Dedication of Plaque in memory of Rupert Sschubert [John 15:5] (16-Nov-2013)

This sermon was preached at St John's Lutheran Church, Sale, 2pm.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Text: (John 15:5)

If am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

It's a wonderful occasion that we're gathered here to celebrate today, to set up this plaque in honour of our dear friend in the faith, Rupert Schubert.

I'm sure there's a certain sense that if he were still alive today he would probably be quite embarrassed by all us here! And of course, we trust that through Jesus he is not dead, but sleeping. He is kept safe with Jesus.

But this event today isn't for him--Rupert gets absolutely no say in the matter! This is something that is for our benefit and is to help us.

Our faith is not in Rupert, but in the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ. But every now and then, we meet people in our journey towards heaven on the earth who give us so much encouragement in the faith. And this is what we have come to do today--we have come to give thanks to God for the blessings that he gave us through Rupert.

So, let's consider for a few minutes the bible verse which is written on the plaque: John 15:5. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Through holy baptism, Jesus joins us to himself and grafts us onto himself in such a way that we become members of Christ's body.

I am told that when people grow apples, a certain variety of apples (like granny smiths, pink lady, red delicious) needs to be grafted on to the apple tree, otherwise the apple tree will produce any old apple. The different variety of apple needs to be grafted on to the tree.

But this is completely different to the picture Jesus paints for us here. We are not the good variety that makes Christ's vine better. Christ is already the perfect good vine, and we are grafted onto him. We, a little branch, want to collect all the sap, all the juice, all the goodness from Christ the vine.

This is what it means to be a baptised child of God. We are grafted onto Christ.

So Jesus says to us: I am the vine, you are the branches.

We learn here also that Jesus is both true man and true God. If he weren't a true man, a true human being, he wouldn't share our human nature. He is made out of the same plant as us. He has a real body, and real blood, real flesh and bones. But also, the fact that he is able to join us in a supernatural way to himself shows us that he is true God. Jesus is true God, in such a way that he is washes us clean from all sin through his blood. He is able to share all of his gifts with us in such a way that no two human beings on this earth are ever able to do. Two people can spend a lot of time in each other's company, but one person can't make the other person holy, or take upon themselves the other person's sin, and make the other person completely pure.

This is the unity that Jesus has with us: he takes upon himself all our sin, and shame, and guilt, and whatever bad thing we see in ourselves that we know shouldn't be there and we wish weren't there. And everything good that we see in Jesus, every good quality, every perfect gift, every gift of holiness, righteousness, purity: all of that is given to us. He gives it to us not because we are some wonderful vine, but because we are a sick little branch that needs nourishment from him. Jesus doesn't graft us in because of any quality, of any good thing that is in us, in such a way that we deserve to be grafted in. He takes us completely as we are, and grafts us in, purely by grace.

We are not the vine that supports Jesus. We are not the good ones who fashion Jesus in our own image. Rather, Jesus says: I am the vine, you are the branches.

Then he says: Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.

Jesus often uses the word: whoever. Whoever abides in me, he says. Whoever means that he welcomes anyone and everyone. And it also means that once we are welcomed and received by Jesus, we also are simply still anyone. All of us Christians are simply just one of the people whom Jesus calls whoever. All Christians are simply "any old Christian", because Christianity is not about Christians, but about Christ.

People who are into wine sometime are able the recognise the region where a wine comes from. I once met a man in the Barossa Valley near Adelaide who could tell the exact vineyard where a wine came from. However, he would never be able to pick the exact branch, because all the branches belong to the same vine. All the branches produce the same juice and make the same wine.

So Jesus says: Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. The wine produced from this vine is all the same wine. And Jesus asks us to abide in him. He wants us simply to stay connected to him, to stay grafted to him. He wants us to continue to grow through his word. Jesus promises to give us continually his Holy Spirit so that we believe his word, and learn it anew, afresh, and produce fruit.

Jesus says: For apart from me, you can do nothing. He doesn't say, you can do little. He says, you can do nothing. Even for many Christians, their good works are not seen by themselves. I suspect Rupert probably felt in himself that he had achieved very little. It is other people who recognise the fruit, and who recognise that the fruit is good.

For apart from me, you can do nothing. This teaches us to recognise that so much of what we try to do apart from Jesus is completely nothing. There are so many people who feel as though they have got nowhere in life and have achieved very little. Maybe there is some truth in this. But at the same time, when we think that there is nothing that we are achieving, nothing that is worth doing, and no point in continuing, then Jesus says: come and abide in me. Listen to my word and hear it again. Be strengthened by it again. Abide in me and let me produce the fruit in you. Apart from me, you can do nothing, but together with me, you can do everything. At least, you can do everything that is worth doing.

Jesus says: I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Let's give thanks to God for these living words of Jesus, and also for the wonderful fruit that he has worked through so many Christians throughout the centuries. And we also give thanks for that fruit we saw at work in Rupert's faith, fruit that was not produced by him, but was produced by his Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.