2007년 5월 9일 부활 제5주간 수요일 제1독서 사도행전 15,1-6 복음 요한 15,1-8 May 9, 2007 Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter Reading 1 Commentary Controversy and dissension arise because some people want to enforce Jewish law/custom on the new believers. Paul and Barnabas begin the journey back to Jerusalem, stopping along the way to tell the churches what has happened and all that has been accomplished. And immediately in Jerusalem they are interrupted with some insisting that the new converts be circumcised according to Mosaic law. The apostles and elders convene to look into the issue. Since the beginning the Church has had to deal with people who insist on their version of life that is not found in anything that Jesus ever did or said. But the church must look at these issues and decide with the power of the Spirit what is true to Jesus' Word. Jesus tells his disciples that we must be pruned and all the barren branches cut away so that the fruit can grow. We live in the vine that belongs to the Father, the vinegrower, and we can only bear fruit if we live in God. Apart from God, we are withered and lifeless, without fruit. In bearing fruit we glorify God and it is in the fruit of our works that we learn what is of God and what is simply human beings' agenda. I grew up with a traditional Catholic childhood. The Baltimore Catechism was the standard of religious education for my first four years of grade school. The impact of the Second Vatican Council arrived when I was in the fifth grade. The textbooks for religion class changed from memorization lists to sources of open-ended questions. Today’s readings seem to call me to wonder about the comforts of an “old” faith. The passage from Acts and the Gospel also take me in a second direction. They reveal a challenge which is present in our faith tradition, even from the times of the early church. I find it interesting and encouraging that the early church leaders embraced discussion, a desire to better understand and a willingness to address matters of religious practice with the larger community. Although there may not be an inherent desire for change, there seems to be an inherent willingness to change. The Gospel even seems to demand a change. The image of the vine in the Gospel seems to wed these two seemly disparate views. When I think of the vineyards I see a special kind of growth. It is not freestanding and independent. The vine attaches itself to the supports that are present. The vine is stronger because it holds on. Still the vine is dynamic, growing rapidly and exploring new territory. To me the vine symbolizes a development that is constantly reaching out and adding to the body that it embraces. Today I pray in gratitude for my tradition, but I also pray for the openness and desire to grow. I pray for a better understanding of my roots. I pray for the ability to build on the strengths of these roots. I pray for the willingness to become more encompassing. by The vine symbolised Israel. “You brought a vine out of Egypt” (Psalm 79). Isaiah used this image in his ‘Song of the Vineyard’ (5:1-7); also Jeremiah (6:9). In almost every use of this image in the Old Testament it is said that despite his care for his vineyard God got sour grapes from it. When Jesus says “I am the true vine,” he is saying that he is the true Israel. With him, his disciples are the new community (“You are the branches”). This is not a rejection of Judaism but its fulfilment in its Messiah. He was speaking to people who were Jews, every one. He was contrasting himself, not with Judaism as such but with the official Judaism as represented by the Jewish leaders who had rejected him. But simply to be a branch of the true vine is not enough: his disciples have to be fruit-bearing branches. What is this fruit? “ He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” Why does Jesus speak of himself as the true vine? The image of the vine was a rich one for the Jews since the land of Israel was covered with numerous vineyards. It had religious connotations to it as well. Isaiah spoke of the house of Israel as “the vineyard of the Lord” (Isaiah 5:7). Jeremiah said that God had planted Israel “as his choice vine” (Jeremiah 2:21). While the vine became a symbol of Israel as a nation, it also was used in the scriptures as a sign of degeneration. Isaiah’s prophecy spoke of Israel as a vineyard which “yielded wild grapes” (see Isaiah 5:1-7). Jeremiah said that Israel had become a “degenerate and wild vine” (Jeremiah 2:21). When Jesus calls himself the true vine he makes clear that no one can claim their spiritual inheritance through association with a particular people or bloodline. Rather, it is only through Jesus Christ that one can become grafted into the true “vineyard of the Lord”. Jesus offers true life -- the abundant life which comes from God and which results in great fruitfulness. How does the vine become fruitful? The vinedresser must carefully prune the vine before it can bear good fruit. Vines characteristically have two kinds of branches -- those which bear fruit and those which don’t. The non-bearing branches must be carefully pruned back in order for the vine to conserve its strength for bearing good fruit. Jesus used this image to describe the kind of life he produces in those who are united with him -- the fruit of “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). Jesus says there can be no fruit in our lives apart from him. The fruit he speaks of here is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23).
