One year for Mother’s Day I was given some grape plants even though there was no ready grape arbor or sunny space to put the little plants. Eventually they were planted next to the fence on the east side of the yard. The fence was too short to be a support, so half of the branches now drape over the top of the fence on the street side. On either end of the garden space the vines vigorously send branches escaping up into the trees where they can only be reached with great effort. A lot of garden time is spent clipping back the unruly branches and working to keep them within reach. If this doesn’t sound ideal to you, you are correct. Yet every year when the sweet champagne grapes ripen, and later when the concord grapes ripen, I rejoice over them in spite of the difficulties of keeping them even moderately under control.
Sunday’s Gospel, John 15: 1-8, tells us that God is the gardener or vine grower, Jesus the vine, and his followers the branches. This parable was told in a time and place when most of those who heard the parable were familiar with grape vines and the intricacies of keeping them healthy and producing. It was also told in a time when the Roman Emperor was considered the “Father of the Fatherland”, the one who could keep the peace, reward those who were obedient, and punish or cut off those who were not loyal citizens. John’s Gospel refers to God as Father 118 times. In comparison, Mark uses the title 4 times, Luke 17, and Matthew 44. The progression in usage is likely linked to the experience of the early Christian communities as they lived in resistance to the all- encompassing, all-powerful, authority of the Roman emperors. (Warren Carter. John and Empire: Initial Explorations. T&T Clark, New York. 2008. Page 235) To be connected through Jesus to God, was to resist being connected to the emperor.
Today in considering the key message of the passage, it could simply be said, as Pope Francis has done many times, “we are all interconnected.” There is no disconnected branch that can produce grapes. There is no person, no community, producing good fruit without a connection back to the source of life. And there are far too many branches trying to go off on their own, taking care of themselves, while draining energy from the vine. Living without respect for the deep connections of all life is to become ‘cutoff’. Attaching oneself to a culture of greed or violence is to be cutoff. It is a compelling image.
As a person who came of age in the 1960’s, I cannot help feeling a strong connection to the student protestors on college campuses today. At the heart of their protest is the conviction that American-made weapons are being used to annihilate the Palestinian people. The students at Colombia began by asking the school to divest from weapon-making industries. They discovered that in today’s complicated financial structures with endowments and independent Boards, the President of any University is unlikely to have much influence in such matters. That has not stopped students from asking and politicians from asking for resignations when the University Presidents are unable to stop protestors from expressing their concerns. The characterization of the protests in the media have been shaped by a few bad actors, just as the Black Lives Matter protests, the Occupy Wall Street protests, and the civil-rights and anti-war protests of the 1960’s were. The same name calling is being used: anti-American, traitors, communists, Marxists, etc. etc. And along with these labels have come anti-Semitic, anti-Jew, pro-Hamas, and Islamophobic.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, another 75,000 have been injured. Their land, homes, businesses, and infra-structure have been decimated, yet to protest is to be targeted as “anti-Semitic” as if the State of Israel represents all Jewish people and therefore has total immunity. As Christians, we come from the same religious vine as the Jewish People. As human beings, we all come from the same vine as the Palestinian People. We are also intimately connected by faith and humanity to the 1200 people who were brutally murdered by Hamas. As a nation, as a community, as individuals, we need to be able to talk about these issues without fear, knowing that our prayers for peace are empty without action.
Recently I came across an article written last November by Jeffrey C. Isaac, a Jewish Professor of Political Science at Indiana University. The title of his article is Understanding the Difference Between Anti-Semitism and Pro-Palestinian Activism. (I have provided a link to the article below if you are interested.) I found it helpful in providing language to separate the various issues at stake.
There has been a rise in anti-Semitic language and threats in the United States. There has also been a rise in Islamophobic language and threats. Both are despicable and must be addressed. Professor Isaac writes that: “Most of the clamor about ‘Anti-Semitism’ on American campuses today is not about hatred of Jews or violence against Jews. It is about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the range of emotional, intellectual, and political responses to it.” There are a number of Jewish organizations who advocate for Palestinians – certainly, they are not anti-Semitic! (Article Here )
The rise of far-right politics in the United States, especially where it is fueled by Fundamentalist Christianity, has contributed to the belief that protesting anything that the Israeli Government does is anti-Jew or Anti-Semitic. The absolute immunity granted to the State of Israel is a reflection of the sincere, yet mis-guided belief, of some Christians that the second coming of Christ can be precipitated by encouraging a war– Armageddon or the final battle of good against evil – which is predicted, by these same believers, to take place in the Holy Lands. This is bad theology, a terribly misleading understanding of scripture, and politically motivated. It persists, nonetheless.
The second reading for this weekend, 1 John 3:18-24, begins with these words: “Children, let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and truth.” Once again, the followers of Jesus are reminded that love requires action. We cannot sit in prayer or wax eloquently about love, which comes from God, and then live our lives in a manner that is closer to the realm of worldly success than it is to the merciful reign of God. Better to say nothing, to feel unsure about theology, or even to question the existence of God, while living a life that reflects God’s kindness, mercy, love, and deep connection to all living beings. As believers we express our faith in the way that we live.
Following Jesus has always been about living with love day by day, whatever the circumstances, while remaining conscious of the political arena and its effects on the many vulnerable and oppressed people who are connected intimately to God, who loves them.