Abide In Me

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. ”

What is the Body of Christ? What is any body, if the various members of that body continually wander off, leave the rest of the body and go away, only to return again, reconnect, then wander off again? What kind of body would that be? What is the Body of Christ , if its members are not totally and continually connected to His Body, never to leave it again?

Saint Mark, our saint for today's feast and this brief study, was a close associate of Christ's apostles. His mother Mary had a home in Jerusalem where the followers of Jesus often resorted to pray. It was in this home that the church prayed for Peter, when he had been arrested. It may have also been the upper room where Jesus and His apostles shared the Last Supper. Mark was the young man's Roman name; his Jewish name was Yowchanan , or John . Mark would eventually write a Gospel account which bears his name, probably the first of our written Gospels. He may have been at Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested. He certainly was close to the action through those amazing times.

His uncle, Barnabas, befriended the frightening personage of Saul, who would become St. Paul, and together they were commissioned by the Church in Antioch to launch a missionary voyage to the Gentile lands. Mark went along. But when these missionary apostles were to land at Pamphylia, Mark didn't wish to go further. He took ship and returned to Jerusalem. Acts 13:13 Later Barnabas and Paul would have their own falling out because of Mark. Paul considered him untrustworthy as a companion because he didn't stay. Acts 15:36-40 This relationship, we are happy to read, was restored later, as Paul wrote Epistles commending Mark and asking for him.

Mark left, but Mark came back. He wandered off, but he returned. It is the common experience of the Christian whose feet, for a while, are made of clay.

How is it that we are so wayward? But we are, most of us. We first come to Christ and find peace in the true God, Who grants forgiveness to us, restores our souls, gives us His Holy Spirit, and makes us His children. He washes us, teaches us, examines us and corrects our ways, feeds us with Himself, and gives us a holy worship. Our lives are no longer lies we tell ourselves and others in order to comfort ourselves and make ourselves seem better than we truly are. We have been born of truth, and the truth has set us free.

And then, when we are free , we get bored. Haven't you been bored in the Christian life? One day, nothing may seem to be happening for you. You wonder how your old life is doing, now that you're not living it. You may check in with old friends, old habits, old ways of thinking, old ways of behaving . They seem familiar, comforting, more real in a way than life in the spirit. And you begin to walk in darkness again . St. Paul enjoins the Church in Ephesus not to go back to darkness now that they are children of light. He warns all his churches to keep the faith by living the new life they have been given and not to be drawn again to idols. Wandering feet are a real threat to a Christian life.

Or it may be offense . “The only problem with the Church,” I have often said, “is that it's made up of people.” People can do the darnedest things. If only we could have a Church with no people, we'd have a nice safe thing. Maybe that's why the televangelists do what they do. All their people are safely on the other side of the camera. But when real people come into contact with other people, actions that may bring offense are inevitable . I'm sure that I have offended everyone here at least once. I can do that pretty easily, seeing that sometimes it only takes failing to do something that someone expected, not saying “ hello ” or “ how's your back ” or “ where's Shirley ?” I have offended in other ways, and will probably do so again. I am sorry—I ask that you forgive me. Offense is easy to give. But it takes a decision for you to take it—taking offense is an option . And when you decide to take offense, you may become uncomfortable in church. And if no one else in the Church ever offends you, it is almost certain that, at some time and over some critical passage in your life, God Himself will offend you . Depend on it. You cannot fathom what He is doing, and sometimes what He is doing hurts. “Needs be that offenses come,” said Jesus.

Whatever the reason, we may sometimes wander away. And when we wander away from God, we rediscover the life of the flesh. It may be in physical sins. It may also be in psychological sins, sins of our mental and emotional processes. We get angry, sullen, depressed, or ashamed. Whether outwardly, or inwardly, the sin process begins to take its toll on us. Like the prodigal son, we begin to long for the peace that we had in our Father's house. When we can't stand it any longer, we return, if only to be a servant from now on . When He greets us warmly, we are surprised. But we rejoin the Body. He makes provision for our restoration.

