From the Priests' Desk
April 28, 2024
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Jesus is telling us today, without him, all of our lives would go nowhere. He tells us: “Without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither.” When we grow up and leave home, our love and our connection with our own. It can never be that way with Jesus. We need our Lord when we are 60 or 70 as much as when we are 6 or 7. We need him all the time. If we reflect deeply, we know there is a power greater than ourselves that we depend on and that we constantly need to sustain us. We are connected with that power through Jesus, the true vine.
The prophets, hundreds of years before Christ, used the vineyard as an image of Israel. Just as a farmer would cultivate his vineyard and care for it and expect to harvest grapes from it, so God would care for his people and expect good works from them: devout worship, obedience to his commandments, justice and love for the poor and vulnerable. Jesus is telling us today that through our union with him we are God’s people.
Jesus has tried to tell us that in many ways. I would like to mention just five statements where Jesus uses metaphors that tell us how important it is that we remain united with him. Notice each of these begins with the words: “I am”. Last Sunday, we heard him tell us “I am the good Shepherd”. “I am the light of the world”. “I am the bread of life”. “I am the resurrection and the life”. And we heard today: “I am the true vine”. If we had time we could reflect upon how vital each of these items is: shepherd for sheep, light and food for us, the vine for one of its branches. Since vine and branches are the theme of today’s gospel, let us stay with that image.
A vine is an organic structure that is nurtured by the rain and the sun; it is fed by the sap that flows through the stem and the branches; it grows and produces fruit. Jesus tells us he is the true vine, drawing life from the Father and communicating that life to all those who remain united with him. In other words there is a mysterious, living connection between each of us and Christ and a mysterious and living connection uniting us with one another through our union with Christ.
St. Paul used a similar metaphor when he wrote that we are the body of Christ. He tells us Christ is head of the body and we are the members. We are feet, hands, arms, legs, etc… through whom Christ lives in the world today. We are united with Christ and with each other through the Spirit. This is not a connection we can examine under a microscope or test for in any other way, other than the test Jesus gave us when he said “by their fruits you will know them.” The way we live our lives shows whether we live in Christ or not.
Fr. John Phan
