5th Sunday of Easter
Acts 9:26-31 1 John 3:18-24 John 15:1-8
The Gospel today is the 2nd part of the discourse to the Apostles given by Jesus at the Last Supper. In the 1st part of this discourse Jesus firstly told the Apostles that “I am with you only a little while longer” and then He went on to assure them “I go to prepare a place for you” and that He himself is “Way” to that place. His assurance to them is that He will not leave them orphans but that “I will send you the Advocate, the Spirit”. Despite all of these promises and using the wonderful images, like the ‘Good Shepherd’, to describe himself, it seemed that the disciples still had doubts and questions. To the searching question of Philip Jesus answers “Have I been with you all this time and you still do not know me?”
Was the Lord getting impatient with his chosen ones? Now he would use an allegory which they would surely understand. He would refer to the vine in stone which was carved on the façade of their Temple. This carved vine symbolised Israel, God’s people. The carving was adorned in gold and rich businessmen considered it a great honour to have contributed the gold to extend and decorate it – it was a symbol of the growth of the people of Israel. So, Jesus would present himself as the vine and anyone who is part of that vine will bear fruit.
By using this allegory of the Vine, the three main themes of the Last Supper discourse are summed up for us: Although Jesus is about to depart physically, His work will continue: The disciples are commissioned to carry on his work: They will receive divine energy (or sap) for the task.
Plants that bear fruit need pruning! There are two reasons for pruning; to cut away dead or useless branches and to cut back good branches to make them stronger and able to bear more fruit. This is the way it is to be with the disciples, the branches of the vine which is the Lord himself. Judas, the useless branch has been pruned away and when Jesus is taken away from the other disciples the Spirit will come to give them greater strength and energy and bring forth more fruit. The sort of fruit that they will produce is this, as shown by Saint John in our 2nd Reading today, “His commandments are these: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another” (1 John 3:23)
Saint Paul is put before us in today’s 1st Reading to show us how this works. Paul is called by the Lord and identified as a branch of the vine. Paul immediately wishes to bear fruit and he brings his own natural gifts of learning and wisdom to proclaim the Risen Lord.
We get a wonderful insight to Paul’s mission in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 13:13-25) where we see him speaking in the synagogue in Antioch outlining the history of Israel, waiting for the promised Messiah and how that Messiah has become known to them. Paul uses clear and precise speech which was to be the way that he carried on his mission and ministry from then on. Paul is a clear example of a branch drawing sap from the true Vine.
From today’s liturgy the words of the Lord must ring in our ears; “It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit, and then you will be my disciples.”