Fifth Sunday of Easter

Acts 8.26-40; John 15.1-8

We are still very much in the Easter season and exploring the meaning of Jesus's resurrection. I think these passages we've read today are ones that are very easily and well remembered by all. And they tell us what it means in very practical terms to be a Christian and how we go about it, in the light of Jesus' resurrection.

Jesus talks about himself as the vine and his disciples as the branches. His Father is the vine dresser, ensuring that the vine bears fruit. There's so much in this simple image that we can take to ourselves in understanding our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Jesus says that we must 'abide' in him as a branch on the vine. Without the vine, the branch cannot bear fruit. It's from the vine that the branch receives its sustenance and life force and so produces the fruit. And any branch that is unproductive, the vine dresser prunes off. Any gardener will know that pruned plants usually grow stronger, as the dead and weaker wood is taken off, stronger shoots and branches grow that are more fruitful. And so the image makes it very clear that if we are to become what God wants us to become then we must stay properly and fully connected with Jesus. When this happens, and we bear fruit then we bring glory to God.

But the question we are left with is 'how do we do this?' How do we 'abide' in Jesus? How do we stay connected? The passage from Acts helps us here. We find the Ethiopian reading the scriptures and Philip, encouraged we are told by the Holy Spirit, goes to the man's aid and helps him understand what he is reading, and what it means for him. The passage doesn't tell us whether or not the man understands even after Philip has explained things, but he realises that to be baptised is important, it's the starting point of his relationship with Jesus Christ and so at the very first opportunity he askes Philip to baptise him.

There's a couple of things here that help us to understand what it means to 'abide' in Christ so that we can bear fruit. First of all, the Ethiopian goes to the scriptures because there he finds what he needs to help him on his journey with Jesus. He also needs someone to help him understand because all is not obvious as he reads. But abiding in Christ isn't just about reading something and understanding what it means. You have to live it from the inside as it were. So, the Ethiopian is baptised, he's initiated into this relationship with Jesus, he's baptised into Jesus' life, death and resurrection. Through his baptism he is very really joined to Jesus, he becomes a branch, growing on the vine.

So these passages give us a very clear description of how we may ourselves 'abide' in Christ. Through our baptism, we are, as it were, joined to Jesus as a branch to a vine and that vine then brings us the sustenance through which we might bear fruit. We also feed our relationship with Jesus through reading and understanding the scriptures and having them expounded to us by the Church. The Ethiopian didn't just receive an explanation from anyone, but from one of Jesus own disciples, from a member of the Church and so it was the Church that was explaining the Scriptures. And that is an important thing to remember. That it's the Church's interpretation of the Scriptures that matters, not that of any single individual. And of course we are now 2,000 years on and we know that essential to our abiding in Christ is our own individual prayer and our joining in the prayer and worship of the Church.

And so it is in these ways that we 'abide' in Christ, and that we bear fruit to the glory of God. And look at the reward. 'If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.' It sounds like a very tall order, to have granted anything we wish. But the promise is there if we 'abide' in Him. The question is, how well do we do that? I suppose you could say that it's only as our prayers are answered that we know the reality of God in our lives and know that Jesus is indeed, risen.