“By your perseverance, you shall secure your life.”
I am not sure if you remember back during the COVID times,
we put on Wine & Word events online with zoom.
A parishioner and sommelier Christine Moore and I
would sample some different wines
and she would talk a little about the wine
and I would talk a little about the Word of God.
It was a fun exchange, and I learned a lot from her;
and how vines and wine are a great metaphor
for a lot of what we deal with in life.
One memorable moment was when she was explaining
the difference between European grapes and French grapes
or more than accurately
how most French vineyards use natural irrigation
and most American vineyards use artificial irrigation.
The difference that makes to the grapes and to the wine is huge.
For example, mostly in America, Napa and Sonoma,
they irrigate their vines, so the roots are shallow.
Since they get lots of water their yield is high and the wine fruitier.
Whereas the natural irrigation, which is mostly in France
even though some do it here, there is no irrigation.
The natural irrigation causes the roots to go deep down into the soil
to reach their water table, sometimes 10 and 15 feet to get their first water.
Now in times of drought, they sometimes must go 20 feet down to get water.
Because those roots go down, they pass by several strata of soil;
and at each stratum of soil, it is taking the minerals
and all the flavoring out of that soil and draws it up
into the grape which of course we taste in the wine.
But because the vines must go down deep and they are stressed,
they are much hardier and can withstand
much greater fluctuation in weather and temperatures.
So much so that even in the drought,
the natural irrigation will find water all the way down; 15, 20 feet down,
and will survive and produce a smaller amount of fruit,
the fruit is quantifiably richer in every way.
And that is why we often see the difference in French wines,
which are much more minerally and
California wines are much fruitier.
And that tends to be the difference.
That is a great metaphor for life and discipleship;
and it is the very thing that Jesus is saying to his disciples today.
Bear in mind for context, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem
and he knows he is having his last days with his disciples in Galilee;
and he knows he is facing his death.
And Jesus is warning them that they too will be stressed;
they too will have to dig deep into the soil of their lives
to produce good fruit; that it will not just come easily.
There won’t be easy fruit in their life.
That is true for all our discipleship.
The reality is that life can throw us curve balls.
We can suffer greatly at life’s ups and downs.
I don’t know how this last year has been for you;
we’ve come to the end of our liturgical year and
next week is our last Sunday in the liturgical year.
We start to look at life in the context of eternal life.
That is not to be particularly morbid
but to be realistic and set a new context.
All we do here in this life is for our eternal life.
That is what that reading talks about; and the gospel talks about it.
All we do here is for eternal life.
That is where not a hair on our head will be taken
because we will have eternal life.
But on this side, we have to endure certain stresses.
If we allow, if we go deeper into the soil of our lives
to get that water of life which is Christ himself
then it will produce quantifiably richer fruit in our lives.
It may not be as large a quantity, but it will be richer.
That is a great metaphor but what does it actually mean for us.
There are some of us who have had a difficult year.
Some of us have lost loved ones;
some have struggled with ill health,
and you know some others of you have had it happen
in your family, your extended family. And that is hard.
And that does not go away easily.
And what we are called to do is to dig deeper
like those vines when there is a drought,
we have to go deeper again into the soil of our lives
and trust in Christ Jesus that he will give us the water
that is necessary in our lives.
What does that mean in concrete terms?
We are coming to Church here.
And this is the single most important event of the week for us;
coming to the Eucharist and being fed at the Eucharist
because that is what we consider the bread of life,
the water of life for us;
but it is not enough just to come here.
We have to leave here and promise to feed others
because they might be in the midst of a drought in their life;
and we promise to be food for them;
to be kind and gentle; to be forgiving;
and to be the disciple which we claim to be here
to others so they can be fed.
What happens here is we feed the world not just all of us who came,
but we feed all of those who did not come
but were close to us because we feed them.
That is the way it is meant to multiply out there.
But if we just keep the food for ourselves
then there is not enough. Right?
We need to multiply it by feeding others.
The only way I know how to do that well is
that we must be men and women of prayer;
boys and girls of prayer.
It is not enough just to come and pray on Sunday.
We must find a way to stay nourished
each and every day with our daily prayers.
And when I say “daily prayers”
I don’t mean just saying our prayers
but I mean pausing and listening to God;
to go deeper into the soil of our lives
and ask where do I learn from what happened this day?
How can I become a better person?
How can I give myself away a little bit more?
And the only way we can do that is if we listen
to what Christ is asking us to do;
to go deeper, go deeper into the soil of our lives
and to give our hearts and our lives away.
Today, as we allow the stresses of our environment
to force us to go deeper into the soil of our lives,
may we do that through prayer and good works
that start here at this table.
The Bread of Life; the Water of Life that feeds us;
that makes our vines grow naturally according to Christ’s law.
“By your perseverance, you shall secure your life.”
