The Fallen Branches

 

This week we are treated to the beautiful symbolic language of John’s Gospel.  Jesus uses the term I AM.  Here he says, “I AM the vine, you are the branches.”  The use of the words I AM brings us back to the encounter Moses had with God at the burning bush, “Tell them I AM sent you.”  The term I AM reminds us that God, now revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, is everything.  We also hear him say, “I AM the way, the truth, and the life.”  And how great is it that he calls each of us, in fact, he calls every human being, to remain connected to him.  How beautiful an image that each of us has the opportunity to be connected to all that is, to the very source and sustainer of everything.

But not every branch remains connected.  Not every branch winds up having life in it.  Let’s just think for a moment of a withered branch, or at least a fallen branch, a branch not connected to the tree or the vine.  We might be walking along, and suddenly, in our path, is a fallen branch.  We can step over that branch.  We can kick the branch, either accidently or on purpose, to get it out of our way.  Chances our we will probably just ignore the branch all together and keep on our way.  Our first instinct is to not bother.  Our first thought is that the branch is done and has no life in it and has no use.  We will likely feel that as long as we are connected to the vine, as long as we have life in us, then we are okay, and all other branches are on their own.

I’m no expert, but I get the impression, that if we look at a bunch of trees or a bunch of vines, the ones with all or most their branches intact are likely the healthiest. It seems like the healthy branches feed off other healthy branches.  If we see a tree or vine with branches missing or branches ready to fall off, we get the impression that all the branches might be in danger.

Now it is very unlikely that a fallen branch can be reattached to a tree.  Apparently, there are scientific ways to do this, but there is only a remote chance that a dead branch can be brought to life.  That is where the analogy of the vine and the branches falls short.  For the branches that fall off the true vine that is Jesus are never left for dead.  The Lord is ready to restore them to life, to reattach them to the vine.  But he is counting on all the branches to look out for each other.

So often we dismiss others who we think are not attached to the vine.  If they don’t agree with us, if they don’t understand things the way we do, we leave them like fallen branches on the path.  We either step over them or kick them aside.  Our mission should be to gently bring those branches back closer to the vine, to awaken in them the desire to be restored to the vine.  God will then do what God does, he will bring life from death.  He will unite that which is divided.  In that restoration all the branches will benefit, the vine will flourish. How beautiful that will be.

-The Servant

 

 

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

The Fourth Sunday of Easter

John 10:  11-18

 

          As we know Jesus often spoke in parables, as he does in this Sunday’s gospel, in order to communicate his message in a way that people could easily understand.  He chose subjects from their everyday, common experiences, as he does so, here, with the Good Shepherd. 

          While we, centuries later, still understand the analogy between God’s love and a good shepherd, the fact of the matter is that the subject – a shepherd – is something outdated for us.  When was the last time you met a shepherd?

          This leads me to ponder what subject Jesus might choose if he walked among us here and now, in our time.  With no shepherds here on Long Island what would he find that would resonate with us and communicate in a very real way the profound love that God has for each of us?

         I stayed with this for a long while, and, eventually an image began to appear inwardly.  An image we have become all too familiar with.  The image of a nurse.  An overworked, tired nurse in a crowded, noisy hospital, standing by a bed which was surrounded with machines from which tubes and wires sprung.  A nurse, physically and emotionally exhausted, garbed in a gown, gloves, mask and face shield.  Taking the time in all that turmoil to stand still and speak softly while holding a cell phone so that the dying patient could spend his or her last moments with family on that small screen.  Or simply holding the patient’s hand so that the patient would not be alone in his or her final moments.  The nurse, shepherding this stranger to the next life.

          These nurses do not do this for mere pay.  These nurses do not do this because they are ordered to.  There is something inside each and every one of them that loves the patient, though the patient may be a stranger.  Something that tells them that though there may be 99 other patients that need their professional care, there is nothing more important at this moment than to go to THIS patient.  To make sure that THIS patient will not be lost. Will not be alone.

          The Good Nurse.  A parable for our time.

 

“Call Me Ishmael”