Prayer is the Vine

Mark 11:20–33 – June 9th, 2024

The Lord Be With You.

A parable or short story on our Gospel …

There once was a small boy who wanted to play basketball very much. He would study all the moves, what the leading pro players would do. He would practice layups and jump shots and moving the ball up and down the small court that his dad had built for him in his backyard. He would do this days and weeks and months. When he got a little older, he decided it was time to try out for the local team. He showed up believing that he had all that it would take to succeed. He walked out on the court and the coach stopped him. Said he was too short. Too thin. Not enough meat. The coach told him that he wouldn’t let him play on the team for his own safety. The boy walked away not only from the desire to play ball but also from a desire to try. He soon walked away from a lot of other things too because the voice of that one coach stuck in his head and convinced him that he was not worth it. So goes our relationship with God and Jesus.

Here ends the parable or short story.

Philippians 4:6-7 are two of my favorite verses even over John 3:16. The shortest verse in scripture is John 11:35, “Jesus wept” but that’s actually not the shortest verse. That would be 1st Thessalonians 5:16, “Rejoice always.” Of course you have to compare the original Greek letters for that assertion. But I’ll stick to the John one. However most people can almost quote 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” and I think that most like that verse because it gives us hope. Hope where we might not have any. Hope for all the good things in life. Hope in avoiding all the pitfalls that happen just because we exist. John 3:16 is that promise that God has our backs. We just gotta address Him.

It reminds me of a story about a little boy who was with his father when they stopped at the delicatessen and purchased some cold cuts and some rye bread. The father told his son that there was no better bread in all the world. When they returned home and the table was prepared for the meal, the son asked it he could pray. He emulated a portion of the Lord’s Prayer to the best of his ability: “Give us this day our deli bread.”

Believe it, or not, our Gospel for this morning is all about that hope. Jesus is telling us that if we believe we can even move mountains. Matthew 17:20 says a little about this whole faith and belief thing. “Jesus replied, " I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." John speaks of the very same thing in 14:13 and in 16:23. It’s all over the Gospels. I believe the problem may exist in how we define prayer, how we perceive when it’s answered and what we do when it’s either fulfilled or, to the best of our knowledge, denied. It can be tricky and aloof at the same time.

The prosperity preachers will tell you speak it and it becomes real. There are others, in other denominations, who have a belief that says that nothing will happen because we are unworthy. But in both extremes, I don’t find evidence in the Gospels or in any of the other 62 books. What I do find is over 100 verses that speak about it. From Genesis to Psalms to Matthew to Mark to Luke to a lot more authors than can be listed. From common folks like the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ cloak to Solomon petitioning God to give him strength, all had one thing in common, an undying belief that they were speaking to and with God. Not some rote thing that’s printed on an insert but a genuine conversation that has a real back and forth.

Some people say that they’ve prayed but haven’t heard from God. That He doesn’t speak to them. That He has never answered even one of their prayers. That their loved one still died. That someone who was sick never got well. That the suffering goes on and on and on. Some people will also move about as though God was somehow turning the steering wheel in their lives and that they don’t even step out of the house until they had coffee with the Father. There are even some that have sold everything they had and moved to the desert in search of even the slightest noise that they could discern came from God. There are all sorts. What ever the method, Jesus doesn’t address them so it’s up to us to determine what is right.

Jesus does caution us against the very things the Pharisee were guilty of which was that they turned the belief in God into a venue for self gratification and authority over others. That fig tree that Jesus cursed is a direct parallel to what was happening in the Temple then and what is happening in the temples of our day. Since we humans never seem to remember the lessons of yesterday, we are forecasted to repeat them in our day. Hence the withered fig tree is as much a statement of our leaders today as it was about the leaders in Jesus’ day.

