The Archdiocese of Cincinnati

Sister Betty Jane Lillie
I am the vine, you are the branches

Fifth Sunday of Easter, Acts 9:26-31; Psalms 22:26-28, 30-32; 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8

In John's Gospel, there are several statements that begin with "I am." Some examples are "I am the bread of life;" "I am the good shepherd;" and "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." Our Gospel reading begins with "I am the true vine." The "I am" reminds us of the Lord's response to Moses at the burning bush when Moses asked the Lord for His name. God told Moses to tell the people that the phrase "I am" sent him to them (Exodus 3:14).

Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. His Father, the vine-grower, removes the branches that bear no fruit. The branches that bear fruit are pruned so they bear more fruit, though they have already been cleansed by the word Jesus had spoken. Pruned and cleansed have the same Greek root ‹ kathairo, so the play on the word indicates that the pruning is the cleansing.

The parable gives three aspects of the Christians' relationship with Jesus. 1. To be disciples is to abide in Jesus, the true vine, as Jesus abides in them, the branches. 2. Those in such a relationship bear much fruit. 3. The prayer of Jesus' faithful followers is efficacious; they will get what they ask for.

Disciples depend on the Master, for there are no disciples without a master. In New Testament thought, the relationship becomes one of incorporation into Christ that is the matrix of a mutual abiding one in the other. In this, the Father is glorified. Jesus' joy is in His followers that their joy may be complete.

Jesus' love is reflected in the community, as it plays out in truth and action, not in speech alone. The way we show our love for Jesus and fidelity to His message is in living by God's commandments, thus walking in His way. We come to God in confidence, and He gives us what we need as we strive to live by the Spirit He has given us (1 John 3:18-24).

Having said beautiful things about God's love in the early Johannine communities of disciples, we read also of Paul's experience elsewhere in the early years after his conversion. At first, many of Jesus' followers were afraid of Paul because he had previously been persecuting believers. It was Barnabas, whose name means "son of encouragement" (Acts 4:36), who stood up for Paul and enabled him to begin preaching in the name of the Lord. The plot against Paul's life by Greek-speaking Jews, Hellenists, prompted believers to take him to safety in Caesarea and end him on to Tarsus. Otherwise, the church was at peace, living in the love of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.