Ah, now we've taken down our vine after Easter, we come to the week in the lectionary that offers that very image. Typical. One day I really ought to read ahead and get organised. However, all is not lost because there is a bit of a problem with the vine image in my head. It's not a bad problem. It is a good problem. I like good problems because they open up the passage anew.
Jesus says he is the vine and we are the branches. Fine. But have you ever seen a vine? It is the branches. That's what a vine is. There isn't a stem. So could we possibly, perhaps, maybe, understand this image of the community of God (please don't say the church because I think that needs another image which wouldn't be suitable for this blog) says that what Jesus means when he says he is the vine is that he is the whole community together. The Spirit of Christ is the community together grafted into justice and grace and compassion (that's why the church doesn't fit this image at the moment).
Okay that isn't exactly rocket science and certainly not a huge leap into unchartered theological territory. But perhaps we need to hear is a few times. Jesus does say: abide in me as I abide in you. That fits with branches being the vine. There is no central stem. If we're cut away then there isn't anyting left. The vine goes. Jesus is the whole vine, all the different branches but we're the branches who make up the vine. We're the corporeal body of Jesus. There isn't a vine without us being there.
Honestly, how often do you want to hear that!?
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