This morning’s gospel brings to a conclusion the “I am” statements that we have been listening to these last weeks. This morning Jesus tells us “I am the true vine.” Jesus has already identified himself as the living bread, the light of the world, the sheep-gate, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life and the way the truth and the life. The image of Jesus as vine and us as branches crowns all the rest. This simple phrase would have had many layers of meaning for its hearers. Israel, the people of God, understood itself to be the vine and vineyard. John plays masterfully with the symbolism of this image. The vinegrower is still God but the vine is no longer Israel. Now it is Jesus. It is Jesus who is the true Israel, the chosen of God through whom all nations will receive a blessing. It is Jesus who is at the heart of it all, it is he who is the source of life, and it is he who renews the earth.
And here we are, on the night before he is crucified, before he is hung on the cross, Jesus describes himself as a vine, the tree of life. The church places this text within the Easter season so that we can understand this passage through Easter faith and understand that the Father prunes the Son, curtails his life, to give the fruit of abundant life to the world. Through the Paschal mystery God shows us how much he loves us, he shows us the lengths that he will go to prove that love.
The word abide is used no less than eight times in this passage. Abide in me as I abide in the Father. In other words, stay connected to the vine. If you want a shorthand for who I am says Jesus, remember the vine. The trunk of the vine is Jesus, the branches of the vine are the church, the grapes of the vine are abundant life, the fruit of the vine and the work of human hands is our Eucharist. It’s all here. Abide with me in the vine and you will be at the heart of it all.
So we can sit back and say “phew” we’ve made it, we’re at the heart of it all, we’re part of the church. But we know we can never say we’ve made it. We constantly need to be pruned. Whenever you meet a group of Christians who feel they’ve made it, be it in strength of numbers or firmness of doctrine, or purity of life, you can anticipate that they will be in trouble pretty soon. Scripture remind us that Israel was pruned as it journeyed from Egypt to the Promised Land and the disciples were pruned as they journeyed from Galilee to Jerusalem. The church becomes one body as it is pruned on its journey.
It’s no secret that disciples, that’s you and me by the way can be deeply engaged in the thing of the church in meaningful ways and yet may not be truly connected to the Christ we meet in this morning’s gospel. We don’t like to be pruned. We get used to the astonishing pruning that God carried out on Jesus.
We lose sight of the wonder of the story. Sometimes what we want to hear is a different gospel. We want to hear that Jesus doesn’t change our lives significantly; in fact Jesus affirms them because he gave his life for our sake so we don’t have to give ours and we give a little bit back by some modest social service or personal development. The vine grower eventually gets around to pruning such branches.
But this is not the gospel we have heard this morning. Jesus’ relationship with the Father leads him to the cross and to resurrection. Death has no power over him. Abiding in Jesus is not for its own sake, nor an end in itself. Jesus imagines and promises a dynamic and changing life for the community of disciples. It is about facing the true consequences of our baptism. He calls us to follow him. That for us may not mean the cross but it may mean being humiliated & ridiculed. It may mean being subject to violence against our person, property and loved ones. This is what happens to people who choose to abide in Jesus. Today’s readings remind us that we must continually choose who we want to be. We are called to choose our real identity just as really and radically as Saul chose to be an apostle.
Jesus says “I am the vine, you are the branches.” Do we want what he wants? Do we want Jesus? Do we love him? Will we love to the end?
Fr Cuthbert Brennan OSB