Connecting to the True Vine

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already cleansed [pruned] because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. - Jesus speaking in John 15:5

What does it mean to remain in Jesus? How can I abide in his love? What does it mean for me to bear fruit? These are some of the questions that arose for me as we considered John 15:1-17 as part of our base group meeting on Capitol Hill last night. I think that answers came differently for all of us. Some felt led to focus on gaining a deeper grounding in the Vine. Others of us have a deep need to be pruned, to have our lives pared down and focused on the core work that God is calling us to. For others, this feels like a season for bearing fruit.

Perhaps for some of us this Scripture just seemed confusing. Jesus uses intense mystical language to talk about his connection with the Father, and with us. At certain points in my life, this almost esoteric language might have seemed disconnected from the everyday matters that I needed to attend to.

Then again, maybe that is the point. If I focus only on the fruit - the tangible goodness that comes from God - I easily forget to stay rooted in Jesus. Ironically, my love for the good things God creates can actually become a barrier between me and the Creator.

How can I keep all my attention on Jesus? How might I develop a practice of moment-by-moment encounter with his Spirit within me? In the deepest part of me, there is a seed, a connection, a doorway where Christ stands and knocks. If I can keep my attention there and invite him in, I will be connected to the Vine. And as his life, power and goodness flow through me, I will bear fruit: Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Looking to the week ahead, I feel a personal challenge: What does it feel like for me to be connected to the True Vine? How do I stay open to the Spirit that flows through the Vine and into me, this little branch? And what are the unfruitful branches in my life that need to be cut back? How do I need to be pruned so that I can bear the fruit of love and justice?

This week, as I do my work, interact with my community, and share life with friends and family, I want to keep my eyes open to the ways that God is asking me to go deeper. This may mean taking on more responsibilities, or setting aside bad habits that pull me away me from my real purpose. God may need to remove clutter and distractions from my life.

Even more challenging, I may find that I must let go of even some of the good things that I do. Even those activities and attitudes that give me great joy must be laid aside if they get in the way of the person God is calling me to be right now. Am I willing to lay down good things in order to be fully present to the best thing? Am I ready to follow Jesus without reservation?

Healing and the Kingdom of God

Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. - Luke 9:1-2

I have a confession to make: When I read the Bible, I tend to focus on those parts that fit neatly into my pre-existing worldview. This has always been true. I remember in high school I always focused on the places where Jesus had "ethical teachings," and talked about himself in more human terms. I glossed over the places where Jesus emphasized his uniqueness and divinity, and I pretty much skipped the gospel of John altogether!

This should come as no surprise. It is hard to learn challenging new truth without any familiar context to lean on. When I am struggling to grasp new ideas, it is reassuring to focus on the things I already know. Realizing this about myself, it makes me wonder about all the truth that I am still oblivious to! What obvious realities do I fail to see because they are simply too far outside my current understanding?

This question feels particularly relevant for me right now as I become more aware of a part of the Bible that I have always sort of glossed over: Jesus' acts of miraculous healing and exorcism. Throughout his three years of public ministry, Jesus was constantly healing people of physical ailments and exorcising demons that held people in bondage. He cured people of physical, psychological and spiritual sickness. Quite frankly, Jesus did some crazy stuff.

It is almost impossible to miss this aspect of Jesus' ministry if one is reading the gospels with any attention at all. Until recently, however, I was able to mostly bypass those passages. I did not intentionally ignore them, but I did not give them much weight in my reading. I read them metaphorically and focused more on the way Jesus' actions revealed a "deeper meaning." In a real sense, I sanitized part of what is the scandal of Jesus for modern readers. My Lord and Savior went around casting out demons, healing the sick and raising the dead!

It was a pretty big step for me to believe that these events really happened at all, but for years now I have accepted that Jesus performed all of these miracles. I have even come to believe that these kind of things happen today. The Holy Spirit is alive and active, at work in the world in ways we cannot understand. This whole thing about faith healing and demon possession is a little bit outside my comfort zone, but I can deal with it as a possibility.

As I continue to re-read the story of Jesus' ministry, though, I am increasingly faced with the reality that these miraculous deeds of power are not simply a possibility, not merely a sideshow to the work of the Kingdom. Instead, it seems increasingly clear to me that Jesus viewed these acts of very literal healing as essential to life in the Kingdom of God.

What is truly challenging for me now is that Jesus did not simply perform these miracles himself; he commanded his followers to do the same. When Jesus sent out seventy of his disciples, his charge to them was to "cure the sick... and say to them, 'The Kingdom of God has come near you.'" Faith healing and casting out demons is not just special work that only the Son of God can do; it is the living demonstration of the proclamation of the good news of the Kingdom.

What am I to make of this? To my knowledge, I have never been used by God to perform a miraculous healing. Nor have I ever laid hands on someone and released them from mental illness or other forms of spiritual bondage. Am I missing something essential to the gospel of Jesus? Is this some of that truth I have been unable to perceive because it is so far outside my comfort zone? As someone who seeks to be a modern-day disciple of Jesus, should these be spiritual gifts that I seek after?

I do not know what form it should take, but I do feel convinced that wholeness - physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual - must be at the core of the gospel that we proclaim. There is an undeniable connection between the Kingdom of God and the restoration of wholeness to the entirety of creation, beginning with human beings. How am I to live this out? How can my life be so filled with the Holy Spirit that "the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have good news brought to them"?

Inauguration of the Kingdom

Today, the eyes of the country were focused on Washington, as President Barack Obama was re-confirmed in his position as commander-in-chief of the most powerful nation the world has ever seen. After the most expensive political race in history, Obama presides over a deeply divided country - a nation wracked by structural injustice, income inequality, endemic racism and institutional gridlock. A spirit of division hangs over our nation.

In times like these, it is not surprising that we cling ever more desperately to symbol and ritual. With the bonds of national unity so strained, there is comfort and reassurance to be found in observing familiar forms. That is a what today's inauguration was all about: it reminds us that, despite all of the battles and vitriol, our society still functions.

Given our national circumstances, it is not surprising that President Obama chose to enlist the potent legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., being sworn in on the Bible that King carried on many of his travels during the civil rights era. As America's first black president, Obama invoked the memory of one of our nation's greatest African-American prophets.

This choice of symbolism fits with what we know about power. It is the usual move of those in authority to appropriate the charisma and integrity of the martyrs. And today, in a system that is collapsing under the weight of its own violence, greed and oppression, our rulers have all the more need of the mantle of the prophets.

But the prophets continue to speak. I heard one this morning. Cornel West, a distinguished professor and philosopher, explained why "his blood boiled" when he learned that President Obama was to be sworn in on Martin Luther King's Bible.

Watch:

Can I get an Amen?

We must not tame the prophetic Spirit with our hand on that Bible. We must not quench the prophetic fire that Martin Luther King, Jr. and all of God's witnesses have shown us. We must not allow the living gospel of Christ's Kingdom to be appropriated by even the grandest of human kingdoms.

On this Inauguration Day, I will re-commit myself to the inauguration of the reign of the Way, the Truth and the Life. I pray that I will stay awake to the limits of human power, human government and human authority, looking always to the Prince of Peace as the only true leader of one and all. I look for the day that the Spirit who inspires the prophets will come to live and reign in this and every nation.