Wednesday in the Fifth Week of Easter, May 10, 2023

John 15, 1-8

Jesus said to his disciples: “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. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. 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. 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. 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. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.”  The Lord Jesus revealed unity to us: first, his unity with the Father, and then our unity with each other in him.  Previously, people existed in communities, societies, and alliances.  These might be governed by contracts or covenants.  These might insist on some sort of conformity.  But before the time of grace unity was not possible.  The tribes of Israel had existed as a confederation, having the Mosaic Law and their ancestry in common, but this does not equate with unity, which exists, when it does exist, in the spiritual realm.  The Lord’s revelation of unity makes it possible to understand what he means by his Body, the Church.  The Apostles  taught unity to the early Christians, especially the Gentile converts, who had no understanding at all of this concept.  St. Paul devoted his entire Letter to the Ephesians to this topic in order for those Christians to understand themselves as part of the universal Church.  This unity provided a completely new identity for people, one that went far beyond family, tribe, and nation.  Helping new converts understand and honor their new identity in Christ proved one of the most difficult labors in the early Church.  

Here, the Lord speaks of himself as the “true vine” — that is, earthly grapevines resemble him in some slight degree; he does not resemble them.  The Father is the vine grower.  He planted the vine in the earth and bid it grow, providing the graces necessary for it to do so.  “He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.”  The Father does not walk away from the vine was it is planted, but cares for it by cutting off useless branches that absorb nutrients while producing nothing, and he prunes the branches that are producing in order to increase the yield of fruit.  We can understand this as removing from a believer any attachment to this world that hampers his growth.  This can be painful for the branch as it can mean the loss of things that are highly valued.  

“You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.”  The word that was spoken to them was this: “He that loves father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loves son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. And he that takes not up his cross, and follows me, is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10, 37-38).  The Apostles have left everything to follow the Lord, and they know they can never go back to it.  Jesus is everything.  “Remain in me, as I remain in you.”  He remains in us through grace and we in him through prayer and obedience to his will.

“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. 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.”  It is the Lord alone who is the vine, who nourishes us and causes us to grow and to bear fruit.  If the vine disappears or withholds life from us, his branches, we die.  We cannot breathe and our hearts cannot beat without his willing it and causing it.  We cannot exist at all without him.  We ought often to meditate on this.  We can forget our spouses, parents, and children while we are engaged in work and they do not disappear.  We may think we are the center of their lives, but our lack of attention does not result in their falling into non-existence.  But we are utterly and permanently dependent upon God for everything.

“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.”  Anyone who disobeys the Source of our life and acts contrary to his will, which is for our good, will be cast away from the Vine and his sharing in the divine life  will die.  He will be good for nothing but to be burned, and his burning shall be forever.  “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.”  Through our obedience and conformity to God’s will we shall love and remain in Christ, and that which we ask in order to obey him and remain in conformity to his will shall be granted to us.

“By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”  All that the Son does in heaven and on earth is for the glory of the Father.  As members of him, this is our purpose as well, to glorify the Father.  We do not do this on our own or independently of the Son but in the Son, as his disciples, made members of his Body.  This is a great calling that has been given to us: to share in the work of the Son, and it is in the glorifying of the Father with him that we shall find our greatest joy.