Homily Easter 5B: Remaining in Jesus to produce good fruit

 Homily for Easter – 5^th Sunday Year B 2021

Acts 9:26-31; 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8

Introduction

Jesus in today's gospel continues to use another agricultural image to teach his disciples.  Last Sunday he used the image of the shepherd’s care for his sheep, to teach that he, the Good Shepherd, loves his disciples.  Today he uses the image of the vine, its branches and the vine grower, to teach about the intimate bond between God and his people.

With this image of the vine, Jesus teaches three important bonds:

·        The relationship between God the Father and Jesus

·        The relationship between Jesus and his disciples

·        The relationship between the disciples and the Father

Scripture and Theology

First, when Jesus announces that "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower,” he is revealing that his work, his teaching, his very being is dependent on God the Father.  The Father has sent him; the Father continues to guide him; the Father continues to tell him what to say and do.

This image of God as the vine grower was used already in the Old Testament.  The Prophets, especially Jeremiah and Isaiah lamented that the vine, Israel, had failed to provide good fruit to the vine grower, God.  Instead, by their sinfulness they were producing sour grapes.  Now with Jesus as the vine, there is hope that this time round, good fruit will be produced, because Jesus and the Father have a close bond and relationship. Jesus is the kind of vine that makes use of all the fertilizing and propping that the owner provides and produces good fruit.

The second relationship then is that between Jesus and his disciples.  That is why he says: “I am the vine, you are the branches.” This time the relationship is not compared to that between the plant and its owner, but between the main stalk of the vine and the branches attached to it.  Jesus is the stalk whose roots are anchored in the soil; he is the part to whom all the branches are attached and from whom they draw their nutrition and life.

Having grown up in a tropical climate, I am not really familiar with vines and vine branches.  But I recently visited some friends who own a farm in Mississippi, and the gentleman showed me some of his fruit trees and how he grafts one branch on another.  He took a small shoot from a tree and joined it to the seedling that had already germinated and had strong roots.  Moreover, he said that the species onto which he grafted the small branch was more resilient in the soil and temperature of the area; so that the bud had a greater chance of surviving by being grafted into it.  And it would grow into a beautiful tree with plenty of fruit.  That is why as Christians we must remain attached to Jesus, to continue receiving nourishment and producing spiritual fruit.

The third relationship Jesus speaks of is that between the disciples and the Father.  Jesus says of his Father: “He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.”  It is not enough to be attached to Jesus in the manner a branch is attached to tree.  The branches need continual care. It is the Father’s job is to do so, for example, by pruning the branches.  When we prune flowers in our gardens, we cut off unwanted shoots and leaves.  Pruning a plant might be considered an assault on the plant, cutting off some of its parts.  But actually, the wine growers pruned the vines especially in the first few years to allow them to spread out and produce better fruit; and every year they continued to prune them.

As pruning, though painful, is necessary for the growth of the plant, so is a certain amount of suffering on the part of the Christian’s life.  Besides the redemptive ways, through which the suffering of our human condition such as sickness or death can nourish us, the suffering that comes from separating ourselves from evil is a kind of pruning.  Like pruning a plant takes away unwanted shoots and leaves, conversion allows us to remove sinful habits and activities that might stop us from continuing to grow in holiness.

Christian Life

There is one more verse that that directly provides a practical way for us to apply this message.  Jesus says: “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing."

We can think of our lives as Christians as being like the branches of this Christian tree, and our purpose of being is to produce good and much fruit.  We were created for a reason – to produce much fruit.  We became Christians for a reason – to produce good fruit.  And what is that fruit?

While I like new Catechism, especially because it is very detailed and comprehensive, sometimes I like to go back to the Baltimore Catechism, which puts things in rather simple and straightforward language.  So, for example, Question #6 asks: "Why did God make you?"  And the answer is: "God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven."  And so, one could say, that knowing and loving God, serving him in this world and being happy with him forever in heaven is the good fruit that we are supposed to produce.  And in today's gospel, Jesus tells us that this is possible, only if we remain in him and he in us.

If the image of the vine is too agricultural for us city people to understand this message, let us think of the wires bringing electricity, the internet and cable into our house and the further connections within the house.  Like the branches need to connect to the vine for nourishment and life, our house must be connected to the main supply, if we are to have any electricity, internet and cable.  When we don’t pay the bill, the company cuts the connection and we are plunged in darkness.   Similarly, when we don’t pay attention to Jesus’ teaching in his Word and the Sacraments, we are plunged in darkness.

And so, remaining in Jesus means for us remaining faithful to his Word and to the Sacraments, so that we can then produce good fruit in our lives.  Today, that Word and those sacraments are mediated to us by the Church.  Even the great St. Paul the apostle to the Gentiles, as we heard in the first reading, had first to go to the Church, to receive the Word and Sacraments.  But first he was sent off to Tarsus.  Although he probably wanted to begin preaching the gospel, he had to be obedient to the Church, which provided his connection with Christ.  And indeed, he was to remain in Tarsus, out of commission, for about ten years.  It was like putting your best football player on the bench for the whole season, perhaps so that he might heal.  For Paul, it was to get ready for his mission.

Conclusion

Our connection with Jesus in the Church today comes primarily through the going to Mass on Sunday.  For the past year, we have had the obligation to attend Mass lifted for the very pro-life reason of protecting our most vulnerable people from the deadly COVID-19 illness.  Thankfully we seem to have turned the corner on this pandemic and so can return to Mass again.  As you know, in this diocese, the obligation to attend Sunday Mass will resume on June 6.

But it is not merely a legal obligation.  Coming to Mass on Sunday is our way of being joined to Christ the Vine tree.  As the saying goes, the apple does not fall far from the tree, meaning that good fruit will often come from a good tree, and bad fruit from a bad tree.  The tree onto which we are grated is a good Tree, the Cross of Jesus Christ.  May our continued commitment to the Mass and the Sacraments, help us remain grafted onto Jesus and produce good apples.  For attached to Jesus the Vine Tree, we shall produce good fruit.