Grapes are a wonderfully versatile fruit. While being delicious eaten fresh, they form excellent dried fruit (think raisins, sultanas) and their juice forms the basis of many fine table and fortified wines. Grapevines are quite tough and will grow in a variety of climates from cool to warm and in different types of soils. It’s no surprise, then, that grapevines are planted widely across the world.

In the Hebrew Bible the vine is often used as a symbol for Israel (e.g. in Psalm 80). The prophets use the image to illustrate the faithlessness of Israel, showing how God took a vine from Egypt, planted and tended it, and came looking for good grapes yet found either no fruit or wild grapes. As a result, Israel will face God’s judgment.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus calls himself the true vine (John 15:1) who produces the sort of fruit that God seeks. His followers are the branches of the vine. So long as they remain connected to Jesus, the source of their life, they will be fruitful. But if they lose touch with Jesus and his ways, they will become worthless branches only useful for firewood.

While we may become anxious about how fruitful our lives are and how well we are holding onto Jesus, the comforting truth is that Jesus is holding strongly onto us at the same time. The fruit we produce – love, kindness, joy, generosity and so forth – develops as we trust in Jesus and in the presence of God’s Spirit at work in our lives. Grapes tend to come in bunches, so our fruit is more easily seen and appreciated as we work together. What sorts of delicious and satisfying fruit are you and your community producing?

Most of our lives are regulated by clock time – minutes, hours, days and years. In Greek this is called chronos time from which we derive the English word chronometer or watch. Whether it’s our daily routine or gathering for a meeting or attending an event, our lives usually follow chronos time.

But there is another sort of time. It’s when a mother knows that it’s time for her baby to be born. Or when it’s time to move out of your long term family home. Or when it’s time to retire from a much loved activity or responsibility. These are examples of kairos time in Greek, which might be translated as the right time, or the favourable time or the God given time.

In this week’s Gospel reading from John, Jesus declares that the hour has come for him to be glorified. God’s kairos moment has arrived when he will be lifted up from the earth – on a cross. For John, this is not a moment of shame or chance, but rather part of God’s plan for Jesus. It is the moment when he will draw all people to himself, the moment when he will be glorified and exalted, and bring his mission to fulfilment. In John’s gospel, Jesus faces this kairos moment with calm acceptance.

I wonder if you are facing any kairos moments in your life? Are there decisions or actions needed that will transform or turn your life in a new direction? As we face such moments, may we have wise people around us and know God’s peace in our hearts that however difficult the decision, the time is right and God will be with us.

I wonder what your night vision is like. As I get older I find that it’s getting harder to navigate at night in my sport of orienteering. It’s always been challenging to run at night while following a map and trying not trip over unseen objects in the darkness. But I’m finding it harder, especially on moonless nights when kerbs and imperfections in the footpath are hard to see.

The Gospel writer John likes using the metaphors of light and darkness. Jesus is the light that is shining in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome this light (John 1:5). Yet as we travel through the season of Lent, we are reminded that there were plenty of obstacles to trip Jesus up from temptation to do things his own way to the misguided expectations of others, from those plotting evil against him to his growing popularity.

In this week’s passage from John, Jesus speaks about how he must be lifted up (on the cross) to bring life to people. Out of great love for the world, God sent Jesus for this very purpose. But not everyone wants to come into the light because it will reveal their evil actions and evil intent. They are afraid of the light revealing who they really are. So while Jesus brings God’s light and God’s life, many choose to remain in darkness.

I wonder if part of us is also afraid of coming into the light. Perhaps it’s why we find repentance and confession difficult. We convince ourselves that we are doing okay and that admitting our weaknesses and failures (our sin) before God will make us feel guilty or ashamed. Perhaps then we have misunderstood God’s love. God wants to bring us to healing and wholeness and to help us live fully in the light. God is ready to embrace us like the father figure in the parable of the prodigal son. It takes courage to step into the light and admit our need. But it’s also the way to find life, true and abundant life. What are we waiting for?

What gets your goat? What makes you angry? Perhaps it happens when one of your electronic devices refuses to co-operate and do what you want. Perhaps it’s when you hear politicians argue with each other rather than address the needs of ordinary people. Or perhaps it’s when the world watches on with apathy as countries are torn apart by war.

Usually Jesus is pretty controlled and cool. Yes he gets frustrated with the disciples who are sometimes slow to catch on, with the religious authorities who put protocol and procedures above people and their needs, and with the crowds who seek signs rather than being prepared to commit to following his ways. But one day when visiting the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus really lost his cool. The temple was the focal point of Jewish worship. It was the place people travelled to in order to pray and to meet with God. What got Jesus mad was seeing how commerce had entered and taken hold within the temple itself – with money changers and stalls selling animals.

Greed and commerce and quite possibly injustice were intruding on the worship of God. And so Jesus confronted the money changers and drove out the animal sellers. But the priests who were in charge of the temple were not impressed. Some of the Gospel writers suggest this action by Jesus was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. After this incident, they actively look for ways to kill Jesus.

Jesus was clearly passionate about worship. Nothing was to distract or prevent people seeking to approach God to worship – whether commerce, religious rules or sickness. And so here in the temple, Jesus took a stand. What he did was controversial and personally costly. I wonder if we ever ‘lose it’ for Jesus? What aspects or expressions of our faith are we so passionate about that we will take a strong stand and be willing to bear the consequences? How can we help each other to have both wisdom and courage to confront greed and injustice?