By Fr. Marcel Uzoigwe, C.S.Sp. ( Acts 9:26-31; Psalm – Ps 22; 1 Jn 3:18-24; Jn 15:1-8)
Dear friends in Christ,
One of the accusations that the Jews brought against Jesus during his trial was that he called God his father, and in that way sought to claim that he was one with God. They could not understand how Jesus, who they could see as a human being, could claim to be God. But Jesus did not stop there. He went on to say that we too are united with God, and are one with God. To make matters worse, he said, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (John 14: 23). Knowing how difficult it was for his audience to understand his deep spiritual teachings however, Jesus used various metaphors to illustrate his teachings, especially about the relationship that exist between him and his disciples. Last week it was “I am the good shepherd and you are the sheep of my flock.” In today’s Gospel, it is “I am the true vine and you are the branches.”
This Gospel reading is taken from the middle of the Last Supper discourse. There, Jesus spoke about his relationship with his disciples. Using the metaphor of the vine and the branches, which refers to the metaphor of God’s relationship with Israel that was constantly used in the Hebrew Scriptures, Jesus showed himself to be deeply united with those that belong to him. In the Old Testament, Israel was constantly referred to as the vineyard, and Yahweh himself was the master who planted the vineyard and tended it. God took the vine out of Egypt and planted it, watered, and pruned it (Psalm 80: 8-11). Therefore, he expected it to bear fruit. The prophets used this metaphor to remind the Israelites of the consequence of turning away from God whenever they did something wrong.
By using this metaphor, Jesus teaches his disciples that his relationship with them will not end after his death; he will remain with them always. This unity between Jesus and his disciples is the basis for their ability to continue to do the work that he began. Similarly, Jesus’ presence with us through the Gift of the Holy Spirit enables us to continue the work of love that he began. Just as the branches receive life from the stock, so do all who unite themselves with Jesus. He becomes their vital force, inspiring, leading and guaranteeing the life of grace in them.
Jesus also teaches his disciples about the importance of the words he has spoken to them. Keeping his word is the guarantee for remaining in him. It is also the assurance of winning God’s favor and receiving from God what we need or ask. For ourselves who did not see Jesus in the flesh, we come to know him through the Scriptures, the living Word of God. Our commitment to be Christ’s disciples is sustained through God’s Word. This commitment is also strengthened by our life of prayer and nourished by the Eucharist. Through the Eucharist, Jesus dwells in us, remains with us, and transforms us so that we might bear fruit in his name.
The image of pruning is a powerful one. Any gardener knows that growth should not be unchecked and unmanaged. There comes a time when pruning is necessary. It can appear to be a destructive act, and at times a gardener is emotionally reluctant to do it to a beloved plant, but it is absolutely necessary to allow fresh growth and ensure the plant’s long-term vitality. It is just like the plants and flowers we have in our gardens. There comes a time when we must trim them. Otherwise, they will not look beautiful. If you don’t prune the grapes, they won’t bear much fruit. But you also need to know what to prune, and how and when to do it. This image refers to our own lives. We must allow our own lives to be pruned so that we might continue to bear the right fruit.
Notice that the gospel tells us that God is the one who does the pruning, not ourselves. This should be an encouragement because if we were to do it ourselves, we might do it wrongly. What is required of us is to turn to God to help us set the priorities right. We can have a lot going on in our lives and at some point, it becomes too much and we start cutting. Unfortunately, we don’t always trim for the right reasons. We might keep what is fun rather than what is good for us. We might hold on to what makes us popular or what is easiest. The other option might be to get rid of everything, which could be an extreme reaction. But when we turn to God to do the trimming, he brings us to his light to see clearly what needs to be removed and what to keep.
We see in the first reading how Jesus pruned Saul who was destructive to the spreading of the Gospel and made him an apostle. The previous section of the Acts of the Apostles describes Saul’s persecution of the first Christians. He was devout in his Jewish faith and therefore was deeply offended that some of his fellow Jews were accepting Jesus as the Messiah. So Saul imprisoned many of them. He was present when Stephen was martyred, and consented to this violence (Acts 7:58 – 8:1). Saul believed that he was rendering service to God by killing those polluting what he considered to be the pure religion. While traveling to Damascus for this purpose, he was confronted with a vision of Jesus and was converted. His name was changed from Saul to Paul, and he was able to bear fruit for the Gospel to such an extent that a larger portion of the letters in the Bible are attributed to him. Without such pruning, his life would have been wasted pursuing what he considered just, yet unacceptable to God.
When Paul tried to join the other disciples, they were all afraid of him, having heard all he did to destroy them. In today’s reading, we see Barnabas reassuring the Christians in Jerusalem that Paul’s conversion was authentic. He narrated Paul’s encounter with the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, and how afterward Paul had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus. After the Jerusalem Christian community accepted him, Paul continued to speak out boldly for Christ. When Paul’s life was threatened because of his boldness in the public debate over Jesus Christ as the Messiah against the Hellenists, it was the same Christians he persecuted who had become part of his new family that saved him by bringing him to Caesarea – an important port city northwest of Jerusalem – from where he traveled to Tarsus.
Beloved friends in Christ, Jesus has called each of us to bear fruit. And we can only do that by being part of him who is the true vine. It is dangerous to choose any other way like Paul tried to do before his conversion. As the Scripture wans, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to destruction” (Proverbs 14:12). If we are cut off from him, we can’t do anything. Let us, therefore, continue to grow in our union with Jesus and thus continue to bear fruit in his name. Amen.