Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B

Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his
steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

John 15:1-8

Jesus said to his disciples, ”I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 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.”

For the next several weeks of Eastertide, we are using a group bible study format for Faith from the Margins to the Web which rotates facilitators for each week’s Gospel. For each of the following weeks in Easter season we will feature highlights from the group gathered that illustrate each week’s Gospel lesson. People who had participated in a previous interview were invited to become the group facilitators, and that core group added new participants for each lesson. We’ll hear the Gospel from the perspective of this group for the next three weeks.

Group participants for Easter 4, Easter 5, and Easter 6: Willie. Christina, Kaiju, Paul, William, Jamillah, Angela, Leroy and David.

David started out the group’s conversation “You know what stands out for me…and I mean, I want you all to really feel me, here…this talks about abiding…to abide in me…to study my word. That’s a really powerful word, to abide. I think we need to break that down!”

Kaiju chimed in. “I changed the word ‘abide’ to ‘obedient’ in my mind. Just like the metaphor of the fruit and the vine, be obedient to me…”

The group began to talk about this idea of being obedient, about the rules that we know in our hearts and our stubbornness to follow them sometimes. Even though many times our first thoughts are about “right behavior” or being “cast out” the participants pushed each other to go deeper than that. Eventually, wrestling together, this idea of abiding as relationship started to take on some deeper meaning and importance:

“It’s like God says, if you’re abiding in me, and you’re living with me, you are there because you want to be there so of course you are not cast away! It’s like the Bible says, we have a choice and choosing to stay with God is about choosing to be cared for, and cared about.”

Christine jumped in. “AND, you recognize that the Father is taking care of his children…it’s like when you have kids, when you raise your children, you have rules for them to follow because you know what’s best for them. They might not believe you, but they will someday! They aren’t always happy with the rules and we’re the same way. But we also know that God loves us, and wants what is best for us, and can see things that we cannot.”

More metaphors began to emerge within the group:

“It’s like when you stay with friends, you know, and you’re staying under their roof. You want to stay there…you appreciate it and you know that it isn’t about doing everything you want. Abiding is being obedient, to honor the rules because it helps us be family together. Maybe it isn’t about being ‘cast out’ so much as it is choosing to stay, and if we don’t want to be there we can make a choice to leave. It’s our choice, to stay and to obey.”

Paul agreed. “I like that, yeah, I like that. You know, we don’t want to play God but sometimes we start thinking its a game. It’s not. It’s just what we do when we’re family, we take care of each other.”

David picked the verse back up again. “I’m looking at this part, the part that says, ‘every vine bears fruit’ and that idea of the vine, being that thing that is there to feed us and to help us grow. It’s a living thing, you know, feeding us.”

Christine nodded. “Yeah, if you’re not connected to the vine, you think you can do it all on your own. That’s tempting for a minute, but then you realize it’s a mistake. Pretty soon, you realize that you are cut off, you aren’t receiving, you aren’t being fed.”

The group talked about that feeding: David summarized, “Its what happens when we don’t go to church, or we just start thinking about having to go on Easter or Christmas or whatever. We’re getting hungry, we’re craving what God gives us and we don’t realize it. That vine, that church family, it feeds us just like the scripture feeds us.”

Jamillah added, “You know, I’m one of those people where it takes some time for me. I hear the scripture and I have to take it in. I have to let it live in me, to think about it, to really let it get into my soul before it breaks open. I think about that and the vine, how when we are connected to God and connected to the church we are being fed and cared for, we are letting it all sink in to our lives.

David summed up this scripture and their conversation: “So, it comes back to that idea of abiding…of growing together, like the vine and the branches. We grow in God, we are fed on the Word and we abide together.”