Trees:  Jesus the Vine

John 15:1-10

December 10, 2006         (Click the date to see the bulletin)

 

1.  Review “Jesse is the Stump”

Last Sunday we read from the 11^th Chapter of the Prophet Isaiah – “And a shoot goes out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch goes out of his roots, bearing fruit.”  After worship, someone asked me why Jesse was referred to as a “stump.”  Time was so limited last Sunday morning that I didn’t go into it, so I’ll answer that question for the rest of you today.  The word “stump” is used in two ways, one metaphorical and one literal, and Isaiah intended for it to have a double meaning.  Metaphorically, it means the base of a family tree.  We speak of our “family tree.” Years ago I gave my brother and sister a framed line drawing of a tree, complete with roots, trunk, branches and leaves.  Each section of the tree had blank spaces to fill in with the names of those who came before and those who came after them – grandparents and parents were written in the root section, they themselves were on the trunk, then the names of children and grandchildren went on the branches and leaves.  Those pictures speak volumes, but even though we speak lovingly of the “nuts” that grow on our family tree, we all know families are not trees.  Families are part of the animal world; trees are part of the plant world.  One is not the other!  So, in one sense Isaiah is making a faith statement when he speaks of Jesse as a “stump”   He is saying that Jesse’s great-great-grand-children were not as faithful as Jesse was, and the whole country deteriorated because of it.  But God did not go find a different group of people start all over again; God remained faithful to the very people who had been faith-less.  But Isaiah also intends for the people to realize the literal meaning -- the physical body of King David’s dad.  We see it in the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke, more clearly in Matthew, translating literally: “Family line account (of) Jesus Christ son (of) David son (of) Abraham.” Then Matthew devoted a lengthy paragraph (16 verses in our modern Bibles) to naming as many males as he could (plus five women) between Abraham and Jesus.  His list is not identical to Luke’s list, but that doesn’t matter – to me, at least.  What DOES matter is that 2,000+ years ago God intervened in human history to pick out one like us – one whose lineage could be traced – through whom to work.  That’s the literal meaning of “stump,” the foundation of the plant world.  Metaphorically and literally, Jesse played a prominent role in God’s people.

2.  Introduce “Jesus is the Vine”

All species of “flora,” this plant world, have the same basic characteristics – from the smallest to the largest, from a fragile seedling to a sturdy oak, from beginning to end, from Alpha to Omega.  And because we believe God is involved in every part of life, we see God at work in flora and fauna, Ficus trees and Family trees.  From this root system in the fauna world, specifically the human world, God works to bring new growth, new life from the rich loamy soil of human history, “When the fulness of time had come,” Paul wrote the Galatians, “God sent his son, born of a woman . . . so that we might receive adoption as children” (Galatians 4:4-5).  The word translated adoption is two words stuck together, one meaning “son” and the other meaning “placing” or “positioning.”  Put those two words together and you get something like “positioning as a son.”  If Paul had used the metaphor of a tree, he might have said “At the right time, in the right season, God cut a little branch off an unhealthy tree and grafted it onto Jesus’ family tree, so that the fruit from this new tree will be good fruit.”  Grafted from one to another.  Grafting is the art of attaching a piece of one plant to another in such a way that the two pieces bond and become one plant.  You start with a small plant that is usually grown from seed, called the rootstock, and attach a small cutting taken from another plant.  You end up with one plant, made from two previously very different plants.^[i]   That’s the process in the plant world.  In the animal world, God was able to use one human being to be for us what rootstock is to a graft in the plant world.  Jesus bonded with the rest of humanity, but trying to describe what happened has been a challenge!  John’s gospel is filled with what have come to be called the “I AM” sayings of Jesus.  Jesus uses one metaphor after another to try to get the people to understand who he is – “I am the bread of life;” “I am the living water;” “I am the good shepherd;” and “I am the true vine.”  Although Jesus doesn’t mention grafting per se, his hearers would have known how to use grafts to get the very best grapes to grow on their vines.  Transfer that metaphor to us.  We Christians know that following Jesus, being bonded to Jesus, being “grafted” onto Jesus, is the only way for us to truly live, to “bear good fruit.”  Jesse is the stump; Jesus is the trunk or the vine of our Faith Tree.

3.  Hint at “We are the Branches and the Leaves”

Next Sunday the choir will sing our Christmas Cantata during worship.  So we’ll place a HOLD on the root and vine part of our Jesse Tree; we won’t encourage it to grow any more next Sunday.  Then the following Sunday, December 24, we’ll look at where we fit on this “Family Tree” called Christianity.  In the meantime, while you’re waiting for Christmas Eve to come, while you’re going about your preparations, think “treely.”  You already know the names on your immediate family tree – your grandparents, your parents.  If you have children, you know their names; if you have grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, you know their names.   Remember them!  And while you’re thinking “treely,” think about your Faith Tree, too.  What names belong on that tree?  Who are your parents in the faith?   Who provided the roots for your Faith Tree? Who taught you that God loves you?  And what about the vine, the trunk of your Faith Tree?  Who taught you the stories of Jesus?  As you and I continue to prepare for Christmas, be a tree!