Monday of the Third Week of Lent

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I hope in the LORD, I trust in his word;
with him there is kindness and plenteous redemption. (Based on Psalm 130:5,7)

Trust is one of my favorite topics. Whenever I start talking with others about trusting in God, I find myself turning into a grapevine. Allow me to elaborate. John 15:1-8 illustrates the powerful reality that God is the gardener, Jesus is the vine, and those who trust in Jesus are the branches. In John 15:4, Jesus says: "Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me." When I explain this verse, I nearly always find myself reaching out my right arm like a branch and using my left hand to continuously point back and forth between my shoulder and my right hand. I point to my shoulder to emphasize the place where followers of Christ are called to 'remain'. The Greek word used here is menó. It is translated in various ways throughout the New Testament, including abide (16), abides (22), abiding (4), await (1), continue (4), continues (1), endures (3), enduring (1), lasting (2), lives (1), living (1), remain (20), remained (6), remaining (1), remains (8), stand (1), stay (11), stayed (11), staying (3), and waiting (1). I think trust is a good comprehensive term for all of these translations because it conveys the confident stick-to-itiveness that is associated with enduring, staying, lasting, abiding, living, et cetera. If Jesus' followers stay with him through thick and thin, they will always be receiving nutrients up through the roots and through the vine so that they will be fruitful in every season. The point of connection between the branch and vine is an astonishing gift (see Romans 11:11-24).

Now, what about my other subject of pointing, my right hand - what's that all about? Well, in contrast with the picture of deep intimacy at the connection point between the vine and the branch, the end of the branch is further away from the vine, out there in the open. This is the place where fruit will grow. It is easy to get transfixed by thinking about what fruit we can bear. Career, influence, social media followers, intellect, awards, grades, family, friends - there are many things that I can think of that would fit in with the concept of fruit. I point to the end of the branch to emphasize the tendency to get caught up in the specific fruit we may want to see in our lives instead of trusting that God will produce the best fruit if we remain in Jesus at the other end of the branch. Focusing on the fruit can bring us to a place of worry. When I have a particular idea of what my life should look like, and I am changing things and chasing after things in order to make those dreams a reality, could I be missing out on producing better fruit that God is ripening in his good timing? There's a thought for a Monday. In all seriousness, if a branch is no longer taking in nutrients from the vine, it is going to wither.

Before this turns into a thesis, let me leave you with one more thought. In this image of the vine and the branch, we also have God as the gardener. One of the gardener's responsibilities is to prune the branches. This can be painful, but there is a promise to trust in: "At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it" (Hebrews 12:11). The beginning of the Covidic Age was a time of pruning for me, but I have already seen more fruit since then. Whether or not it has been a difficult time for you, I hope you will gain something from my musings, and, who knows, maybe you'll find yourself turning into a grapevine at some point, too.

Timothy Nagy

Assistant Director of Mission, Ministry & Interfaith Dialogue

St. Francis College