From the Daily Lectionary for Wednesday in the Second Week of Easter
John 15: 1-11
‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.’
I have told you before that the Gospel of John was, among the Church fathers, the most controversial of the four Gospels. First it was considered ‘docetic,’ that is to say that it was thought by many to emphasize Jesus’ divinity over his humanity. I have proposed that the privileging of Jesus’ divinity is offset, balanced by the Gospel’s high anthropology, that is, that the followers of the ‘Way’ were considered God-like, sent as Jesus was sent. Second, the Gospel was considered by some to be gnostic in that it implied an exclusive esoteric knowledge achieved only by a few; and that it emphasized a highly dualistic awareness of humankind, “children of the light,” versus the ones “who walk in darkness.” Gnosticism in antiquity in many of its forms was considered a heresy in the early church.
Of course we know that not only was John’s Gospel included in the New Testament Canon, but it is the most familiar Gospel to most Christians. So what happened? How did this eccentric Gospel find its way into orthodoxy, particularly in light of the fact that it is so very different from the other three Gospels? I think there are two reasons: This Gospel uses the philosophical categories of the Greek Academy. That is to say, it found popularity among the intellectuals of the Mediterranean world. It spoke their language. But perhaps more importantly, this Gospel has mystic energy. Over the centuries of the ebb and flow of organized religion, mysticism has always had a powerful influence. It has stayed in the background. Its theology is too slippery to be dogmatized, hence, the institutional powers that be have tried to keep the mystic tradition locked away in its own room, as it were.
Mysticism has to do with the intuitive experience of God, sometimes leading to ecstasy. As I said, its theology is speculative, evolving, imaginative. Mysticism is less concerned with the knowledge of God, as it wants to experience the mystery of God. Metaphor is most often the language of the mystic, because metaphor evokes the human imagination. John’s Gospel is teeming with metaphorical language: “I am the Good Shepherd; “I am the gate;” “I am the bread from heaven;” “to have life you must eat my body and drink my blood.” Metaphors all. In our reading today the metaphor is a grape vine; a common natural thing known to any audience of the day. But the metaphor is rich. The branches are dependent on the vine; and the vine is dependent on the branches to bear fruit. The life of faith collaborative? Every hearer of this reading would know that to produce good fruit in a vineyard requires hard work and rapt attention. And, what strikes me: The branches and the vine are one organism; they are of the same genetic code. There is no other between vine and branch, only one living thing.
Such is our relationship to God… not “to” God, but with God. We are of the same genetic code marked by our mutual capacity to Love, one organism for the good of the created order entire. God is not other; God is of us, and we are of God. That is a mystery to be sure… but mystery calls us into the experience of the divine amid our common lives. John’s theology can’t be fully known. It must be experienced in the practice of keeping the vineyard: our earthbound lives. And who knows… the fruits of our labor may just be the very finest wine.
Collect for the Third Sunday of Easter (BCP p. 224)
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