Jesus said, “ Abide in me, and I in you,” and we have the wonderful hymn. The word “ abide ” means to remain, to stay, continue, dwell, endure, be present, and stand . The Greek word was meno “meno” from which we get the word “ remain .” The opposite of abiding is falling away . And the cure for falling away is repentance , which means to turn back and return . Now, we can spend our entire lives falling away, turning back and returning , falling away, turning back and returning, falling away, turning back and returning . But how many times can you cut off your hand and sew it back on? How many times will the cells reunite? How much damage is done in such a destructive process? God forgives, God seeks the lost, God restores, God is love, but God is not a fool.

We were meant to grow in the Body. Growth absolutely requires us to remain , to dwell in close contact with the One who gives us life, His life. Jesus said, “Abide in me. I am the vine and ye are the branches.” We have no life outside of Christ. We may exist outside of Him, but living is another thing. We can go on nervous energy , on the life He gives all His creatures, but without Him we are spiritually dead. We draw our life from His life. He is the life and no one even approaches the Father unless it is through the Son.

We are meant to bear fruit . My wife, Giti, reprinted in the current edition of the Herald an excellent article entitled “Fruit bearing fruit.” We are not seedless fruit, easy to eat, convenient, she points out. We are supposed to bear fruit, with seeds to bring forth fruit abundantly. Jesus said to them : “ Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” We were meant to bear fruit, and unless we do so, we can't be disciples of Him.

He said , “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit [the Father] taketh away.” God will not bring fruitless branches into His kingdom. Look at the parable of the talents and those who bore fruit, who multiplied their Lord's treasure, compared to the stingy man who merely buried it in the ground and gave it back. It is plain that we must bring forth fruit in our Christian lives.

Jesus said, “Every branch that beareth fruit, [the Father] purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” This is a hard lesson, because He means that even the faithful branches that will bear fruit must be made stronger, in order to bear more fruit. In horticulture, we understand that means pruning . If you let a wild plant grow naturally, often it will make too many twigs, too many flowers, too many little unripe fruits. When the fruit ripens, the weight of it tears the branch from the tree and it all falls to the ground dead . To prevent this, God tends the immature branches of His vine by cutting them back, and cutting them back again. This cutting can be correction, chastisement, conviction, or catechizing. We are not naturally fruitful branches. We have lived in an unfruitful world and learned its ways. His ways are different. We must be made different than we have been.

“I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” We may go on for many years in our own strength, using our own so-called “God-given talents” but in our own way, refusing to stop and listen and find out how God wants us to proceed. Many Christians begin their lives with zeal, and make a real attempt to please God by doing things for Him. This is commendable, but foolish. He needs nothing from you. He wants you to stop and wait on Him, depending on His wisdom and His power, not your own. Oh, this is hard for me . If you think you know and you can, and everyone relies on you to do many things, it is what I call the “ curse of capability .” You will turn to your own resources, and fail, once again, to abide in the vine. Your efforts may be marginally fruitful, but it is not an acceptable offering to God.

“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” Without Christ, we can't please God or bring any fruit worthy of Him. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” There is unending power in the Son of God. There is only finite power in us. Which is more fruitful? Which brings glory to God?

This is the quest and the fascination and the payoff, the surge, the draw of Christian living, what keeps us from boredom, from taking offense. Not merely using what we know how to do to get commendation from the Body. A fruitful branch draws its life from the trunk of the vine, Jesus Christ, and commits to the arduous task of being pruned so that by His grace we can bear fruit . We face the years together, encouraging each other with our stories of His grace worked in us and through us. We abide in Him . Or we wander off and come back, still fruitless, still just babes, stunted, offended, offending, too weak to bear any weight. Which will it be?

St. Mark learned his lesson and returned to the front. Much fruit has been borne on this powerful branch of Christ's vine, a Gospel , the true story, which continues to draw life from Christ and give it again to millions of fruitful branches.

PFH+