What does it take
to remain in Christ?
Just after washing
the disciples’ feet in John’s Gospel – an act of profound humility – Jesus
commences his Last Supper Discourses, which were intended to give the disciples
a sense of what their life in community was meant to be, beginning with a
profound understanding that the life Jesus calls them to can only be lived from
him, and in him. The disciples cannot go
out and proclaim the good news as independents, disconnected from the source of
truth that is Jesus himself. Only if
they remain in him can the disciples
glorify the Father and bear much fruit. Without me you can do nothing, Jesus
reminds them. He is the origin and the
author, the source of all truth; he is the
true vine, and his disciples are the
branches.
If, as Jesus
requests, the disciples remain in him,
they will be in a constant state of awareness of God’s presence and activity in
their lives. Only then can they pray
that, to him their soul shall live, as Psalm 22 insists –
for they will be ready to live in and
for the Lord. In the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples learn that their greatest enemy, Saul, has met Jesus on
the road to Damascus and has undergone a radical transformation of heart. If God could convert their worst enemy, what
would the Lord not do for them? They,
like Saul, like us, have the capacity to be completely transformed by God’s
grace, so that to him their soul shall live. But they must, as the First Letter of John
stipulates, believe in the name of God’s
Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another
just as he commanded them. For, as
the Letter reminds them, Those who keep
his commandments remain in him, and he in them. To love, to bring Jesus’
love to bear upon the world, to love in
deed and truth, is to remain in him,
connected to him, as branches to a vine.
Let us celebrate that connection as we go forth through the Easter season,
that we might, as Jesus wished, continue to bear
much fruit.
This post is based
on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordle.net
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