"The Christ-Marked Life"
The Rev. Ruben Duran
Executive for New Congregational Development
ELCA Division for Outreach


Good afternoon. I am honored to be here and to participate with this Bible study time and reflection together in the Word of God.

The theme, "The Christ-Marked Life," has to do with discipleship. As disciples of Jesus, marked with the cross of Christ, what are some of the signals that make us unique and make us people chosen by God to be at special work in the world? How can we encourage one another as we journey together as disciples of Christ?

The text chosen for today has some insights on these topics: John 15: 1-17

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 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 the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Something unique about the Gospel of John is the purpose for which he wrote this book, and it is very clearly expressed in John, chapter 20, verse 31, where John makes it very clear that the reason he wrote these things in the Gospel of John is to make sure that people know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. "In the beginning was the Word," "The Word became flesh." There are many other hints throughout the book. But in this particular passage, we have the expression "I am." "I am the vine." And what's unique with the other "I ams" in the Gospel of John is that he is trying to make a connection between the old and the new.

In the Old Testament God said "I am." When Moses was shutting out doubts about his word, God said, "You tell them that 'I am sent you." "I am," a name separated - set aside for God; a unique name for God. And here John is quoting Jesus saying "I am." "I am the vine," and other "I ams" in the Gospel of John. Clearly saying this Jesus is connected with God. This Jesus is God - is the Son of God. And so, that is John's purpose, and when we find a term like "I am" it's an exciting connection that we see in John's purposes for this book.

A second thing that is interesting in these 17 verses: John is trying to remind us of a connection - a connection with God, a connection with Jesus (the vine) and also the branching out to bear fruit for God's glory. And so, when we think about discipleship - even just a quick observation about it, with the sign of the cross that we have received in Baptism, there exist two dimensions to discipleship: the vertical dimension and the horizontal dimension - the connection with God, the connection with Jesus the vine, and the connection with branches, branching out in order to bear fruit for God's glory.

So even the sign of the cross is a great image for us to remember. As disciples of Jesus there are two dimensions that we are always working on and learning from Scripture in our time together as God's people. The vertical dimension and the horizontal dimension.

Let's open up some of the observations from this 17 verses of the 15th chapter of John.

First of all, Jesus is saying to stay connected with him, the vine. Everything emanates from God. Everything comes from God. When you do the sign of the cross you always begin at the top, because God has come down to earth. God has come down through the mess of history and the human condition in order to connect us and reconnect us back to God through the work of Jesus Christ. It is a gift received in Holy Baptism. It is a gift for us to be able to have the power to become children of God and to walk in newness of life as disciples of Jesus. So, staying connected to the vine is crucial to God's purposes because life will flow from the vine to the branches. Grace will flow from the vine to the branches. Forgiveness will flow from the vine to the branches. Mercy will flow from the vine to the branches. It is crucial to be connected.

Jesus says, "I am the vine, you are the branches." I am very sorry to tell you this afternoon that if Jesus says "I am the vine," that means, my friends, you are not! Jesus is the only one who can claim that. That puts you and me in the same ball game. We are just branches, but useful branches in God's purposes. Infinite in God's hands, we are co-workers with Christ in working in the kingdom of God as we receive those words in our baptismal covenant. "We welcome you into the Lord's family. We welcome you, fellow heir in the Body of Christ. We're your fellow member; we're children of the same heavenly father, and then, co-worker with us in the kingdom of God." There's room at the table. There's room on the working crew as we work together to work with Jesus ushering in God's kingdom on earth.

When Jesus says "I am the vine, you are the branches," I know that is kind of like an agricultural term, but there are people already - I see it in the hallway - glued to the computers. So, Jesus has another word for them - another image: "If you're not connected with me, you won't get any e-mails!" That's what Jesus is trying to say: "Stay connected with me, and things are going to happen; life is going to flow. Wonderful messages will come that you speak on God's behalf.

A second observation about being connected with God has to do with verbs. There are a lot of indicative verbs, imperative and subjunctive. If you ever learn languages, that's very crucial in learning another language. And so, here you have in these 17 verses subjunctive, imperative, indicative.

An imperative (in case you don't know -a free lesson for you today), an imperative verb is an order, a command. "Clean your room!" One spouse to another, "Drive carefully! You just passed a red light!"

Subjunctive is more conditional. "If you don't clean your room you can't go to the mall." That's a subjunctive. "If you don't drive more carefully, I'm going to get a ride from somebody else."

Indicative is more of a declaration - a statement of fact. So, Jesus says "I am the vine. I am the door. I am the Good Shepherd." God says to you today, "I love you." God says to you today, "I forgive you." That's an indicative. "This is my body. This is my blood." There are no conditions, there are no orders; just receive the gift. "I have chosen you. I have appointed you." Indicative.

