I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in them will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. —John 15:5
Father Richard Rohr understands Jesus’ vine and branches metaphor as an illustration of mutual indwelling: Christ in us and us in Christ.
The motivation, meaning, and inherent energy of any action comes from its ultimate source, which is the person’s foundational and core vantage point. What is their real and honest motivation? What does the seeing? Is it the cut-off branch, the egoic self, trying to work on its own (John 15:5–6)? Is it a person needing to be right or is it a person who wants to love?
A branch that has remained lovingly and consciously connected to its Source (God, Jesus, our Higher Power) offers a very different perspective. When Jesus spoke of a cut-off branch, he meant a person who can only see from the small position of me and what meets my needs. It seems to me our society is largely populated by such disconnected branches, where a commitment to the common good has become a rarity.
Seeing through a lens beyond our own self is what I call participative seeing.This is the new self that can say excitedly with Paul, “I live no longer, not I, but it is Christ now living in me” (Galatians 2:20). This primal communion immediately communicates a spaciousness, a joy, and a quiet contentment. It is not anxious, because the illusion of a gap between me and the world has already been overcome.
A mature believer knows that it is impossible not to be connected to the Source, or to be “on the vine,” as Jesus says. But most people are not consciously there yet. They are not “saved” from themselves, which is the only thing we really need to be saved from. They do not yet live out of their objective, totally given, and unearned identity, “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).
For most of us, our own deepest identity is still well hidden from us. Religion’s primary and irreplaceable job is to bring this foundational truth of our shared identity in God to full and grateful consciousness. This is the only true meaning of holiness.
The irony is that this holiness is actually our first nature, yet we made it so impossible that it didn’t even become our second nature that we could easily wear with dignity. This core Christ identity was made into a worthiness contest, or a moral contest, at which almost no one wins. This is something we can only fall into and receive—and nothing that we can achieve, which utterly humiliates the ego, the willful, and all overachievers.
================
| The Idol of Comfort: A Self-Fulfilling Parable |
 Click Here for AudioA parable written by Reverend Dr. Theodore O. Wedel in 1953 has become part of the unofficial canon of American Christianity. I’ve heard the story, or some version of it, dozens of times in sermons, at missions conferences, and at retreats. Maybe you have too. Dr. Wedel’s parable compares the church to a life-saving station on a treacherous coastline where shipwrecks are common. “The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat,” he wrote, “but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost.”In Reverend Wedel’s story, the life-saving station had a simple, narrow mission to rescue souls. Frequent storm warnings kept the station on alert and focused on its mission, but when warnings became less urgent, or when fewer shipwrecks occurred, the life-saving station drifted from its only purpose. He wrote:“Some of the members of the life-saving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge for those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully because they used it as a sort of club.”Eventually, Wedel said, the station became so inwardly focused on its own comfort that it was no longer equipped to save lives. His parable concludes, “If you visit that sea coast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.”The story is meant as a rebuke of the church’s consumeristic pursuit of comfort. But what many miss is a subtle contradiction buried within Wedel’s metaphor. The premise of the parable is that the world is a sinking ship, and the desperate souls lost at sea are in urgent need of rescue to a safe, comfortable place. The story then chastises those same rescued souls for making their place of refuge too safe and toocomfortable. As A.W. Tozer observed, “You win them to what you win them with.”Everyone, it seems, likes to criticize the American church for its self-centered fixation on comfort, and most blame this on the influence of the wider culture. But could the problem actually be rooted in the American church’s own theology? If the implicit core of the church’s message is, “The world is a dangerous place, so come to Jesus to be safe and comfortable,” should we be surprised when Christians focus on safety and comfort? We cannot win converts with a message about comfort and then be appalled when they become Christians focused on comfort. To topple the idol of comfort, we need to recognize how it has infected even the Americanized gospel we preach, and that means returning to the message of Jesus and his Apostles—a message of sacrifice, self-denial, and the uncomfortable gospel that seeks to engage and redeem the world rather than help souls comfortably escape from it. In other words, maybe the church’s mission isn’t to rescue people off a sinking ship. Maybe we’re supposed to partner with Jesus to fix the ship. DAILY SCRIPTURE 2 CORINTHIANS 11:16–30 MATTHEW 10:16–39 WEEKLY PRAYERBlaise Pascal (1623–1662) O Lord, let me not henceforth desire health or life except to spend them for you, with you, and in you. You alone know what is good for me; do therefore what seems best to you. Give to me or take from me; conform my will to yours; and grant that with humble and perfect submission and in holy confidence I may receive the orders of your eternal providence, and may equally adore all that comes to me from you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen |
