So, we have just celebrated another Easter!  He is risen!  He is risen, indeed! Alleluia.  But, what does this really mean for you and me?  How good are you at making connections and especially that connection in Easter?

     It is a very important part of our everyday life.  If you want a good job it would help to have some connections.  When I fly for Council of President’s meetings I have to have at least one connecting flight to get where I am going and I don’t want to miss my connecting flight.   If you talk on a cell phone you’ll suffer if you don’t have a good connection.  So we understand the importance of making connections.  

     Now consider your connection with Jesus Christ?

     Jesus taught His disciples about a vital connection they needed to have with Him.  He said, “I am the Vine.  You are the branches.  If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15:1-17).”  If you are connected to Christ you are alive.  If you are connected to Christ you will bear much fruit.  If you are connected to Christ you will share in His life, even His resurrection life.  But if you are not connected to Christ you are dead.  And the dead branches will be picked up and “thrown into the fire and burned.” 

     So of course we want to be connected to Jesus!  Although, you should understand and you should consider that any branches connected to the vine will undergo some trimming.  Yes, Jesus is the Vine.  Yes, we are the branches.  And the Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch that bears no fruit.  And the branches that do bear fruit He prunes them so that they will be even more fruitful.  That’s the part that can hurt at times!

     If you know anything about gardening then you know what pruning is all about.  It is taking a sharp steel clipper, or trimmer, and cutting back the growth.  By pruning roses, the shrubs, or any green thing, you stimulate more growth.  You cause the rose bush to flower all the more and blossom.  You bring about more by creating less.  It’s nice to know there is a purpose to the pain.

     That is what happens in the life of anyone who is connected to Christ.  The Father prunes the branches that are bearing fruit so that they will be even more fruitful.  God allows hardships into our lives that we might grow in our faithfulness.  He takes away things from us that we might cling to Him.  Hebrews 12:10-11 says, “God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness.  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”  

     Jesus was preparing the disciples for their own pruning.  When Jesus spoke these words of the Vine and the branches it was just a few hours before Jesus was arrested in the garden.  Simon Peter in particular would feel the hard sharp edge of those clippers.  Remember when Simon Peter denied our Lord three times?  He was set up for this fall.  Jesus told Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.  But I prayed for you, Simon that your faith may not fail.  And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”  God granted Satan’s request.  He was handed over to his evil purpose.  Yet God’s purpose prevailed!  For Peter came back from his fall stronger than ever because of his experience!

     However, the pruning shears were really being turned upon our Lord.  The disciples were “already clean because of the word” of Jesus.  They had nothing to fear.  But Jesus would have to feel the cold, hard steel of God’s pruning shears Himself.  For Jesus would be cut down in the prime of His life.  As the prophet Isaiah said of our Lord on the cross, “We considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted.”

     As the Scriptures say in Hebrews 2:10, the Lord as made the “author of our salvation perfect through suffering.”  The Father cut Him down only to see Him spring back!  He was pruned hard and heavy so that He might be even more fruitful!  He died that He might live again and share the fruits of His salvation with all who would believe!

     So we continue in the joy of Easter by celebrating Jesus being alive and bearing in His body the fruits of our salvation.  He comes back bigger and better!  He returns to us more alive than before!  For by his death He obtains the victory over sin.  And by His rising again He triumphs over the grave!  And like any fruit tree that bears fruit, so Christ does not bear these fruits of salvation for Himself.  When was the last time you saw an apple tree eating its own apples?  So also Christ produces a victory that is for the entire world to share.  Yes, it is His victory!  But it is also your victory.  Because you are connected to Him you enjoy the fruits of His salvation.  You get to taste and see that the Lord is good.  You by Baptism and faith partake in the benefits of His resurrection and life.

     This is what it means to be connected to Christ.  You are connected not only to His crucifixion.  You are connected to His resurrection.  Thus you can identify with Jesus when you suffer.  And you can know the hope of everlasting life.  You are not simply spectators of Easter.  The festival of your Lord’s resurrection is not something you witness at a distance.  You are partakers in this victory parade.  It is you and I that triumph this day.  The news that Christ is risen is the news that we will rise again.  Christ is the head of the church, His body!  You are members of His body?  Then if the Head has risen, so shall the other members of His body.

     How then does one guarantee their connection with Christ?  How do we know we are branches truly connected to the life-giving vine?  What can we do to connect ourselves to Christ?  What must we do to join ourselves to this Easter event?  Where do we sign up?  What list of things must we do?  How do we graft ourselves in?  What fertilizer must we prepare?  What tools must we use?

     The answer to all these is: “Nothing!”  Stop with your business.  Stop with your meddling.  Only believe!  For this salvation is the work of God through Jesus Christ.  There is nothing left for you to do.  You are made clean by the words of Christ.  You are joined to Him by the Spirit.  You are drawn to Jesus by the Father.  You need only believe that all is accomplished.  You need only trust the Word that all is well.  You need only have the confidence that your salvation is all in the Vine and not in the branches.  “You did not choose Him, but He chose you.”  In Christ alone is your salvation!

     So, how good are you at making connections?

     Connections are part of our everyday life.  We need connections for just about everything in life.  And you need one connection and one connection only to have the life that never ends.  You need to be connected to the Vine and receive the sap of God’s Word and the Sacraments more than just on Easter or Christmas.  You need to be fed daily and weekly in God’s Word and the Sacraments.  Easter isn’t just about Jesus.  It is about you.  It is about your connection in Baptism with His death and resurrection and the new life that flows from your connection with Him.  Therefore, don’t just sit idly by.  Rejoice!  Be glad!  And live your life anew!  For you have been connected to Christ!  His suffering is your suffering!  His victory is your victory!  And His life is yours that will never end.  Continue in your joy of Easter! For, He is risen!  He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!