There is a simple truth here: We are either fruit-bearing or non-fruit-bearing. There is no in-between. But the bearing of healthy fruit requires drastic pruning. The Lord promises that we will bear much fruit if we abide in him and allow him to purify us. Do you trust in the Lord's abiding presence with you?
"Lord, may I be one with you in all that I say and do. Draw me close that I may glorify you and bear fruit for your kingdom. Inflame my heart with your love and remove from it anything that would make me ineffective or unfruitful in loving and serving you as My All."
Psalm 122:1-5
1 I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!" TO YIELD FRUIT, YIELD Praise: John is able to minister fruitfully to others because he takes time for Masses and eucharistic adoration. «Live in me as I live in you» Today, once more, we may see Jesus surrounded by the Apostles in an atmosphere of especial intimacy. He is giving them what we could consider as his final recommendations: what is normally said in the last moment, in the last farewell; that which has an especial force, as if it would be the last will. We imagine them in the cenacle. Jesus has washed their feet there, has announced them again He must go, has transmitted them his command of fraternal love and has consoled them with the gift of the Eucharistic and the promise of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 14). And, well ahead this 15th chapter of John's Gospel we now find the exhortation to unity within charity. Our Lord does not hide to his disciples all the dangers and difficulties they will have to face in the near future: «If they persecuted Me they will persecute you...» (Jn 15:20). But they should not be intimidated nor overwhelmed by all the hate they will find in this world: Jesus renews his promise of the arrival of the Protector, while assuring them they may ask and they will be given. Finally, the Lord prays for them —for all of us— to the Holy Father during his priestly prayer (cf. Jn 17). But our danger does not come from outside, though: the worst menace may arise within ourselves when we fail to respect the fraternal love among the members of Christ's Mystic Body or the unity with the Head of that Body. The recommendation is clear: «I am the vine and you are the branches. As long as you remain in me and I in you, you bear much fruit; but apart from me you can do nothing» (Jn 15:5). The first generations of Christians managed to keep a very clear conscience of the importance of remaining united through charity. Here is the testimony of one the Fathers of the Church, saint Ignatius of Antioch: «Do you therefore all run together as into one temple of God, as to one altar, as to one Jesus Christ, who came forth from one Father». And here is also an indication from the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Christians: «Whatsoever he said unto you, do [it]» (Jn 2:5). St. Paul had constant problems with “Judaizers.” These persons may have accepted Jesus as Messiah, but they believed that everyone had to follow the Law of Moses. This meant that Gentiles had to be circumcised, and had to practice the 613 precepts of the Torah. In other words, you had to be a Jew before you were a Christian. Paul always proclaimed that we were freed from the Law of Moses. Even though he himself probably kept kosher, he held that all are saved by the mercy of God as shown in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has replaced the Torah. He, not the Torah, is the fullness of God’s revelation. We expect no other savior than he. Prayer is the conscious ｅxpression of union with God like a branch in union with the vine. Prayer is also pruning. There is a dual motion in God's embracing of us in prayer. First, he allows us to penetrate into the very
그 무렵 1 유다에서 어떤 사람들이 내려와, “모세의 관습에 따라 할례를 받지 않으면 여러분은 구원을 받을 수 없습니다.” 하고 형제들을 가르쳤다. 2 그리하여 바오로와 바르나바 두 사람과 그들 사이에 적지 않은 분쟁과 논란이 일어나, 그 문제 때문에 바오로와 바르나바와 신자들 가운데 다른 몇 사람이 예루살렘에 있는 사도들과 원로들에게 올라가기로 하였다.
3 이렇게 안티오키아 교회에서 파견된 그들은 페니키아와 사마리아를 거쳐 가면서, 다른 민족들이 하느님께 돌아선 이야기를 해 주어 모든 형제에게 큰 기쁨을 주었다. 4 그들은 예루살렘에 도착하여 교회와 사도들과 원로들의 영접을 받고, 하느님께서 자기들과 함께 해 주신 모든 일을 보고하였다.
5 그런데 바리사이파에 속하였다가 믿게 된 사람 몇이 나서서, “그들에게 할례를 베풀고 또 모세의 율법을 지키라고 명령해야 합니다.” 하고 말하였다. 6 사도들과 원로들이 이 문제를 검토하려고 모였다.
그때에 예수님께서 제자들에게 말씀하셨다.
