The true vine/ Philip & the Ethiopian (Easter 5)
Acts 8: 26-39 John 15: 1-8
In one Manse I lived in – about 20 years ago - there was a vine growing up the back of the house. The previous minister warned me that he had once tried harvesting the grapes, and treading them, and storing the juice – hoping that he might be able to make some homegrown wine. He was a Methodist minister, so perhaps it was a risky plan in any case, but his plans were thwarted because the grapes were incredibly sour – there just wasn’t enough sunshine falling on them to make them sweet enough to eat, or drink.
Suitably fore-warned, I never tried to eat or drink the grapes. But one Harvest festival I did decide to use the branches of the vine as decoration. The church had a rather fine Victorian stone pulpit with carved vines around it and I thought that for harvest it would be nice to augment the stone carving with some real vine branches.
I went out into the garden with my secateurs, chose some really long branches with particularly fine leaves and took them up to church on Saturday afternoon to add to the pulpit ready for Sunday morning. I’m no flower-arranger, but when I looked at the pulpit before I went home on the Saturday it looked really good – very lush and green and ready to enhance our harvest worship.
Wise ones among you might predict what happened next. When I got to church on Sunday morning the pulpit looked dreadful – the vines has all withered overnight, the leaves were dry and curled: yet again the manse vine had taught the minister a lesson.
If I had listened to Jesus more carefully, I might have realised what would happen.
“I am the vine, says Jesus – you are the branches. Abide in me as I abide in you – apart from me you can do nothing.”
Separated from the vine, even just for a few hours, the branches become dry and dead, they will never bear fruit – they are fit only for the compost heap or the fire.
But the good news is that connected to the vine there is always a chance for the branches to live and grow and produce fruit. Jesus says:
“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
My Father is glorified by this,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”
As we celebrate the anniversary of this chapel today, we give thanks for all the ways in which we are rooted in Christ, in the history of this place and in each of our personal histories. We might want to acknowledge the ways in which we have been pruned by God, the vinegrower – changed and transformed over the years, to make us more fruitful. And as we give thanks to God we pray that God will make us fruitful – bearing good, sweet, useful fruit for others, both now and in the future.
Jesus offers us a wonderful picture of how his disciples, who grow into his church, and how we, as the children of the church of Christ, are like a vine.
Strong only when we are held together in Christ’s love; fruitful when we let the love of Christ flow between us like life-giving sap; changing with the years, but staying true to the living vine which is Jesus Christ.
But being the church of Jesus Christ, staying joined to the true vine, is sometimes a deep challenge. Jesus speaks of fruitless branches being removed, of some growth being pruned, of his disciples being cleansed by his words.
And our reading from Acts was certainly challenging.
Philip is sent by God’s angel – by a message from God – to a very unlikely and unwelcoming place. Of course we all sat up and listened when we heard ‘Gaza’ mentioned – but did you also notice that the road is described as ‘desolate’ and the time Philip is sent is ‘noon’.
On a desert road, far from Jerusalem, in the heat of the day Philip goes, and meets a foreigner - a court official returning to Ethiopia, riding in his chariot. Philip runs up alongside.
Just let’s pause for a moment to picture the scene – an official, in charge of all the finances of his queen, is riding in his chariot when a hot, sweaty, dusty man runs alongside him and asks ‘do you understand what are you reading?’.
It is amazing that this was not the shortest conversation in the book of Acts, but rather than tell Philip to get lost, he invites the disciples up into the chariot to talk.
Starting from where the official is reading – a part of the book of Isaiah, Philip grabs the chance to tell him about Jesus.
Dramatically, the Ethiopian asks to be baptised, Philip disappears, and the man goes on his way rejoicing. Tradition tells that he went to spread the Good News of Jesus in his home land.
In the face of all sorts of possible difficulties, Philip has an amazingly fruitful encounter with the Ethiopian official.
There is another difficulty which might have prevented the Ethiopian official from hearing about faith in the love of God in Jesus – he is described as a eunuch. He may have been surgically castrated, or he may have had a medical condition which meant he never fully developed: but such eunuchs were often given trusted positions in royal courts, because they were considered to be safe and reliable. But being a eunuch meant that this man, this unnamed official, could never quite fit in to society. We are told in the story on Acts that he was travelling back from having worshipped God in the temple in Jerusalem – but there would be parts of the temple that he was forbidden to enter, as a man who was not ‘perfect’.
This man clearly wants to know God – he worships in the temple, he owns his own scroll of the prophecies of Isaiah, he is reading scripture when Philip meets him. But he might have wondered whether he would be accepted by God.
It’s a bit fanciful, perhaps, but he is reading the part of Isaiah which says ‘he was mocked and put down’.. did the eunuch relate especially to this description, from his own experience?
A man who might feel rejected asks Philip what the word of God means.. and Philip is able to explain that in Jesus it is God who has faced rejection, so that the love of God can be known by all people – no-one is outside the love of God.
No wonder the Ethiopian eunuch was filled with joy – here was a message telling him that he has a place in the loving family of God.
We might hear this story of Philip helping the Ethiopian to find faith, and wonder at Philip’s abilities to overcome all the difficulties to speak a clear message about God’s love.
We couldn’t possibly do that, could we – run up to a complete stranger, uninvited & talk about Jesus.
But we should remember that the whole story begins with God’s Spirit, or God’s messenger, an angel of the Lord, prompting Philip. Philip is not acting in his own strength. He is a faithful follower of Jesus and he is doing what he knows God’s Spirit is prompting him to do.
One of the fruits of bring joined to Jesus, the true vine, is the ability to share with other people the good news of Jesus. Even in a difficult place; even with someone who is caught up in their own worries; even uninvited; even when someone feels left out and not included.
We can be the means of someone else experiencing the love of God and hearing the good news that Jesus came to offer Good news for all people.
As we celebrate the 197th anniversary of the life of this chapel building, we pray that the same Spirit of God that moved Philip will move us to share the joy and peace and love of Jesus with the people we meet. So may the vine of faith continue to grow and bear fruit – in the power of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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