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Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 10,
2009 The Rev. William Van Oss, Rector
Readings
Today’s scripture readings present an interesting contrast. In the first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear about Phillip and an Ethiopian Ennuch. Phillip was one of the seven appointed deacons that Luke mentions in the 6th chapter of Acts. Phillip is known for his preaching mission in Samaria that brought many people to belief in Jesus Christ. Phillip was a powerful teacher and preacher and Evangelist. And in today’s reading Phillip meets another powerful person: the chief treasurer, an Ennuch from the court of Candcace, queen of the Ethiopians.
The Ethiopian Ennuch is a foreigner, he’s powerful and curious about God, so curious that he was reading from the prophet Isaiah. Perhaps he had heard of the Book of Isaiah while he was in Jerusalem, perhaps someone there had said, “hey, this is good, you should read this.” However he had come upon it he was reading it out loud when the Spirit pushed Phillip to join him and because he doesn’t understand the words, Phillip explains them to him and the Ennuch gets very excited and wants to be baptized, so Phillip does.
The pattern here is the classic pattern for becoming a Christian. Believe, Behave, Belong. First one learns about God in Jesus Christ, then one changes one’s actions and behaviors to conform with that belief, and then one becomes part of the community, one belongs through baptism. The Ennuch came to believe, his mind was enlightened through Philip’s teaching, the Ennuch took action by stopping the chariot, symbolically changing the path he was on, turning his life around. And the Ennuch became part of the Christian community through baptism, he now belonged to the community of believers: believe – behave belong. This is the classic pattern for becoming a person of faith. If someone becomes interested in Christianity, they are first instructed, they learn about scripture, the church, sacraments, the Christian life and so on, they commit to living their faith by how they treat others and themselves, and finally they are baptized into the fellowship of believing and they belong.
Then today’s Gospel presents us with a different pattern. Jesus uses the image of a vine. He speaks of himself as the vine and people as the branches of the vine. It’s a wonderful image, this growing vine, creeping up the side of our church above the celtic garden, it twists around this way, and that some braches small, some larger, branching out in different directions, they way and that, shoots climbing and some moving along the ground. Vines are anything but neat and orderly, anything but uniform, and easy to control. I was reflecting on Jesus as the vine and we as the branches at our clergy conference last week. We were all seated in a big conference room, there were about 75 of us, and I’ve gotten to know many of my colleagues pretty well over the past 12 years, and we are a diverse bunch, experiences, ideas, philosophies, passions, styles, all very different. Yet we are all connected to the one vine, we draw life and strength and inspiration from the single vine, Jesus Christ.
The image of the vine teaches us that faith can begin with belonging, recognizing that we all draw life from the same source, this affects how we heave, and that, in turn, leads to belief. Belonging is how many people came to believe, they are curious, or they are invited to be part of a community, or fellowship, or to come to church, and there they feel connected to the source of life, and they experience God present in fellow believers, and perhaps they are inspired to make some changes in their life as they begin to practice the faith and from there they come to believe in Christ. Belong, behave, believe.
Today’s scripture readings present us with two distinct ways of coming into relationship with God in Jesus Christ. For some it begins with believing, with learning and asking and discovering, and for others it begins with belonging. With recognizing one’s connection with the source of life and one’s connection with fellow travelers on the journey of faith. Howe3ver one comes into relationship with the Living God, whether through believing like the Ethiopian Ennuch or through a sense of belonging, like branches on the Vine of Christ, our scripture readings today remind us that God, who is love, longs to be in relationship with us. May we open our minds and open our hearts to receive the gift of love and then share it with all those we meet.