In our meditations on the Stained Glass Windows in our church, we have been addressed by the great "I am" words and speeches from the Gospel of John. Jesus meets us there, in the Gospel and then also through the words and images on our windows, with these words, which we only find in the Gospel of John. Here comes to us the picture of Christ as he was experienced and understood in the church in which the Gospel of John was written.

We have already talked about the sayings:

"I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture." (10:9)

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life." (8:12)

"I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me." (10:14)

There are other similar words in the Gospel of John:

"I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." (6:35)

"I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die." (11:25f.)

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (14:6)

Great promises! They invite us to see in Christ the fulfilment of our innermost and most authentic longings for human meaning and human fulfilment.

When we are hungry, we know the value of bread; and yet, the hunger for bread becomes a sign, that for human fulfilment, we also need the bread of life. When we are homeless or strangers, we realise the importance of a home and of friends; and yet having homes and friends still do not satisfy our need for really safe spaces, for ultimate security, and for a friend who really understands. When we are sick, we want to be healthy, and yet even as physically healthy persons, we know the longing for a health that includes our soul and that lasts. We also know the human struggle for truth, and for a meaning that outlasts the grave.

With these many images from the Gospel of John, we are invited to consider Christ as the ultimate fulfilment of our human longings.

Today, as we focus our attention on the 4th window that was installed in 1929, Christ meets us with the acclamation "I am the true vine". This includes the exhortation "abide in me", "abide in my love", so that you may have a fruitful life.

And since we have celebrated the Lord's Supper today, the association between the cup and the fruit of the vine is inviting.

The Imagery

The imagery is clear, enticing, and at the same time frightening. It takes facts from nature and invites us to consider them as analogies to God and God's ways with us.

Imagine a vineyard. It is a booming business in Australia. Even around Canberra there are a growing number of vineyards. It looks easy, but it is difficult and risky and financially draining. Every plant needs to be examined and pruned. The bad branches are cut off and burned, so that the good branches get more sap and bear more and better fruit. The branch has no life on its own. It is and remains dependent on the vine.

Nature and experience here serves as a resource to talk about God and us and our life.

When Jesus is presented as the vine and we, believers in Christ, as the branches, then this reminds us of the tree of life, which plays a role in many religions. A tree, a large and a strong tree, an oak or beech or Ghost-gum, provides the image for the tree of life. The tree of life is seen as the origin of life and provides the sustenance for life. Human beings are the branches who depend on the tree for their birth and for their survival. Cut off from the tree of life, they cannot survive.

This teases into our minds the awareness that God is necessary for our life in two ways.

As creator. The Psalmist confesses and laments about the "branches" of the "tree of life":

When you - God - hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground. (104:29f.)

Yet we need to recognise that with our violence and selfishness we human beings have messed up God's good creation. We have turned paradise into a battlefield. We have dismissed God, turned in upon ourselves, and distanced ourselves from those who are not like us. Rather than listening and obeying our gods to bring peace and justice - as all major religions, at least in theory, claim! - we have employed our god's to fuel our hatred and destroy those who are different.

But God is a patient God. God has opened the door, which we had slammed into God's face. The Creator-God became also the Reconciler-God. In Christ, we became reconciled with God.

So, we rely on God for our life (God as creator) and for our faith (God as reconciler).

The invitation "abide in me" - abide in Christ - is contained in the awareness that with our life and for our faith we remain dependent on God. Just as the branch can't live apart from the vine, so we can't live apart from God.

But given our estrangement, we have to recognise that God has opened the door into God's grace through the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Christ is God "for us".

In the Hebrew Bible the image on the vine is often used for Israel. This picture is widened to include all of humanity when Christ is represented as the true vine.

Before we can really appreciate our being related to Christ, as the branch is dependent on the vine, we need to remember the emphases on "friend" and on "joy".

Faith in Christ does not mean the blind and dutiful dependence and obedience of a servant.

". the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father."

"Friends" we are called. By believing in Christ and being baptised into his name, we enter a free and voluntary relationship.

A relationship that is not run by duty, but by joy.

"I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete."

Joy does not exclude, but includes discipline (pruning). I was talking to an athlete the other day who is preparing for a competition in 3 weeks time. He was telling me of his strict discipline. Four hours training each day. For lunch only chicken or fish - no fat, no gravy. For tea only vegetables. No beer with the boys after work. No Barbecue with sausage and steak - and "I love sausage!" he told me. But the joy of the free and voluntary decision to enter the competition brings with it the discipline of getting fit for it.

Since "God is love", therefor it is natural that "abiding in Christ" means in fact "abiding in love". Faith and love belong together. They are two sides of the same coin.

Realising that, we also understand the emphasis on fruits. There is the promise that staying connected to the vine and being pruned, will bring much fruit; and it will be fruit that lasts and will stand the test of time. And there is the harsh reality that apart from being connected to the vine and apart from being pruned, branches become useless. Useless branches, as we know from observing the work of the labourer in the vineyard, are cut off, thrown on a heap and burned.

The fruit of faith is love. Faith becomes visible in love. No faith, no love. No love, no faith. The two belong together. They feed on each other.

Two misunderstandings need to be warded off.

The humanist within us says: it is love that counts. Do works of love and you will be fulfilled. Our story spells out a warning. You must be loved, before you can love. God must touch you and you must open yourself to God, before you can be selfless. Jesus says here: "You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you." You don't produce your meaning and fulfilment. It is God's free gift. Faith comes from hearing! Don't cut your love off from your faith or your love will dry up.

The evangelical within us says: it is faith that counts. Believe in Christ and all the rest is secondary. No, the story of Jesus says. There is no faith in Christ that does not become visible in love. You can't love God and hate your neighbour. Indeed if you come to the altar to worship and sense animosity in your heart, first go and fix up things with people before you look up to God.

That is the reason why with the challenges in society our own credibility is at stake. Are we servants of life or of death? Are we apostles of peace or of war? Are we drum-majors for justice or do we sing familiar tunes?

We rightly criticise the failure of the Christian churches in Germany during the 1930's to discern the signs of the times and courageously speak the word of the Lord. We rightly lament the failure of the dominant white churches in South Africa who whispered when they should have spoken loudly against the sin of Apartheid. We smile, but it is a smile of disillusionment, when we observe the marriage between political power and conservative Christianity in the USA. But our critique and smiles are only justified when we try to read the signs of the times in our society and courageously speak the word of the Lord and passionate display solidarity with the disadvantaged in our midst.

Recently, a fundamentalist Anglican leader in Sydney publicly criticised our President, Rev Tim Costello, for leading his people - us! - astray, by selling out a biblical faith to what he calls a social Gospel.

My friends, let me suggest to you, that there is no Gospel, at least no good news that has to with Christ and faith and love and obedience, that is not at the same time "social". By their fruits you shall know them! A branch that does not bear the fruits of love withers! Faith without love is dead. It does not exist.

As we hear the word "I am the vine" we are invited to seek life's fulfilment in Christ. Through faith in Christ and baptism into the name of Christ, we are grafted into the tree of life. Whether it is the tree of life, we are grafted into, will show itself by the fruits of our lives.

Rev Dr T. Lorenzen
4 February 2001