Abide in Me: A Way of Life
Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter – April 28, 2024
John 15:1-8 and 1 John 4:7-21
If you have ever watched a two-year old try to make their own breakfast, you may have experienced what is known as the “terrible two’s.” They will insist on pouring the cereal and the milk by themselves; and, you know it’s not going to end well because they just don’t quite have the motor skills to do what they want to do. If you try to help them, they will throw a temper tantrum and if you leave them to do it on their own, they will make a mess of things which will also result in them throwing a temper tantrum. Thus, the “terrible two’s,” – when the desire to be independent collides with one’s ability to actually do so.
We too can experience a kind of “terrible two’s” when it comes to our spiritual lives. There may be times we believe we can make it on our own in this life; only to discover that we too can make a real mess of things when we don’t include Jesus in the process, in our day to day.
This is the message that Jesus impresses upon His disciples in today’s Gospel reading: “Abide in Me as I abide in you. – You cannot do this on your own, it was never intended for you to do so.”
The Gospel reading for today takes place during the last supper. Jesus and His disciples have partaken in the meal: the establishment of the New Covenant – which we continue on to this day as we too partake in Holy Communion. Jesus has washed the feet of His disciples: the establishment of their mission to “Go forth and do likewise.” And now, Jesus begins His farewell discourse; a series of assurances that last for three complete chapters in John’s Gospel. Not because there is a lot of different information; but rather, Jesus tells them the same message over and over in different ways.
When we read through the discourses, and especially so in today’s reading, we can feel there is an intensity in Jesus’ voice; that intensity is present because He knows that the days ahead will shake their faith in Him and their mission, that the years that follow will test their resolve in every way possible.
In the short eight verses of today’s reading, Jesus says five different times, “Abide in Me.” Clearly, the message is critical for their survival.
What does it mean to abide? In this context, Jesus means for His disciples, and us as well, to remain fixed and anchored in Him. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word abide also means: to bear patiently, to wait for, to endure without yielding or to withstand, and, to accept without objection.
What is interesting about this definition of the word “abide” is when we bring it alongside Paul’s description of Love in 1 Corinthians 13. Several parallels emerge between the two terms:
- To abide means to bear patiently, to await. Paul says, “Love is patient.”
- To abide means to accept without objection. Paul says, “Love is kind.”
- To abide means to remain fixed, continue in one place, withstand. Paul says, “Love never ends.”
The terms, “abide” and “love”, are the most prominent terms throughout both of John’s writings today: both in John’s Gospel and his first letter to the early church. Though the two terms are different, they are used in a way that they become intertwined with one another: like the branches of the vine, they are tightly braided creating a beautiful single, cohesive concept – a single way of thinking and living: to abide in Him is to live Love.
The Merriam-Webster goes on to say, “to abide in one place for a long period of time, that place becomes an “abode” or home – a permanent dwelling place. And so is the case when we spend time alone in prayer with God, in our intentional following of Christ, in our continued abiding and prayer, Christ becomes our Home.
Why should we abide and how do we do so?
First, we abide because God is our source of life in all that we do and especially so His disciples. When Jesus tells His disciples – and us as well, “those who abide in Me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from Me, you can do nothing,” He is saying that Christian life will not always be easy but will have all we need dwelling within us. The “temper tantrums” of life – in whatever form they manifest themselves – can be avoided when we anchor our lives in Christ. Not that difficulties won’t come but that when they do, we have the peace and love of Christ to get us through.
Second, to love God, to love one another and to love ourselves is to live into our full identity as a creation made in God’s image. God’s Spirit is given us, we have all we need within us to love as we are made to love. When we abide in God and are open and allow God to direct our days, we live more fully into our true identity; we become more complete in who we were created to be. Anything short of that becomes only a hint of who we really are, a shadow of who we were meant to be.
To love as God has called us to love is not so much about an emotion as it is about an intentional way of living. And, this way of loving can be hard work. If love is patient – it is because we have chosen grace over anger. If Love is kind – it is because we have chosen goodwill over judgement. If Love is humble – it is because we have chosen truth over deception and lies that try to convince us we are something we are not. Love is a conscious act of will; a deliberate choice.
When we love one another, we become God’s tangible sign of discipleship out into the world – we bear the fruit we are called to bear: Love is made manifest and God is reflected in and through us.
Lastly, when we wonder how we are to go about abiding in Christ and bearing much fruit, it helps to remember that Love is in the shape of the Cross:
The vertical Love is the Love of God as made manifest in His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the plum line and standard that defines and informs how we are to live and love in this life. The Vertical love is God’s love for us and our love of God in return. It is that constant flow of Energy that is nourished through prayer and solitude with Him that strengthens us and guides us: “Abide in Me as I abide in you.”
The horizontal Love is our Love for one another that has been shaped, defined, and supported only through God’s love for us. The horizontal love cannot be sustained without the support of the vertical one. God dwells within us and God’s Holy Spirit provides the life source through which we bear the fruit of Love for one another.
The place where the vertical Love and the horizontal love meet, the place where the Love of God and the Love of one another intersect is where we “abide”, it is where the life and love of Christ shoots forth from the vine through us and out into the world.
“Abide in Me as I abide in you,” Jesus tells us, and in doing so we discover that we have all we need to do the work we have been called to do.
Amen.
