5th Sunday of Easter: To grow in relationship

"I am the true vine, you are the branches . . . remain in Me"

The Word: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/042918.cfm

John 15: 1 - 8

Technology, for all its wonderful potential, is a part of our lives that we can now never go without.  Like automobiles, telephones, television, the internet and all the many forms of “social media,” have found themselves forever embedded in the human experience.  For all the many ways that we find ourselves connected with other people through technology, there have been many analysis that have shown us it has really drawn us farther away from one another.  

The fundamental human connection of looking at another person, hearing the tone of their voice, gestures, a friendly handshake, a laugh, a compassionate hug in times of disappointment, none of that is possible through technology.  We may feel that we have thousands of friends around the world but we still sense loneliness inside.  It is more difficult these days to establish meaningful relationships with others. Sadly, marriages and families have suffered from this and I think that the lack of connection with a faith community is one cause of people’s lives breaking apart or certainly the appearance of a “throw away” culture we live with.

Our Gospel this Sunday presents another favorite Christian image of Jesus as the vine and the branches: “I am the true vine . . . remain in me as I in you . . . you are the branches.”  If you recall last week we heard Jesus present himself as the “Good (Noble) Shepherd.”  Such metaphors are most helpful to us as we long to bring a sense of rest and central focus to our lives in these crazy days of individualism. We hunger for relationships that fulfill us.  Our readings this Sunday all provide a place to go.

Our first reading from Acts indicates to us the problem of Saul as the newest of Christian converts. Saul, now Paul, had experienced a profound vision of Jesus that forever changed the direction of his life radically. Yet, why would God choose this fierce enemy of the early Christian followers to be now his messenger of salvation through Jesus’ death and resurrection?  The suspicion of the Apostles is understandable: this must be a trick, a way for Paul to infiltrate the Christian community and destroy them from within! It is totally understandable why the Apostles in particular would have feared Paul’s true motives.  He won over Barnabas but he won’t deceive us by his clever ploy.  Such must have been the thinking of these leaders. 

What ultimately changed Paul, the Apostles and history, though, was a now established relationship with each of them and with the will of the Holy Spirit as they experienced it.  United as one in the faith, the mission of Christ can now be carried out in its fullness.

As that mission grows, it opens new relationships with the God of Israel to the larger world, the gentile communities far and wide.  Everywhere Paul went he labored to establish communities of convicted Christians who now embrace the new Way shown to them and connect them with one another in love and selfless service after the example of Jesus.  As we know, thousands even went to their deaths rather than deny this new relationship they had experienced with Christ and his disciples.  And the Church expanded its mission and continues on to our own day.  Not without human sin and flaws of course but continually attached to the vine of Christ and drawing life from the Spirit.

The beautiful image Jesus uses today is that which reinforces the necessity of our attachment to the grace of God, his very life.  The vine and branches tell us that Jesus is the vine, his Father is the vine grower, and that the mystery of his work is that we are called to grow in the grace he offers us.  We must remain in him for away from Christ, “we can do nothing . . . If you remain in me and my words remain in you . . . you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

However, we might wonder, “Well, I can do a lot of things on my own.  What are the things that Jesus speaks of that I “can do nothing? “Jesus reminds us that he and he alone is the source of true life and unity.  In Christ alone we see the Father work and it is best for us to remain attached to the vine of Christ lest we wither and die apart from him.  Attached to the vine the good we do will be rooted in his Gospel and by its power will bear much fruit. 

The more we do – the more we give away – the more we receive back.  To do such in his name is to multiply the good that is offered and to open the door to conversion of life.  The pruning and cutting is a metaphor for being formed to a new direction where needed.  Think of Paul’s experience which began along the road.  Remember Paul’s violent actions towards the followers of Jesus and his now powerful conversion.  Such things begin with a new awareness but take time to reform and reshape.  Through sacrifice and prayer, Paul became to new man Jesus called him to become for others. To resist the attraction of evil and to embrace the grace of goodness is not an easy process at times.  We are confronted with a choice each day.   

To  keep the commandments of love is our ultimate goal each day.  Attached to the vine of Christ in and through his Church is to stay constantly at 100% power and to never be unplugged from the source of life itself.  There we draw life from his word, the sacraments, and from the inspiration and support of a Spirit filled community.  Life is here, not there.  Truth is here, not there.

The greatest good we do in the name of Christ always becomes greater than we may even realize.  We see this in the ministry of the Saints and we know it if we simply look around at the generosity and sacrifice of others for the sake of a common good in his name.  

Almighty ever-living God,

constantly accomplish the Paschal Mystery within us, 

that those you were pleased to make new in Holy Baptism

may, under your protective care, bear much fruit

and come to the joys of eternal life. 

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, 

who lives and reigns with you, 

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 

one God for ever and ever. 

(Collect)