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May 18, 2003 Fifth Sunday of Easter

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The information and commentary presented each week on this page are actually notes for the Saturday Scripture Class held at St. Raymond Parish, Dublin, Ca. These notes are not intended to be used in isolation but as background information for the readings and starting points for group discussion. This page is updated with the following Sunday's readings each Sunday night (California Time). The Saturday Morning Scripture Class meets to discuss the weekend Mass readings each Saturday from 9:30 to 10:30 in the Conference Room or in Multipurpose Room Number 2. No registration or prior arrangement is needed; everyone is welcome anytime.

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Happy Easter! This weekend we celebrate the Fifth Sunday of Easter. The theme of the readings this week is belonging. The first reading is a case study in not being able to go it alone. Paul, who became perhaps the greatest missionary the Church has ever had, was unable to even get started without help from other believers. The second reading reminds us that our faith must have practical, real life consequences. Without action, talk about faith like talk about anything else is cheap. The Gospel reminds us that we can do nothing alone. We must remain in and with Jesus in order to bear the fruit for which the Father is looking. If we remain connected to the Vine, Jesus Himself will bring about our fruitfulness.

First Reading: Acts of the Apostles 9: 26-31

26 When he arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. 27 Then Barnabas took charge of him and brought him to the apostles, and he reported to them how on the way he had seen the Lord and that he had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. 28 He moved about freely with them in Jerusalem, and spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He also spoke and debated with the Hellenists, but they tried to kill him. 30 And when the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him on his way to Tarsus.

31 The church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace. It was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord, and with the consolation of the holy Spirit it grew in numbers.

NOTES on First Reading:

* 9:26 There is a difference in the tradition expressed here and the story as told by Paul in Gal 1:13-24 and in 2 Cor 11:32-33. The greatest difference is the absence in Acts of the three year stay in Arabia related in Gal 1:17. This, of course, would greatly change the timetable of events and probably implies that Luke is using an already existing Pauline legend or cycle of stories as his source rather than the letters of Paul.

* 9:29 Here as in 6:1-7, the Hellenists were most probably Palestinian Jews who spoke only Greek and not necessarily Jews from the diaspora. The Hebrews were Palestinian Jews who spoke primarily Hebrew or Aramaic and who may also have spoken Greek. It has also been taken to stand for the traditionalists among the immigrant Jews of Jerusalem.

* 9:31 In context, the period of peace enjoyed by the community is implied to be due to the change in Paul's career. This is in contrast to the previous time of persecution at his hands. In the section from verses 31-43, Luke introduces two different traditions concerning the miracles worked by God at the hands of Peter as he was making a tour of places where the Christian message had already been preached. The towns of Lydda, Sharon, and Joppa may well have had Christian communities that were made up of believers of both Jewish and Gentile backgrounds.

Second Reading: 1 John 3: 18-24

18 Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.

19 (Now) this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts before him 20 in whatever our hearts condemn, for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. 21 Beloved, if (our) hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God 22 and receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us. 24 Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit that he gave us.

NOTES on Second Reading:

* 3:18 John frequently uses words like "Little children" as forms of address that are meant to express pastoral love for the people to whom he writes. For John and many early Christians the truth of one's words of faith was visible in that person's genuine love of and care for the poor expressed in the sharing of their material goods.

* 3:19-24 Living a life of Christian love and of faith in Jesus assures us that we are abiding in God no matter what our feelings may tell us. Our confidence in prayer and trust in God's judgment is based on our obedience. This obedience is not limited to but certainly includes our strong belief in Christ and love for one another.

* 3: 19b-20 Alternate translations for this passage are: "we shall be at peace before him in whatever our hearts condemn, for . . ." or "and before God we shall convince our hearts, if our hearts condemn us, that God is greater than our hearts."

* 3:23-24 This is a summary of the commandments given in typically Johannine form. This is probably John's version of the double command of love given in Mark 12:28-31. For John "to believe" in the Son whom God has sent is equivalent to loving God.


* 3:24 In 2:27, the "anointing" that one receives upon entering the community has been pointed to (John 3:5). The Spirit is the substance of the anointing and will be both a pledge of things to come (Rom 8:14; 2 Cor 1:22) and the power bringing it about as it inspires true confession which unmasks false teachers (1 John 4:2-6).

Gospel Reading: John 15: 1-8

1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. 3 You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. 4 Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. 8 By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

NOTES on Gospel:

* 15:1-16:4 In this long discourse on the union between Jesus and his disciples, His words become a monologue going beyond the immediate crisis of His departure from their midst.

* 15: 1-17 This section is similar to John 10:1-5 in resembling a parable. Vineyards and vines occur often in the Old Testament as symbols for Israel. Vineyard is used in Isaiah 5:1-7 and then in Matthew 21:33-46. Vine is used in Psalm 80:9-17; Jer 2:21; Ezekiel 15:2; 17:5-10; 19:10; and Hosea 10:1. The identification of the vine as the Son of Man in Psalm 80:15 and Wisdom's description of herself as a vine in Sirach 24:17 serve as a further Old Testament backdrop for the application of this figure to Jesus. While secondary, some Eucharistic symbolism was also probably intended here (See Mark 14:25 where the expression, "the fruit of the vine" is used.)

* 15:1 Jesus uses the word, "true," to indicate a contrast with the symbolism of the past. He is the true vine in which the symbolism is fulfilled

* 15:2 This verse contains a word play on two related Greek verb ("takes away" and "prunes"). Tradition speaks of pruning away useless or fruitless branches (Jer 5:10; Ezek 17:7). This may have been aimed at those Christians who sought to "hide" their faith in persecution (12:42-43).

* This parenthetical remark may be looking back at 13:10 with the intention of reassuring the disciples that they were not going to be pruned away.

* 15:4-6 The language of the vine merges with the language of indwelling that is used in the farewell discourses (14:10-11, 20). The Eucharistic overtones that are present in both may have helped to bring about this combination.

* 15:6 This refers to the common practice of drying the branches on the wall of the vineyard after they were cut off and using them later for fuel.

* 15:8 The disciples are now representatives of Jesus in the world and as such are seen as glorifying the Father as Jesus did.

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The scripture quotes are from the text of the New American Bible with revised New Testament copyright © 1986,1970, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.