Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 2, 2021: I am the vine, and you are the branches...

I am the vine, you are the branches…

How might you bear more fruit for God?

    In the midst of the Last Supper Discourse in John’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims himself to be the true vine, while his disciples are the branches, pruned by the Father, that they might bear much fruit. This responsibility is projected down the ages to us. God has made us that we might bear fruit as well, but in order to do so, we must stay connected to the Lord. If we remain in him, Jesus says, if we believe in him and allow his words to remain in us, then the fruit we bear will be that of love and connection and, ultimately, the good news of salvation for all. This was the case of the early church, as the Acts of the Apostles demonstrates: The church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace. The disciples are now comfortable spreading the good news, conscious that the Holy Spirit is at work in them. When Saul arrives in Jerusalem, the disciples require evidence that he, too, is bearing fruit, walking the walk, acting out of love for Christ and for the church and for the people to whom he is proclaiming the good news.

    If we believe in the Lord, if we belong to the truth, as the First Letter of John tells us, then we are confident in our faith, and able to rely upon God and God’s judgment. Indeed, we can have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask, because we love one another just as he commanded us. It’s not the talk we talk, but the walk we walk, the love we give in deed and truth, that identifies us as true disciples, able to bear much fruit and thereby to glorify the Father by spreading his good news. Let the coming generation be told of the Lord, Psalm 22 states, that they may proclaim to a people yet to be born the justice the Lord has shown. The fruit we bear when our hearts remain in Christ and open to him is proof indeed that in him our soul does live, and live fully, in our love for each other and for the Lord. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, April 29, 2018: I am the vine, you are the branches...

 I am the vine, you are the branches… 

 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