Kudzu or Pinot Noir
the Last Supper right after he had washed the disciples’ feet. It is also the last of the “I am” statements we hear in John.
John 15:1-8
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
Growing up, my family had some property in northern Mississippi between Holly Springs and Chewalla Lake. If you have never seen a city girl with a bush hog behind a tractor, you are truly missing out – For other city girls, the bush hog is the blade pulled behind the tractor to mow fields – a giant riding lawn mower if you will. I sometimes enjoyed going to the land to help clear the road and clean up the area as we began to work on our plan for what this patch of wilderness might look like. One thing that this property had in abundance was vines! I can’t help but remember when I read of vine stories – the succulent blackberries. We would brave the heat, the ticks and the thorns to get to the deep, rich sweet berries. (I may need some cobbler now.) Purple stains on everything were a sign of summer days.
Not so fondly, I also remember the Kudzu vine. Kudzu was brought to the US from China and Japan becoming popular on Southern porches because of its purple flowers. Then in the Great Depression, it was used by the Civilian Conservation Corps on thousands of acres for a hillside stabilization project, mainly because the vine had speedy growth patterns. However once here, these plants dug in and overwhelmed plants, trees, fields and homes growing out of control as they became rooted in the fertile soils of the southern United States. Kudzu grew at an amazing rate blocking out the sun and nutrients from other plants and structures killing off huge swathes of forests.
My family was on a mission to rip out the Kudzu – save our little plot of trees - prune this vine gone crazy, tear it out from its roots, often by hand since it would get tangled in the blades of the equipment. The vines twisted around themselves, the trees and grew strong, deep roots invasively taking over.
Jesus is using vineyard imagery that his listeners would have understood. The olive groves and wine vineyards were the vines and produce of their homeland, and the metaphors recalled words of the prophets from the Old Testament. These words from Jesus root us in the concreteness of a metaphor of plants, yet at the same time Jesus doesn’t worry about seeming contradictions flipping from using the metaphor to describe his relationship with God and back to his relationship with us and God. He doesn’t elaborate on what he means much like he seldom breaks down a parable’s meaning for us. Instead Jesus embraces the mystery of the relationships making it more expansive as he speaks the words that cleanse, prune – words bind us to God and to one another. The imagery that asks us to dig into where we are rooted, where we abide and how God has cleansed us already to be fruitful, to be the stronger branches abiding in him and him abiding in us. Words that show our complete and utter dependence upon Jesus, God and one another.
John laid it out for us at the start. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This Word is powerful – beyond the puny words we use to try to explain, to attempt to understand. Jesus uses several ‘I am’ statements to help us get it – and even here he tells us – the pruning isn’t up to us, we have already been cleansed – You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Translators did us a disservice here trying to vary the word used – Jesus used the same root word here: Katheroi – from which we get cathartic. You have already been pruned/cleansed. I picture Jesus wielding his words like a gentle pair of clippers, nudging us away from dangerous ideas or idle folly with his words, carefully clipping in love. A cleaning that purifies like the gardener pulling weeds can be calmed, while calming the plants being tended – a mutual benefit, a mutual dependence. A tender care that makes all ready for more growth and bearing of fruit.
Jesus used his words to prune us – He used the common to ready us for who he was and what his life and death meant for us.
“I am the bread of life”
“I am the light of the world”
“I am the gate for the sheep”
“I am the good shepherd”
“I am the resurrection and the life”
“I am the true vine”
The pruning is done, the land prepared. You have been strengthened by being drawn closer to God, nourished with words of common things transformed into amazing life holding and carrying God to you and now by being sent the Holy Spirit Now what? Sometimes we have to be told multiple times to understand – the clue from Jesus is – words, the cleansing, pruning words. Hear his words.
Eight times in just these few verses , the word Mineo is used by Jesus. Mineo – abide, remain. Where are we abiding? The Reverend Juan Carlos Huertas wonders, “…if we are willing to abide in anything, to immerse ourselves wholly in something, to allow anything to captivate our heart and life, to view our whole existence through that one lens . . .” He continues that this would be too constricting, but then starts to ruminate on all the things that monopolize our days. What are the things we give our lives, our time, our attention to – that is where we abide.
I like the idea as Huertas elaborates – our hobbies, past times – the things we read, the food we eat, ideas we investigate, conversations we engage in - everything we are looking at is putting out roots. What roots are we putting down? We’ve seen the studies that show how much time we spend online, in front of televisions or screens. What about time spent at sports or competitions? How are these things changing us, our hearts – are they like a Kudzu pushing out God?
These roots in things of the world are like that crazy, greedy vine that smothers life instead of stabilizing our foundations? What we thought stopped the erosion instead creates a shakey foundation for us to abide on. Look at where you are abiding, look at the supports and roots in our lives. We want to abide in God – we have work to do.
Switch gears now and look at a more refined vine – it is no surprise that a more literal translation of our verses is I am the true Grapevine. The grape vines tended and carefully pruned. Look to the trellises lately put up in the community garden. The idea is that instead of having bushy out of control plants or vines, the gardener trains the plant up a twine or support. Pruning plants up from the ground, training them toward the light strengthens the one root. It eliminates disease by allowing more air and sun to the base of the plants. It focuses the energies of the plant growth on better fruit. Wine growers have known this for generations. Carefully tended row after row of vines are pruned toward light, strengthened and focused on what is most important.
You are the branches. Where are your roots, and how are you fruiting? Surprise, Kudzu is edible – but in producing its fruit, it eliminates everything in its path. Grapes on the other hand have been focused, they are rooted and give their all to quality fruit abiding in one steadfast place. We can do this – support and sustenance for me does not have to come at the expense of another. It is a fallacy to think I can thrive and live in God’s love when leaving out any other.
Having been pruned, having heard Jesus’ words, we too can focus on what is important, we can dwell in God. Pay attention to your roots. Are they strong and deep or skating along the surface diving deep here and there with no plan, no intention? What is our foundation upon which and from which we thrive? Does it prepare you to launch out giving quality fruit to the world?
There is comfort to be found in dwelling with God, abiding in Jesus, but the master gardener strengthens us and empowers us for a purpose – not just for comfort and our own desires. Jesus’s words in this text never spoke to an individual ‘you’. The branches are plural – they bear fruit together.
The vine is strong enough to bear us all and vibrant enough to produce fruit of the Spirit. A fruit that we can share with the world. A fruit that calls us away from our distractions, our greed. A call to be self-limiting and open to pruning and cleansing in the name of God. A comforting, loving intertwining that is mutually beneficial supports us, roots us. Instead of growing wildly, smothering others in a battle for more space, more nourishment, more sun we abide with the Word that cleansed, directed and inextricably connects us to God and one another. Abide in God, soak in the words and bear fruit to the world as His disciples. We are called to no less. How will you enrich and spread the vine, growing in support and mutual nurture of all God’s branches? God has done the preparation, given us the words - us in God, God in us – dare we not produce robust, rich, nourishing fruit for all the world to share? Amen.
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