1 “나는 참포도나무요 나의 아버지는 농부이시다. 2 나에게 붙어 있으면서 열매를 맺지 않는 가지는 아버지께서 다 쳐내시고, 열매를 맺는 가지는 모두 깨끗이 손질하시어 더 많은 열매를 맺게 하신다.
3 너희는 내가 너희에게 한 말로 이미 깨끗하게 되었다. 4 내 안에 머물러라. 나도 너희 안에 머무르겠다. 가지가 포도나무에 붙어 있지 않으면 스스로 열매를 맺을 수 없는 것처럼, 너희도 내 안에 머무르지 않으면 열매를 맺지 못한다.
5 나는 포도나무요 너희는 가지다. 내 안에 머무르고 나도 그 안에 머무르는 사람은 많은 열매를 맺는다. 너희는 나 없이 아무것도 하지 못한다.
6 내 안에 머무르지 않으면 잘린 가지처럼 밖에 던져져 말라 버린다. 그러면 사람들이 그런 가지들을 모아 불에 던져 태워 버린다.
7 너희가 내 안에 머무르고 내 말이 너희 안에 머무르면, 너희가 원하는 것은 무엇이든지 청하여라. 너희에게 그대로 이루어질 것이다.
8 너희가 많은 열매를 맺고 내 제자가 되면, 그것으로 내 아버지께서 영광스럽게 되실 것이다.”
Acts 15:1-6
Some who had come down from Judea were instructing the brothers,
“Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice,
you cannot be saved.”
Because there arose no little dissension and debate
by Paul and Barnabas with them,
it was decided that Paul, Barnabas, and some of the others
should go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and presbyters
about this question.
They were sent on their journey by the Church,
and passed through Phoenicia and Samaria
telling of the conversion of the Gentiles,
and brought great joy to all the brethren.
When they arrived in Jerusalem,
they were welcomed by the Church,
as well as by the Apostles and the presbyters,
and they reported what God had done with them.
But some from the party of the Pharisees who had become believers
stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them
and direct them to observe the Mosaic law.”
The Apostles and the presbyters met together to see about this matter.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 122:1-2, 3-4ab, 4cd-5
R. (see 1) Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
“We will go up to the house of the LORD.”
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
According to the decree for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Gospel
Jn 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.”
The nuns had ingrained habits that I retain today. In grade school we prayed everywhere and often. Nothing was too mundane. These habits persist. I am aware of the many times each week I continue to go to God in prayer asking for intervention for my family. (I pray that my teenage son gets home safely. I pray that I find my car keys. I pray that my older son succeeds in his coursework while away at school. I pray that my wife overcomes a difficulty at work.) I think about how powerful intermittent positive reinforcement is establishing a behavior. I become trained in a way of doing things. Sticking with something good is easier and more pleasant than venturing into the new. I can relate to the desire of some in the early church to stick with the ritual that had been learned, the ritual that had become part of the culture. In the first reading I see two different worlds clashing, both with the thought that the way in which they are accustomed is the way to proceed. The first reading, the responsorial psalm and the Gospel leave me with some satisfaction with sticking to a tradition. I think back to the turmoil as we underwent the transition to the world of the Second Vatican Council and compare it to today’s first reading.
Michael Cherney
Physics Department
I remember many intense discussions, decades ago, of the question whether there is a specifically Christian ethics. Remarkably, many contributors seemed to understand by ‘ethics’ a set of rules of behaviour. Combing through the New Testament they found little that could not be described as general rules: be meek and humble, be a peacemaker, love your neighbour, pay your taxes, etc. Some concluded that we cannot speak of a specifically Christian ethics, but rather of a new dynamism suffusing all ethics. This revealed less about the New Testament than about the presuppositions of the enquirers. It was reminiscent of the Victorians’ admiration for the “moral earnestness” of Jesus. But Jesus’ statement “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10) was not about any kind of life. He did not come to enhance the life we have already, to patch us up and put new wine in old wineskins. He came to make us sharers in the divine life by knowledge of God and the kind of love that is ‘agape’. “May they be one in us, as you are in me and I am in you” (John 17:21). This is the fruit that a disciple bears. It is the only evidence that one is a disciple (John 13:35; 14:21).
2 Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!
