A couple of decades ago I was doing some freelancing computer troubleshooting. One small consulting company had run into trouble when a relative had tried to upgrade the memory in one of their PCs. After the “upgrade” it no longer worked. A memory error. It turned out to be an incompatible DIMM as apparently the helpful relative assumed all DIMMs worked in all PCs. I found the correct match, opened the PC, switched out the memory and fired it up. The power light came on, the beeps from the POST (power on self test) were audible as was the whirring of the hard drive. Unfortunately, the screen was still black. Nothing. I pulled the plug to shut the PC down (not recommended practice) and opened it up again in case I’d unseated the video card, but all was well. Fired it up and again the screen was black though all else seemed functioning. And yes, the monitor was showing power. Repeat shut down and restart and then I noted that in putting the case back together I had neglected to plug the monitor cable back into the PC. Fortunately, none of the employees were around to witness my embarrassment.
The memory of that absent-minded moment comes freshly to mind each time I encounter Jesus statement: “I am the true vine.” The monitor was in perfect working order, but without the connection to the PC it was just an overpriced door stop. Jesus said: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5) It is an imperfect analogy as the unplugged monitor was indeed useless; apart from Jesus, human beings can do quite a lot of things.
What then did Jesus mean by that sweeping statement, “apart from me you can do nothing.”? Was this another case of exaggeration for effect like the camel going through the eye of a needle? I think it may relate to part of his opening statement in this passage: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:1-2) The issue comes down to what “fruit” the Father is expecting. For nearly 20 centuries Christian community in some form or another has been let loose in the world. In those centuries that community has blessed our world in countless ways. In those centuries that community has harmed our world as well. We can safely assume that the acts of the Christian community that have caused harm are not the “fruits” the Father expects. The more difficult question is whether the good done by the Christian community represents those fruits.
After all, good can be done and blessings given by all sorts of human beings of any faith or of none. Human communities and organizations, regardless of belief or lack of belief, have accomplished much that is good in our world. If the fruit of which Jesus speaks is simply doing good works, then the statement “apart from me you can do nothing” makes little sense. Perhaps the fruits, i.e. the lifestyle and efforts of those connected with Jesus, are different from other human good works in that they are part of a greater understanding from God’s point of view.
Great chess players have the ability to “see” the possible consequences of each move several moves ahead. But no human being can truly grasp how our actions will reverberate in the lives of others. If we had that ability there would be no such thing as the “law of unintended consequences.” By abiding in Jesus, Christians are intimately connected to the Creator’s universal vision and understanding. Our deeds in Christ therefore serve a divine strategy that we cannot grasp.
However, that then raises the question of what it means to “abide” in Jesus. Going back to my adventures with the computer monitor, that monitor had power flowing through it from the electrical outlet. But without the video cable attached to the PC it could show nothing as there was no channel of communication. Abiding in Jesus is our means of clear communication with the Father and therefore with the Father’s purposes, projects and directions. If that is the case, then Jesus’ words about abiding in him are a challenge to several common concepts of Christian discipleship.
Instead of discipleship as a personal improvement regimen where our behavior looks more and more like what the New Testament expects, discipleship becomes the daily exercise of abiding, being connected to, Jesus moment by moment. The measure of our success therefore is not how much more patient and loving and generally nicer we become, but of how many seconds of each minute and minutes of each hour and hours of each day we are consciously connected with Jesus.
That may sound suspiciously like abandoning Christian engagement with the world and focusing entirely on my own spiritual condition. But if I am connected with Jesus, do we really think he will be content to let me rest in my “me and Jesus” cocoon? In contrast, abiding in Jesus may propel us out into the world in actions of blessing and building in places comfortable and uncomfortable. It may even propel us to giving rebuke to the greed and abuse and neglect that haunt human life.
At my former parish we had a set of spiritual disciplines we called the Trinity Way of Life. The first of those disciplines was Pay Attention where we were encouraged to spend brief moments throughout our day giving our whole attention to God. One thing we discovered was that when we got our attention focused, God frequently directed our attention to people and situations around us. It seems anti-intuitive in our culture, but according to Jesus’ image of the vine and branches the way to healing engagement with our world may be to turn all our energy to connecting with, and staying connected to, Jesus.
The Apprentice Priest 