Dear Friends,
I am sure you all know the song. “This Little Light of Mine.” There was this preacher who wanted children to help him sing that song. While we sing it, he said, “I’m going to hold this light up and let it shine all around-start to sing the song, but stop when you notice the light isn’t shining. I wonder what is wrong, my light isn’t shining. Oh here’s the problem, my light isn’t plugged in. He fixed the problem. Now that we are plugged in, he said, let’s try it again. Oh that was much better. The lamp was shining brightly, wasn’t it? It’s pretty hard for a light to shine when it isn’t connected to the power source, isn’t it? Well actually, it isn’t just hard it’s impossible.”
In our scripture quote, Jesus told his disciples a story to teach them the importance of staying connected to him. Of course Jesus didn’t use a lamp to tell his story, because electricity hadn’t been invented yet. Instead, Jesus used an example that his disciples would understand. He used the example of a vine. You know what vine is, don’t you? It is a plant with a lot of branches growing out from it. The branches have fruit on them. If it is a grapevine, the branches should have grapes on them.
Have you ever seen a branch that has been broken off of a tree or vine? What happens to it? That’s right, it withers up and dies. Can it ever have any fruit on it again? No, it isn’t any good for anything- except firewood.
Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches. If you remain in me, you will have much fruit, but apart from me, you can do nothing.” Jesus wants us to produce a lot of fruit. Good fruit like being kind, generous, and faithful. Most of all, he wants us to love others as he had loved us.
Can we do that on our own? No way. Just as the lamp must be plugged in before its light can shine, and just as the branches must be connected to the vine before they can produce fruit, you and I must stay connected to Jesus to produce the good fruit that God expects of us.
Dear Father, help us to remember that we need to stay plugged in to Jesus if we are going to produce the kind of fruit you expect. Amen
Reverend Peter Karam
Pastor