3 Jerusalem, built as a city which is bound firmly together,
4 to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
5 There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David.
'The fruitful ones He trims clean to increase their yield.' John 15:2
Disciples of Jesus bear a lot of fruit, and they can grow weary. They need energy, because they are consumed as they live out their calling. A major battleground of a veteran disciple is the temptation to invest time in people or things they enjoy, which 'give them life' and re-energize them. After a while, the disciple can find himself or herself starting to be energized enough by this source that they come to it to get energized instead of coming to Jesus (cf Mt 11:28). At this point, the activity has become a 'sucker branch' that not only bears no fruit, it also consumes the disciple's time so they don't have much time or energy to bear fruit.
These activities may be good things or even a religious activity. Yet if we won't yield these activities to the will of God for the purpose of bearing fruit, the Father will soon come with a sharp sickle to cut them off. 'He prunes away every barren branch' (Jn 15:2) from our life. He insists we bear fruit for His glory (Jn 15:8). Anything that keeps us from bearing fruit has to go. Whatever doesn't help bear fruit will soon wither and die (Jn 15:6; Mt 21:19).
Jesus is the Vine, our Energy, and our Strength (Ps 18:2). He knows we grow weary, so He invites us to come to Him to be refreshed (Mt 11:28). He consumes us (Heb 12:29). However, as we are consumed by Him, we are not burnt out (see Ex 3:2). Instead, we receive sustaining energy (Col 1:29; Heb 1:3) and new life (Jn 10:10). In Jesus, the Source of our strength, we have strength for everything (Phil 4:13).
Prayer: Jesus, when I get tired for You, may I never get tired of You. Blow a cool, refreshing wind of the Spirit in my life so that I may bear abundant, enduring fruit for Your glory (Jn 15:8, 16).
Promise: 'He who lives in Me and I in Him, will produce abundantly, for apart from Me you can do nothing.' Jn 15:5
From time to time in the history of the Church, people have tried to impose added burdens on others as a criterion of “being saved.” Unless you are a member of this or that organization, you are just not a good Catholic. Unless you practice this or that devotion, you are just not quite a first class Catholics. Let us be very careful that we do not follow the Pharisees who heaped heavy burdens on the shoulders of others.
In the gospel, Jesus proclaims that he is the vine; we are the branches. We receive our life from our union with him. We share the life of God by being fruitful branches of the Christ vine.
제1독서
사도행전 15,1-6
그 무렵 1 유다에서 어떤 사람들이 내려와, “모세의 관습에 따라 할례를 받지 않으면 여러분은 구원을 받을 수 없습니다.” 하고 형제들을 가르쳤다. 2 그리하여 바오로와 바르나바 두 사람과 그들 사이에 적지 않은 분쟁과 논란이 일어나, 그 문제 때문에 바오로와 바르나바와 신자들 가운데 다른 몇 사람이 예루살렘에 있는 사도들과 원로들에게 올라가기로 하였다.
3 이렇게 안티오키아 교회에서 파견된 그들은 페니키아와 사마리아를 거쳐 가면서, 다른 민족들이 하느님께 돌아선 이야기를 해 주어 모든 형제에게 큰 기쁨을 주었다. 4 그들은 예루살렘에 도착하여 교회와 사도들과 원로들의 영접을 받고, 하느님께서 자기들과 함께 해 주신 모든 일을 보고하였다.
5 그런데 바리사이파에 속하였다가 믿게 된 사람 몇이 나서서, “그들에게 할례를 베풀고 또 모세의 율법을 지키라고 명령해야 합니다.” 하고 말하였다. 6 사도들과 원로들이 이 문제를 검토하려고 모였다.
복음
요한 15,1-8
그때에 예수님께서 제자들에게 말씀하셨다.
1 “나는 참포도나무요 나의 아버지는 농부이시다. 2 나에게 붙어 있으면서 열매를 맺지 않는 가지는 아버지께서 다 쳐내시고, 열매를 맺는 가지는 모두 깨끗이 손질하시어 더 많은 열매를 맺게 하신다.
3 너희는 내가 너희에게 한 말로 이미 깨끗하게 되었다. 4 내 안에 머물러라. 나도 너희 안에 머무르겠다. 가지가 포도나무에 붙어 있지 않으면 스스로 열매를 맺을 수 없는 것처럼, 너희도 내 안에 머무르지 않으면 열매를 맺지 못한다.
5 나는 포도나무요 너희는 가지다. 내 안에 머무르고 나도 그 안에 머무르는 사람은 많은 열매를 맺는다. 너희는 나 없이 아무것도 하지 못한다.
