'I am the vine' so says Christ in one of his famous quotes from John's gospel (15:1). Not only is Christ saying this but he is also saying 'God the vine' as 'I am' in Jewish literature sources is tantamount to the name of God. So, in a twisted manner Christ is proclaiming himself God but also asserting that the twisted vines that produce grapes are part and parcel of God. Yet, the analogous writing of John goes even further in stating that we are to be embedded in the vine as branches that source their nutrients and growth potential from the root stock of the vine. So, Christ is the vine, excluding the branches as it is we who are the branches in some cases grafted on, we would assume that the vine is more than just a woody growth.
We must make some valid assumptions at this point or else the analogy will not hold together. The first one is that our concept of God / Christ as the main stem of the vine means that this is composed of love. In other words it is not a rigid structure but rather something that is fluid and ever changing. If we think in terms of rigidity then we become bogged down in human concepts and an inability to become one with God. The second assumption is that all parts of the total plant are bound together by this same structure and it is through this that the Spirit flows to the outer extremities so that we become productive and produce the grape of peace and compassion in our lives to serve as sustenance to the world. If we are happy with this then we can proceed to acknowledge our usefulness to the world.
The interesting thing about these assumptions is that it suggests that our preconceptions of community as a rigid structure must fall away. If we are to be intimately involved with God we must allow for flexibility in our response. The love of God is not a rigid characteristic but rather is more pliable, the moment we become rigid we are likely to fracture from the source. Our broken branches pile up around us and eventually burn as suggested by Christ (Jn. 15:6). It is because we have withered or rather not allowed love to flow into our selves and become rigid in our outlook. The harmony of creation and created things shows us the harmony of God. The interconnectivity of all things demonstrates to us the interconnectivity of God. Thus, the vine shows the interconnectivity of all things when they are harmonised to the fundamentality of God as love. This love that we refer to as God contains all forms of love within it and cannot be described in any one way except perhaps to suggest that love viewed in this way is something that does not induce harm, hatred, disconnection or any other form of violence that disconnects a person from love itself.
The writer of the letter 1 John suggests that the epitome of love is self sacrifice as seen in Christ's immolation on the cross (1 Jn. 4:9). This is a love that transcends the other and is able to sacrifice ourselves and our ideals to attain the peace which comes in the presence of God. This is what we require in our lives, a sense of the ability to give up all but at the same time to gain all. We tend not to consider compromise or the giving up of a position as something that is strong or the way to obtain what we are after. Usually, if we do not create the circumstances for our win we resort to violence in order to overthrow the alternative. Yet, more often then not it is in the surrendering of an ideal that creates the situation in which both sides of conflict find a win-win solution to the underlying issue. Like Philip (Acts 8:26-ff) we are sent into situations which we might find impossible but it is with the pliability of love that we overcome our difficulties to find a way to obtain our goals.
It is not by rigid precepts that we are able to minister to the people around us but rather by the flexible understanding that love covers many things and can be viewed from a wide number of places. It is often only when the hard exterior that becomes woody and with less pliability associated with a living plant or vine that pruning and desiccation set in. The pliability of the living vine allows it to wind its way around many different situations and when it becomes hard and woody it is often pruned away to allow for fresh growth. In our own communities we also become hard and brittle unable to twist and turn to find the way forward. In modern times, we can see the resistance of some parts of the church to such change. They may appear at first glance hardy but in time they always wither and do not produce sweet fruit but that which is sour. Let our efforts be more pliable in the face of change and our new reality so that we bear good sweet fruit rather than the bitter dregs of sour wine.
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