Psalm 52
Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day. Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right. You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. The righteous shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying, "See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction!" But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly. (ESV)
True Vine
Thursday after Pentecost
27 May 2010
Baptism grafts us into the true vine, Christ our Lord. We become branches of the true vine through this engrafting. Only then can we serve God. He says, "Without me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5). We will be set ablaze in the fire of judgment if our branch is snapped off from the true Vine (Jn 15:6). For our life must flow from Him. It comes from Him in baptism and it continues to have fruitful life coursing through the branch only as it remains in Him.
Cyril of Jerusalem
"In baptism you are receiving not a perishable but a spiritual shield. Henceforth you are planted in the invisible paradise. You receive a new name, which you did not have before. Heretofore you were a catechumen, but now you will be called a believer. You are transplanted henceforth among the spiritual olive-trees, being grafted from the wild into the good olive tree (Rom 11:24), from sins into righteousness, from pollutions into purity. You are made a partaker of the holy vine (Jn 15:1, 4, 5). Well then, if you remain in the vine, you grow as a fruitful branch. But if you do not remain in the vine, you will be consumed by the fire.
Let us therefore bear fruit worthily. God forbid that among us should be done what happened to the barren fig tree (Mt 21:19) that Jesus not come even now and curse us for our barrenness. But may all be able to use that other saying, 'I am like a fruitful olive-tree in the house of God: I have trusted in the mercy of God forever' (Ps 52:10), an olive-tree not to be perceived by sense, but by the mind, and full of light. As then it is His part to plant and to water, so it is yours to bear fruit. It is God's to grant grace, but yours to receive and guard it. Do not despise the grace because it is freely given, but receive and treasure it devoutly."
Prayer
O Christ, You are the vine and I am a branch, keep me in You that I might bear much fruit. Amen.
For all those who need to hear the gospel because they are slaves to their sin, that God's Word would lead them into the true freedom of the baptized life
For Bishop Christopher Ekong of Nigeria and all true Lutherans, that a gracious God would keep true Lutheranism alive in the world
For John Giovanazzi, who was injured in a motorcycle accident that the Lord would grant him a full recovery