6 내 안에 머무르지 않으면 잘린 가지처럼 밖에 던져져 말라 버린다. 그러면 사람들이 그런 가지들을 모아 불에 던져 태워 버린다.
7 너희가 내 안에 머무르고 내 말이 너희 안에 머무르면, 너희가 원하는 것은 무엇이든지 청하여라. 너희에게 그대로 이루어질 것이다.
8 너희가 많은 열매를 맺고 내 제자가 되면, 그것으로 내 아버지께서 영광스럽게 되실 것이다.”
May 9, 2007
Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Reading 1
Acts 15:1-6
Some who had come down from Judea were instructing the brothers,
“Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice,
you cannot be saved.”
Because there arose no little dissension and debate
by Paul and Barnabas with them,
it was decided that Paul, Barnabas, and some of the others
should go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and presbyters
about this question.
They were sent on their journey by the Church,
and passed through Phoenicia and Samaria
telling of the conversion of the Gentiles,
and brought great joy to all the brethren.
When they arrived in Jerusalem,
they were welcomed by the Church,
as well as by the Apostles and the presbyters,
and they reported what God had done with them.
But some from the party of the Pharisees who had become believers
stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them
and direct them to observe the Mosaic law.”
The Apostles and the presbyters met together to see about this matter.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 122:1-2, 3-4ab, 4cd-5
R. (see 1) Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
“We will go up to the house of the LORD.”
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
According to the decree for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Gospel
Jn 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.”
Commentary
Controversy and dissension arise because some people want to enforce Jewish law/custom on the new believers. Paul and Barnabas begin the journey back to Jerusalem, stopping along the way to tell the churches what has happened and all that has been accomplished. And immediately in Jerusalem they are interrupted with some insisting that the new converts be circumcised according to Mosaic law. The apostles and elders convene to look into the issue. Since the beginning the Church has had to deal with people who insist on their version of life that is not found in anything that Jesus ever did or said. But the church must look at these issues and decide with the power of the Spirit what is true to Jesus' Word.
Jesus tells his disciples that we must be pruned and all the barren branches cut away so that the fruit can grow. We live in the vine that belongs to the Father, the vinegrower, and we can only bear fruit if we live in God. Apart from God, we are withered and lifeless, without fruit. In bearing fruit we glorify God and it is in the fruit of our works that we learn what is of God and what is simply human beings' agenda.
I grew up with a traditional Catholic childhood. The Baltimore Catechism was the standard of religious education for my first four years of grade school. The impact of the Second Vatican Council arrived when I was in the fifth grade. The textbooks for religion class changed from memorization lists to sources of open-ended questions. Today’s readings seem to call me to wonder about the comforts of an “old” faith.
The nuns had ingrained habits that I retain today. In grade school we prayed everywhere and often. Nothing was too mundane. These habits persist. I am aware of the many times each week I continue to go to God in prayer asking for intervention for my family. (I pray that my teenage son gets home safely. I pray that I find my car keys. I pray that my older son succeeds in his coursework while away at school. I pray that my wife overcomes a difficulty at work.) I think about how powerful intermittent positive reinforcement is establishing a behavior. I become trained in a way of doing things. Sticking with something good is easier and more pleasant than venturing into the new. I can relate to the desire of some in the early church to stick with the ritual that had been learned, the ritual that had become part of the culture. In the first reading I see two different worlds clashing, both with the thought that the way in which they are accustomed is the way to proceed. The first reading, the responsorial psalm and the Gospel leave me with some satisfaction with sticking to a tradition. I think back to the turmoil as we underwent the transition to the world of the Second Vatican Council and compare it to today’s first reading.
The passage from Acts and the Gospel also take me in a second direction. They reveal a challenge which is present in our faith tradition, even from the times of the early church. I find it interesting and encouraging that the early church leaders embraced discussion, a desire to better understand and a willingness to address matters of religious practice with the larger community. Although there may not be an inherent desire for change, there seems to be an inherent willingness to change. The Gospel even seems to demand a change.
The image of the vine in the Gospel seems to wed these two seemly disparate views. When I think of the vineyards I see a special kind of growth. It is not freestanding and independent. The vine attaches itself to the supports that are present. The vine is stronger because it holds on. Still the vine is dynamic, growing rapidly and exploring new territory. To me the vine symbolizes a development that is constantly reaching out and adding to the body that it embraces.