"Now go and bear fruit." That's an imperative.

It's interesting how many times indicatives precede the imperatives of God. Even a famous verse like the great commandment in Matthew 28, "Go and make disciples of all nations," which we use so much - and rightly so - to raise our awareness and responsibility to bear witness and do outreach and grow congregations and do work all over the world. Even that command to go and make disciples has an indicative right before it. Jesus says, "All authority - all authority! - in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Now go - get out of here and make disciples." Indicative informing the imperative and the subjunctive.

Can you picture life lived under the indicatives of God? Raising our children under the indicatives of God? Teaching Sunday school, vacation Bible school based on the indicatives of God? Working together with your pastor and laity together doing outreach? Fighting hunger based on the indicatives of God? Eradicating all the terrible ills in your community?

A disciple is someone who has an intimate relationship with Christ, connected with him, and living a life based on those indicatives of God so clearly spelled out in Scripture.

A second thing that jumps out of the passage is the bearing fruit image, so the purpose of which the connection is made is that we could be useful branches, bearing fruit for God's glory. There's a purpose for it, and bearing fruit is very important, so that people around us, around our congregations, around our families, could taste and see the goodness of God.

For people to get a glimpse of this transforming power of God, they will shine and show through transforming lives. We don't have it all together - of course not. But what a gift we have been given! We are hungry people surrounded by hungry people, and we just happen to know where the heavenly food is. Or thirsty people surrounded by thirsty people; we just happen to have received the gift of knowing where the living waters are.

Your job and my job is to pass the word to others, and that's part of the fruit - that expression through the branches that God so desires to bless the world and all of creation. A disciple is someone connected to Christ but also blocking any possible blockage - getting rid of whatever blocks the flow of God's grace so that fruit can emanate through our lives. God blesses us in order to make us a blessing to others.

A third item that comes out of this text is the connection of the branches. That is, if you have ever seen a vineyard, you don't just grow one. You'll plant - and hopefully there'll be all kinds of grapes in there - but actually the goal is a vineyard. The goal is not just to produce one fruit, but rather a vineyard. And you know how they connect with one another; you don't even know where they are coming from, but they're all connected to the vine. They are free to go in many directions, and they sustain the fruit much better when those connections are made.

I want to thank you, my friends, because as I move around in the church constantly I am blessed and reminded by the way we're learning and re-learning and moving forward in working together as the Body of Christ. So it doesn't matter whether I come from Higgins Road or being with a local pastor, an associate in ministry, synod staff - all of us are working together, each doing their deeds, working in partnership so that these branches can be stronger together, so that the bonds can be stronger, that we can sustain fruit in a better way and we can expect with expediency to move ahead with God's purposes.

This connection of the branches is crucial. As we look ahead in the coming years and look at the demands of the demographic changes in populations in the United States and the Caribbean. It is important to stay together, unified already by the gift of Jesus in our lives, in our congregations, to work together for God's glory.

And the last comment has to do with love. Jesus says, "I command you to love one another." Now, can love be commanded? "I order you to love me." Is that possible? Well, if love is limited to just emotions and sentimental things, there is no way you can do that. If love is just a concept, you can't do that. If it's something based on self-interest, impossible. But if love is the final test of commitment, just the way God loves us, then Jesus says "You already have a built-in ability to love because it's flowing to you from the vine, so I can tell you to love one another. You already have what it takes."

So, before we do anything, we already are. Before we go, we are already sent; we've been gifted already in Holy Baptism and nourished by the Word and the Sacraments to be able to do our work in the church and in public life in whatever context that we find ourselves for God's glory.

This love is crucial for the flow of God's mercy and God's grace for all people. And love is so powerful that nothing can stand it - not even racism, which is something that I've been committed for years to fight to the core. In fact, I believe that it's really us - it is the Church of Jesus Christ, the only place left where we can find a solution to eradicate this ill - this "ism" in society, here in the United States and throughout the world. Because of Holy Baptism - the great equalizer of all people.

I stand on the same platform with you. There is no more; there is no less. We are branches. We are together co-workers in God's kingdom, equally in God's eyes. It is important for us to realize how we can work together and move beyond all the progress we have done. I have learned over the years at least four things that we can do to expedite this work, and all of them are important.

Number one is to celebrate God's diversity. This is what pastors do the day before Pentecost. They are rushing, trying to find people to read the book of Acts in different languages at the last minute to celebrate God's diversity. Or, you bring your food, I bring my food and we all get sick together in the potluck. But we'll celebrate God's diversity.

