is a beautiful place. Row after row after row of grapevines line the hills and countryside of Napa. Sometimes you can even smell the grapes in the early morning or in the evening air. In a culture where wine was a common beverage, it’s not surprising that the Lord Jesus used this beautiful imagery in his teaching today in the passage we hear from John’s Gospel.
Growing grapes takes a lot of work and a lot of attention. Much is at stake if the grapevines are allowed to grow wild, without proper pruning. The whole crop can be lost. A good vine dresser treats his or her grapes with extraordinary care.
So it is with God the Father. The Lord Jesus pushes the analogy, the imagery, the symbolism in the comparison he describes. He is the vine and his Father is the vine grower. We are the branches on the vine. Working together, the vine grower, the vine and the branches bear fruit. Anything that interferes with the process prevents the harvest of that fruit. The branches need the vine, must remain on the vine.
This little passage is fairly straightforward. We, the branches, must remain connected to the Lord Jesus, the vine. Our Christian lives demand that relationship to bear fruit. Everything else must be cleared away. We see that in the story of Paul and Barnabas that we have been reading in this Easter season. Their preaching, their actions needed to remain connected to the Lord’s own Apostles and the apostolic faith in the first century Church.
Our lives bear fruit in the Church. And our lives need to be trimmed and pruned by the Church. Two thousand years later, people turn to you to help them in the process of growing in the faith, being trimmed and pruned by what the Church offers them in our parishes, our schools, our institutions and organizations. That is why they exist and where you serve.
As Bishop, I am inspired by your dedication and commitment and I express the gratitude of your priests, deacons, sisters and all the faithful. It is that phone call, that response at the door, that message promptly delivered, that supportive interaction, that kindness in times of joy and suffering that make all difference between living, healthy branches and those that wither away. Never, never give in to indifference even when the encounter is not easy or pleasant or understanding. You represent the vine to the branches. So often it is your response, it is you that help God’s people and their faith bear fruit in their lives.