Today I pray in gratitude for my tradition, but I also pray for the openness and desire to grow. I pray for a better understanding of my roots. I pray for the ability to build on the strengths of these roots. I pray for the willingness to become more encompassing.
by
Michael Cherney
Physics Department
The vine symbolised Israel. “You brought a vine out of Egypt” (Psalm 79). Isaiah used this image in his ‘Song of the Vineyard’ (5:1-7); also Jeremiah (6:9). In almost every use of this image in the Old Testament it is said that despite his care for his vineyard God got sour grapes from it. When Jesus says “I am the true vine,” he is saying that he is the true Israel. With him, his disciples are the new community (“You are the branches”). This is not a rejection of Judaism but its fulfilment in its Messiah. He was speaking to people who were Jews, every one. He was contrasting himself, not with Judaism as such but with the official Judaism as represented by the Jewish leaders who had rejected him. But simply to be a branch of the true vine is not enough: his disciples have to be fruit-bearing branches. What is this fruit?
I remember many intense discussions, decades ago, of the question whether there is a specifically Christian ethics. Remarkably, many contributors seemed to understand by ‘ethics’ a set of rules of behaviour. Combing through the New Testament they found little that could not be described as general rules: be meek and humble, be a peacemaker, love your neighbour, pay your taxes, etc. Some concluded that we cannot speak of a specifically Christian ethics, but rather of a new dynamism suffusing all ethics. This revealed less about the New Testament than about the presuppositions of the enquirers. It was reminiscent of the Victorians’ admiration for the “moral earnestness” of Jesus. But Jesus’ statement “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10) was not about any kind of life. He did not come to enhance the life we have already, to patch us up and put new wine in old wineskins. He came to make us sharers in the divine life by knowledge of God and the kind of love that is ‘agape’. “May they be one in us, as you are in me and I am in you” (John 17:21). This is the fruit that a disciple bears. It is the only evidence that one is a disciple (John 13:35; 14:21).
“ He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit”
Why does Jesus speak of himself as the true vine? The image of the vine was a rich one for the Jews since the land of Israel was covered with numerous vineyards. It had religious connotations to it as well. Isaiah spoke of the house of Israel as “the vineyard of the Lord” (Isaiah 5:7). Jeremiah said that God had planted Israel “as his choice vine” (Jeremiah 2:21). While the vine became a symbol of Israel as a nation, it also was used in the scriptures as a sign of degeneration. Isaiah’s prophecy spoke of Israel as a vineyard which “yielded wild grapes” (see Isaiah 5:1-7). Jeremiah said that Israel had become a “degenerate and wild vine” (Jeremiah 2:21). When Jesus calls himself the true vine he makes clear that no one can claim their spiritual inheritance through association with a particular people or bloodline. Rather, it is only through Jesus Christ that one can become grafted into the true “vineyard of the Lord”.
Jesus offers true life -- the abundant life which comes from God and which results in great fruitfulness. How does the vine become fruitful? The vinedresser must carefully prune the vine before it can bear good fruit. Vines characteristically have two kinds of branches -- those which bear fruit and those which don’t. The non-bearing branches must be carefully pruned back in order for the vine to conserve its strength for bearing good fruit. Jesus used this image to describe the kind of life he produces in those who are united with him -- the fruit of “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). Jesus says there can be no fruit in our lives apart from him. The fruit he speaks of here is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23).
There is a simple truth here: We are either fruit-bearing or non-fruit-bearing. There is no in-between. But the bearing of healthy fruit requires drastic pruning. The Lord promises that we will bear much fruit if we abide in him and allow him to purify us. Do you trust in the Lord's abiding presence with you?
"Lord, may I be one with you in all that I say and do. Draw me close that I may glorify you and bear fruit for your kingdom. Inflame my heart with your love and remove from it anything that would make me ineffective or unfruitful in loving and serving you as My All."
Psalm 122:1-5
1 I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!"
2 Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!
3 Jerusalem, built as a city which is bound firmly together,
4 to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
5 There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David.
TO YIELD FRUIT, YIELD
'The fruitful ones He trims clean to increase their yield.' John 15:2
Disciples of Jesus bear a lot of fruit, and they can grow weary. They need energy, because they are consumed as they live out their calling. A major battleground of a veteran disciple is the temptation to invest time in people or things they enjoy, which 'give them life' and re-energize them. After a while, the disciple can find himself or herself starting to be energized enough by this source that they come to it to get energized instead of coming to Jesus (cf Mt 11:28). At this point, the activity has become a 'sucker branch' that not only bears no fruit, it also consumes the disciple's time so they don't have much time or energy to bear fruit.
