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| "Vineyard Sunset" by Chris Gin |
Grapevines
Jesse Tree Symbol: a Many-Coloured Robe
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A Greeting
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
(Psalm 86:4)
A Reading
‘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... ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.'
(John 15: 1-5a;12-13)
Music (Only)
Meditative Verse
Joseph is a fruitful vine, near a spring,
whose branches climb over a wall.
(Genesis 49:22)
A Reflection
The word became flesh in order to lead us into communion with God. He came to bridge the gap that separates weak and vulnerable human beings from God. He came to live in Mary's womb and to dwell in each one of us. But he came not only to dwell in us but also to act in us and through us. We are called to participate in the creative and loving activity of God. We will bear much fruit if we dwell in God. This mutual indwelling implies a friendship. It is a process of growing towards greater oneness with Jesus... Jesus tells us that he is the vine; he is not separate from the vine. He is not separate from the people of God, but is part of them, one with them. Now that the Word has become flesh, he is one with us and we are one with him. We are of the same human race. He is the first-born of creation. All life flows from him and through him, and then through us, the little branches, to bear fruit, just as the sap runs through the vine,
through the branches to produce grapes.
- from Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John
by Jean Vanier
Verses for the Day
a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground
waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat
and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates,
a land of olive trees and honey.
(Deuteronomy 7-8)
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| Jesse Tree image by Eric Westra |
When God told Moses to send spies into the land of Canaan, those men returned with a giant cluster of grapes so heavy it had to be borne on a pole (Numbers 13). Vines are mentioned more than any other plant species in the bible. They also populate metaphors for the fruitfulness of human beings. In Psalm 80, a lamenting psalmist remembers out loud to God how He "brought a vine out of Egypt...You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land." He then pleads with God to "look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted." Abundant vines represent Israel when it is righteous and obedient (Deuteronomy 8; Genesis 40), and when the vines are dried or running wild, they speak to the people's unfaithfulness (Deuteronomy 28; Micah 6). In John 15, Jesus positions himself as the "true vine", and God as the 'gardener'. He says that even he needs to be pruned by God of that which does not "bear fruit". Therefore, the image from Genesis 49 of Joseph-the-vine who spills over a garden wall is taken over by Jesus, who is the new vine from which we all are branches. In the biblical story of any era, vines bloom and grow on almost anything, and their fruit are all sizes and colours; they are nourishing when ripe, when dried and when fermented. As a reflection of who we all are and can be, vineyards are a many coloured robe of creation.
LC† The Trees of Jesse is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto.
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