Day 22: As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; now, remain in my love
There is a break in the conversation as Jesus brushes the ground to move some twigs out of the way. Lowering himself, he wraps his cloak around his body and sits, cross-legged, next to John. The disciples sense he is settling in for another important lesson, and there is a rustling as they also move into a more comfortable position. The torches get passed from one person to another as the original torchbearers need a bit of a break. Jesus leans forward and looks intently at the group, his eyes searching each face. He raises his hands and his eyes skyward, palms up and elbows bent, as if in prayer, and says
“As the Father has loved me”
… Turning his palms towards the group in a posture of blessing, he says,
“so have I loved you.”
He pauses briefly, then continues.
“Now, remain in my love.”
Only Jesus truly understands how deep, how ancient, and how sacrificial that love is. He smiles and, reaching his arm around John, he repeats the words, “Remain in my love.” He brings him in for a big, brotherly hug. Everyone smiles. It’s just like Jesus to be playful during a teaching!
Vineyard Metaphor
The patient love of a vineyard manager for the vines is truly evident in the care of the vine and the resulting fruitfulness. The hard-working vine draws up nutrients from soil and water, distributing the nutrient-rich water out to the branches that are connected to the vine. The fruit, the pride and joy of the gardener, hangs on the branches. But the symbiotic relationship would not be complete without photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis is the beautiful and complicated process by which a leaf gathers carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and energy from the sun, transforming the toxic gas into sugars which feed the plant while the exquisite byproduct of oxygen is then released back into the atmosphere.
Let’s break this down a little more. Tiny openings on the surface of a leaf, called stomata, receive molecules of carbon dioxide (CO2). The CO2 makes its way into chloroplast cells which are filled with water. In the presence of six molecules of water (H2O), with the help of the sun’s energy, six molecules of CO2 are converted into one molecule of sugar (CH2O). The byproduct of this chemical exchange is six molecules of oxygen (O2), which is released back into the atmosphere through the stomata. The simplified, chemical equation looks like this:
6CO2 + 6H2O = C6H12O6 + 6O2
The sugar is carried through the phloem system of “veins” around the vine, feeding the vine and bringing sweetness to the grapes. More than water is needed to keep a vine healthy and produce fruit on the branches. The gardener knows the vine needs enough exposure to the sun and enough leaves to run the photosynthesis “factory.” The leaves do their part to make sure the vine is healthy and the fruit is sweet.
Reflection and Meditation
There is a symbiotic relationship between the leaves and the vine that, ultimately, produces fruit. Without the leaves there would be no fruit.
Consider how the metaphorical symbiosis is at work in the Trinity. The Gardener pours his love into the Vine by caring for the Vine. The Vine has taken that great love and transferred all the health and goodness to the branch. Imagine the life-giving water of the Spirit as the nourishment that flows from the roots up into the branch. As the branch stays connected to the Vine, as the disciples make their home in Jesus, they become an integral part of the love and work of the Trinity.
Just as the Trinity dwells in an eternal, meaningful dance of Love called perichoresis, there is an invitation to us, as disciples, to join the dance, to become “co-lovers with God of God.” Just as the leaves on the branch offer the work of photosynthesis and the sweetness of sugar to the vine, our work becomes an offering of worship, and our obedient love flows as sweetness into the beautiful, intricate, perichoretic dance of the Trinity.
How does your heart receive the invitation to remain intimately and purposefully connected to the Love of the Trinity?
Feel the weight and the joy of remaining and participating in the Love of the Trinity.
“The whole dance or drama or pattern of this three-Personal life is being played out in each one of us: or putting it the other way round, each of us has got to enter that pattern, take his place in that dance. There is no other way to the happiness for which we are made.”