These activities may be good things or even a religious activity. Yet if we won't yield these activities to the will of God for the purpose of bearing fruit, the Father will soon come with a sharp sickle to cut them off. 'He prunes away every barren branch' (Jn 15:2) from our life. He insists we bear fruit for His glory (Jn 15:8). Anything that keeps us from bearing fruit has to go. Whatever doesn't help bear fruit will soon wither and die (Jn 15:6; Mt 21:19).
Jesus is the Vine, our Energy, and our Strength (Ps 18:2). He knows we grow weary, so He invites us to come to Him to be refreshed (Mt 11:28). He consumes us (Heb 12:29). However, as we are consumed by Him, we are not burnt out (see Ex 3:2). Instead, we receive sustaining energy (Col 1:29; Heb 1:3) and new life (Jn 10:10). In Jesus, the Source of our strength, we have strength for everything (Phil 4:13).
Praise: John is able to minister fruitfully to others because he takes time for Masses and eucharistic adoration.
Prayer: Jesus, when I get tired for You, may I never get tired of You. Blow a cool, refreshing wind of the Spirit in my life so that I may bear abundant, enduring fruit for Your glory (Jn 15:8, 16).
Promise: 'He who lives in Me and I in Him, will produce abundantly, for apart from Me you can do nothing.' Jn 15:5
«Live in me as I live in you»
Today, once more, we may see Jesus surrounded by the Apostles in an atmosphere of especial intimacy. He is giving them what we could consider as his final recommendations: what is normally said in the last moment, in the last farewell; that which has an especial force, as if it would be the last will.
We imagine them in the cenacle. Jesus has washed their feet there, has announced them again He must go, has transmitted them his command of fraternal love and has consoled them with the gift of the Eucharistic and the promise of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 14). And, well ahead this 15th chapter of John's Gospel we now find the exhortation to unity within charity.
Our Lord does not hide to his disciples all the dangers and difficulties they will have to face in the near future: «If they persecuted Me they will persecute you...» (Jn 15:20). But they should not be intimidated nor overwhelmed by all the hate they will find in this world: Jesus renews his promise of the arrival of the Protector, while assuring them they may ask and they will be given. Finally, the Lord prays for them —for all of us— to the Holy Father during his priestly prayer (cf. Jn 17).
But our danger does not come from outside, though: the worst menace may arise within ourselves when we fail to respect the fraternal love among the members of Christ's Mystic Body or the unity with the Head of that Body. The recommendation is clear: «I am the vine and you are the branches. As long as you remain in me and I in you, you bear much fruit; but apart from me you can do nothing» (Jn 15:5).
The first generations of Christians managed to keep a very clear conscience of the importance of remaining united through charity. Here is the testimony of one the Fathers of the Church, saint Ignatius of Antioch: «Do you therefore all run together as into one temple of God, as to one altar, as to one Jesus Christ, who came forth from one Father». And here is also an indication from the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Christians: «Whatsoever he said unto you, do [it]» (Jn 2:5).
St. Paul had constant problems with “Judaizers.” These persons may have accepted Jesus as Messiah, but they believed that everyone had to follow the Law of Moses. This meant that Gentiles had to be circumcised, and had to practice the 613 precepts of the Torah. In other words, you had to be a Jew before you were a Christian. Paul always proclaimed that we were freed from the Law of Moses. Even though he himself probably kept kosher, he held that all are saved by the mercy of God as shown in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has replaced the Torah. He, not the Torah, is the fullness of God’s revelation. We expect no other savior than he.
From time to time in the history of the Church, people have tried to impose added burdens on others as a criterion of “being saved.” Unless you are a member of this or that organization, you are just not a good Catholic. Unless you practice this or that devotion, you are just not quite a first class Catholics. Let us be very careful that we do not follow the Pharisees who heaped heavy burdens on the shoulders of others.
In the gospel, Jesus proclaims that he is the vine; we are the branches. We receive our life from our union with him. We share the life of God by being fruitful branches of the Christ vine.
Prayer is the conscious ｅxpression of union with God like a branch in union with the vine. Prayer is also pruning. There is a dual motion in God's embracing of us in prayer. First, he allows us to penetrate into the very
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