The Collect for Tuesday before Easter
O LORD God, whose blessed Son, our Saviour, gave his back to the smiters and hid not his face from shame; Grant us grace to take joyfully the sufferings of the present time, in full assurance of the glory that shall be revealed; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Abide in Me — Abiding in Jesus Christ
In this morning’s Gospel reading, John 15:1ff, Jesus continues His Last Supper discourse with His disciples. … “I am the True Vine.” This is the seventh of Jesus’ “I AM” statements in St. John’s Gospel:
I AM the Bread of Life - John 6:35
I AM the Light of the world - John 8:12
I AM the Door - John 10:7
I AM the Good Shepherd - John 10:11
I AM the Resurrection and the Life - John 11:25
I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life - John 14:6
I AM the True Vine - John 15:1
Jesus’ use of the vine imagery would have been something quite familiar to His disciples. Israel was often identified as the “choicest vine”:
Isaiah 5:1 Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. 2 He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones. 4 “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? … 7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant.
Jesus is the True Vine and those who abide in Him will bring forth more fruit and much fruit. ** What does it mean to abide in Jesus and He in us? First, it means to abide in His Word by keeping it and thus proving to be Jesus’ disciples (15:7-10). Second, it means to partake of the Holy Sacrament - John 6:56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. Word and Sacrament! This is the very heart and soul of the Book of Common Prayer. As Anglicans we are being nurtured in abiding in Jesus and His abiding in us to the bringing forth of much fruit. In the Prayer of Humble Access we pray:
Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.
The post-Communion Prayer of Thanksgiving draws the intimate connection between the Holy Sacrament and proving to be Jesus’ disciples. We ask God so to assist us with His grace that we may continue in that “holy fellowship” — abiding in Jesus and He in us — “and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in; …”
There is a third aspect to abiding in Jesus. Every branch that abides in Jesus and bears fruit “He [My Father the Vinedresser] prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” This pruning is the special work of Lent, and especially of this particular Lent. As difficult, unpleasant and sometimes painful as this is, God’s purpose is to bring forth more fruit in us. As the opening Collect states:
Grant us grace to take joyfully the sufferings of the present time, in full assurance of the glory that shall be revealed; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord
JSH+
** One of St. John’s disciples and an early martyr was St. Polycarp (poly = much; karpos = fruit). As Bishop of Smyrna Polycarp bore “much fruit” in his work in the Church.