But also we need to promote awareness of cultures. What makes you tick, my brother, my sister? What are some unique things about the values that you have in your culture that could be helpful in understanding one another in a better way. Now we're getting deeper.

A third thing is actually getting to anti-racism skills - to un-root that ill from our personal lives and our institutions. It is crucial that we get experts in finding ways in which that gets into our systems and we can identify it quickly and then make the changes necessary.

And, last but not least, in building an organization like a congregation or an institution, all these skills could come in handy as we build something new - as we build new organizations, new systems, new ways that resemble God's character and our commitment to be the people of God regardless of whatever diverse backgrounds or cultural language that we may have.

I want to tell you how thankful I am in my own life for how God has operated in this area. In 1979 I joined Jean, my wife, as we were introducing this resolution that we had made to get married. And we had to go to Tindell, South Dakota for that. And so we told the family there, "We're going to get married. Here is an Indian-Spanish-Mestizo-Latino attempting to marry a Norwegian-German-Welsh citizen. And when we made the announcement, the whole family around the farm fell into total silence! I could see the building up and the questions coming up, so - I wish I could have known more then - I could have done what Bishop Hanson does: "Microphone one, if you are in favor; microphone two, yes - whatever resolution." I didn't know at that time, so we just had to take it as it would come in.

So, finally, Uncle Ed said, "Listen; this is not working. I have to say something here. Follow me." He took me to the farm, and he picked the darkest bull he could find, and he renamed it Ruben in my honor. That was his way of saying "welcome to the family!" I went and talked to the bull. I don't understand that language, but I could see what he was saying: "I hate weddings." I said, "I know, my brother. You'll become a sandwich very soon."

But it's been 25 years since then, and that family has changed. I have changed. The community has changed. Over the years it's been wonderful. It's been rough here and there, needing a lot of patience. But it's been 25 years. That gives me a lot of hope, because if it can happen with Latinos and Indians, Mestizo and Germans and Norwegians, it can happen with anybody.

And it's interesting. As we do our work as disciples of Jesus, connected to the vine, these branches have got to get along. And the branches need to know that we are there for a purpose. A church is not an end in itself; a church is a means to an end. God knows the end. And now we have been informed because we are no longer slaves; we are friends. God has taught us everything we need to know. And so, it's very important that, as the people of God, as disciples of Jesus, as common branches working together, sharing in common with all sectors: the ecumenical, the global community, telling us "move on, move on, you can do it! Keep going. Let it flow."

This grace, this justice, this mercy, this forgiveness that is flowing through us can find no blockages. I just want to urge you to seize the moment that we have these days, these years in the United States of America and the Caribbean, because we have an opportunity like never before in this social experiment called the United States to make a bold step forward, saying in this community, as disciples of Jesus we take seriously God's work on earth. We will fight hunger. We will eradicate racism. We will eradicate all differences because we are one in Jesus Christ - the only one who can say, "I am the vine and you are the branches."

I urge you - I beg you - I even order you in God's name to get on with the work with urgency. There are people who need to hear Good News, and we are the ones - we are the branches called to do that. Will you join me and all people of God in bearing that fruit for God's glory. That's our job. That's our right position. We are not divine; we're just the branches, but we're crucial in God's economy.

Let us pray. Jesus the vine, we give you thanks this afternoon for calling us, for appointing us as branches to go and bear fruit for your glory. We give you thanks. There is so much to do, so many mistakes made, but your patience with us and your grace and your love continue to flow to us and now through us as well, so that your name may be made known throughout the whole world and people come to know this wonderful grace and love that you so much desire to be experienced by all. We give you thanks this afternoon. In Christ's name. Amen.


We have about three to five minutes. If you don't mind paying attention to these questions before us here, pick one of the four and share with others around you.

1. What three words describe your relationship with Jesus Christ?

2. How are you and others in your congregation express Christ-marked lives together in the church and public life?

3. What are you and your congregation doing to develop your understanding of being connected to others beyond the local congregation? What could you and your congregation do to be more connected with your synod, with the ELCA churchwide organization, so that together we can bear more fruit for God's glory?

4. How would you build a multicultural Christian community in and throughout the ELCA?

(Time for discussion.)

Thank you very much for your participation and sharing in small groups. Just to close, let me remind you again what we shared today about being connected to the vine and being branches useful in God's hands - a reminder that as disciples of Jesus we are marked by the cross of Christ in these vertical and horizontal dimensions of discipleship. We are marked with the cross of Christ. We are claimed, gathered and sent for the sake of the World. Repeat with me and do the sign of the cross as well. Amen.