And like the authorities of Jesus’ day who just couldn’t bring themselves to tell the truth to the people because they would either loose the power they have acquired for themselves and all the wealth that went with it or they would have to confess that they have been lying to the people all the time which would have them loosing face. And like those in power then the very same things are happening today and have been happening for a very long time. We just didn’t really know it because we didn’t have thousands of people reporting and displaying the blatant abuse of the very power those leaders were blessed with. They too will wither much like the fig tree withered. Everyone will meet their maker in due time.

You see, the withered fig tree is just an illustration of when people begin to walk away from God and into the arms of Satan. No matter their position of power and prestige, God is still in control of the overall direction of those who are ruling over others. Jesus is saying that when we are true to our calling and speak with God often about that calling then our fig trees will produce fruit that will last and fruit that is good. That our house will not be turned over. Will not wither. And He’s saying that the only true way that you will know if your on the right track is to have that conversation, that prayer, with God. You gotta ask the one with all the answers if you expect to get the truth back.

Our lives are like vines that grow and produce fruit that others can enjoy and partake in or can be left on to rot. Our machinations are what is produced when that happens. Our conveyance to others is what grows into fruit. We are the vine, in this case, because what we feed ourselves will be directly evident in what is produced. We are influencers despite not knowing it. If we are living desolate of the words of God then we can never know the truth and every worldly thing will inflame us. Our own version of reality becomes our gospel. Then we strike out and others get a taste of our rotted fruit and that affects them and they spread it. And so it goes. Jesus says there is another way.

I’ve called this message “Prayer is the Vine” because your words to God, on a daily basis, is that vine that you live through to reach up to Him. The nutrients that He returns to you enables you to do things you may not have thought possible before. It gives you perspective even though the immediate actions you take sometimes hide that view. But the more that you pray to Him the more you can realize that what He gives to you can be used to enrich oh so many lives and enrich yours in return. We are influenced by what is said and done by others. We take what they do and say as though they were not broken themselves. We treat as gospel what they say but it may be that they are infused with their own sense of aggrandizement. What they say, apart from scripture, is flawed because they are flawed.

Whole doctrines have developed that put regulations on actions people take in the name of Jesus. It happened 4,000 years ago, 2,000 years ago and is certainly happening today. We all know the sources. But, the thing is, those very actions that we have to live with color our own ideas about ourselves. And we end up living with that view as though it was the truth. We underestimate the power of prayer because it’s through that conversation that you can discern where the truth stands in all of the craziness. And it’s through that understanding that we can then dive through it so our own vines can reach the one who will never lie to us or lead us down a path that gets us chopped up.

The young boy is all of us when we face a trial but are dissuaded by others from even beginning. We begin to believe the same negative thoughts about literally everything and everything suffers because of it. Jesus is calling us back to be the John’s in this Gospel. He’s calling us back to reimagine ourselves as believers that can contribute to the Father’s creation and all the people in that creation. Jesus is calling us back to put out of our memory every coach that told us we can’t without even giving us a chance to try. Jesus is giving us that chance. He’s giving us a chance that was promised by scripture. He’s giving us another shot at being what we were created to be with all the promises that He promised. He’s giving us that chance. Will we take it? Will we have that conversation that we call prayer? It’s your choice after all. Pick a side. You’re always picking one whether you consciously know it or not. You’re always choosing after all. Choose wisely. Something to think about! Something to pray about?

Can we pray? …

Father, we pray for the confidence in knowing what we pray for will be answered. Help us to see the results of our prayers and the patience when we cannot see. Help us to walk through the shadows that are always at our backs. Help us to go towards the light of your grace and your mercy. Father, we stand before you on this earth lifting up our hearts. Help us know that you have grabbed our hand and are leading us through that shadow. Be with us as we confront what’s in front because you have our backs. We ask for your Holy Spirit to come into our lives just like it did your disciples on Pentecost. We thank you for the sacrifice of your Son. We pray for peace. We pray this, and more, in the name of your Son, Jesus the Christ, our Lord and Savior.

And all God’s people said – Amen?!

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