5th Sunday of Easter Year B

Fifth Sunday in Easter – Year B – I am the vine

Who here likes gardening? Who among us has those mythical and legendary ‘green fingers#, who like nothing more than getting out into the garden each day and getting stuck into whatever your garden needs at that point in time? Be it weeding or pruning or mulching or digging and turning over or mowing or – and the list goes on.

And it may seem from this list as though I know all about this and in fact am one of the ‘green-fingered or thumbed-brigade. Wrong! Nothing could be further from the truth!

Gardens are for lying or sitting in with a good book in the sun and maybe a glass of something cool or cold.

I know these terms and these jobs because Celia my wife is the gardener. She is the one who is out in all kinds of weather doing one, some or all of these things or just simply moving pots and stuff around to create a different look. She is the garden-doctor.

She is the one who knows when to plant and what to weed. She only asked me once to weed the garden and then screamed at me because I had taken out half of her beautiful border flowers and left in the weeds, which I had thought were quite nice.

She is the one who is the master, or mistress, of the pruning shears. She knows that for a tree or shrub to grow and to be of its best, it needs to be pruned. I think that she does this quite savagely, but she knows best. She knows that she has to cut off the dying and dead branches to give the tree its best chance of life. She knows that she has to be quite savage in all, that she does in order to get the best out of the tree or shrub.

I have railed at her for chopping down to their base stems some of my favourite bushes and then had to reluctantly admit that she was right some months later when it has come to a new and beautiful life and flower, filled with colour and scent and life.

What do I know? But why am I going on about a subject about which I clearly know nothing?

Well, in today’s gospel we have Jesus talking, again, about vines and vineyards. He is talking about the upkeep and the maintenance of them with some degree of knowledge and expertise. And this is not because he was at any time in his life a vine-grower or a wine-maker but he would have had at least a passing knowledge of what it took to grow vines and to nurture them and care for them and how to make wine.

I think that this is something that if not done in every village would certainly have been done in every town and neighbourhood. He would, a bit like me and my garden, know the what and the how and the roughly when each of these tasks would take place. He would certainly have known of the need for the care and the attention needed in the care and upkeep of the vines.

And he also knew that almost every person he spoke to on his travel would have this same familiarity with the subject. They would know what he was talking about And would be able to picture his anecdotes about vines and their upkeep in their minds.

He knew that they knew that vines had to be maintained fully and properly to give full harvests. That vines had to be trimmed and pruned of their dead branches and even their weaker branches in order for those remaining to give of their best fruit.

He knew that the rubbish, the cut-aways had to be thrown away and burnt so as to not cause disease or rot in the healthy plants.

And he knew that the people to whom he was speaking would understand his point, They would get his message. They would be able to relate to his analogy.

He was telling them that he was the vine, the true vine and that each and every one of his listeners was a potential branch. A potential branch that could bear rich fruit if it stayed true and loyal to him. If it stayed connected to him completely and in every way and if it did not allow any blight or falsehood to impinge on it in any way.

He was telling them that as a branch they had to be aware and wary of anything that could dilute the feed from the main vine, him, and could cause their fruit to wither and to die. He telling them that they had to look out for anything that could cause them to question or to doubt the life and message from him their true vine.

And he knew that they would understand this. He knew that they would get this. He knew that they would be able to relate it to their own gardening knowledge, whatever it may be in in depth or breadth. They would understand what he was saying.

But what about us? We are not vine-growers or wine-makers of this sort. We are very possibly wine-drinkers with very little knowledge or care as to where or how the grapes are grown or maintained.

But we will all have a little knowledge and experience of our own in gardens. Even like me, as a watcher of someone more experienced as they putter about in the garden. We will have seen them cut and chop and prune and care for the plants, shrubs and trees. We will have been amazed at the new  and stronger growth.

We understand what Jesus is saying to us now, here, today, in this gospel. We are the branches of which he speaks. We are already pruned and made better and stronger by the Word we listen to: by the Word that we take in to feed us and to nourish us. By the Word that we digest and allow to fill our every being and allow and enable us to fight off any blight or doubt. By the Word that makes us able to bear the fruit of our faith in its full richness and growth.

Jesus is speaking to us today just as if he were stood here and now. His message is just as relevant to us today as it was to his apostles and the crowds back then. We are a nation of gardeners. We are a people familiar with plants, shrubs and trees either in our own gardens or out and about in public gardens. We understand the analogy. We get the message.

We know that we need to look at ourselves constantly and consistently to identify our growth and our nurturing of our feed and sustenance to make sure that we are growing fully and completely the message of Jesus: God loves me! How can I grow and show this love in my fruit, my harvest of love to and for my neighbour.

Bidding Prayers

1.      That we reach out to all and others with our harvest of love and seek to share this with all that we meet in our lives. Lord in your mercy

2.      That we aim to see Jesus in everyone that we meet and reflect his love for us in our love for them by and through our loving actions. Lord in your mercy

3.      That there is an increase in a harvest of peace and reconciliation across our troubled world that feeds all nations and peoples. Lord in your mercy

4.      That the love of Christ feeds and nourishes our parish communities that we grow in faith and love toward each other. We pray especially this weekend for Joseph Jones who is making his First Holy Communion and for his family who are supporting him in this. Lord in your mercy

5.      That all who are suffering in anyway in their health and fed and supported by our prayers and loving actions. Lord in your mercy

6.      That those who have died recently may find eternal rest with their heavenly father. Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen Lord in your mercy

7.      That Mary our Mother and the Mother of the Church join her prayers with ours as we now say together, Hail Mary  . . . .