Meditation: John 15:1 “I am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 Every branch which is part of me but fails to bear fruit, he cuts off; and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, so that it may bear more fruit. 3 Right now, because of the word which I have spoken to you, you are pruned. 4 Stay united with me, as I will with you — for just as the branch can’t put forth fruit by itself apart from the vine, so you can’t bear fruit apart from me.
5 “I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who stay united with me, and I with them, are the ones who bear much fruit; because apart from me you can’t do a thing. 6 Unless a person remains united with me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up. Such branches are gathered and thrown into the fire, where they are burned up.
7 “If you remain united with me, and my words with you, then ask whatever you want, and it will happen for you. 8 This is how my Father is glorified — in your bearing much fruit; this is how you will prove to be my talmidim.
5th Week of Easter5 “I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who stay united with me, and I with them, are the ones who bear much fruit; because apart from me you can’t do a thing. 6 Unless a person remains united with me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up. Such branches are gathered and thrown into the fire, where they are burned up.
7 “If you remain united with me, and my words with you, then ask whatever you want, and it will happen for you. 8 This is how my Father is glorified — in your bearing much fruit; this is how you will prove to be my talmidim.
Remain in me, as I remain in you. (John 15:4)
What do you do when you need to recover from a head cold? You get extra rest, drink more fluids, and take vitamins. But these remedies aren’t directly making you better. They can facilitate the process, but in the end, it’s your own immune system that fights off the sickness, and that process isn’t completely under your control.
Spiritual growth is a little like getting over a cold: our efforts are only aids to our growth. The real growth comes from God. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus explains this by saying that he is the vine, and we are the branches. Because we’re just branches, we can’t produce fruit on our own. Only as we are attached to the vine, receiving its vitality, are we fruitful.
Sometimes we get these roles confused. We can begin to think that we are the active agent in spiritual growth. “God made the world,” we think, “He sent Jesus to redeem us; now it’s up to me.” While it may sound noble, this approach can lead us to be disconnected from the Lord. And that will render us fruitless.
This passage shows us how important it is that we try to stay connected to Jesus. None of us wants to be fruitless. None of us wants to wither and die and fall off of the vine! We want to be useful to the Lord, don’t we? We want to be filled with his vitality, his energy, and his wisdom.
This is why it’s important to be faithful to daily prayer, Scripture reading, and the sacraments. It’s also why we need to stay connected with fellow Christians and why we need to serve as he served. These things on their own won’t bring spiritual growth, but they will keep us connected to the life-giving vine.
All we have to do is try our best to stay close to Jesus. Abiding in his presence is nothing more than trying to think and act the way we think Jesus would want us to in our day. If we can do just that, we will be giving his Spirit the freedom to shape us and change us. We will become more fruitful!
“Thank you, Jesus, for promising to make me fruitful. Help me, Lord, to stay connected to you.” Amdn!
Acts 15:1 But some men came down from Y’hudah to Antioch and began teaching the brothers, “You can’t be saved unless you undergo b’rit-milah in the manner prescribed by Moshe.” 2 This brought them into no small measure of discord and dispute with Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba. So the congregation assigned Sha’ul, Bar-Nabba and some of themselves to go and put this sh’eilah before the emissaries and the elders up in Yerushalayim.
3 After being sent off by the congregation, they made their way through Phoenicia and Shomron, recounting in detail how the Gentiles had turned to God; and this news brought great joy to all the brothers.
4 On arrival in Yerushalayim, they were welcomed by the Messianic community, including the emissaries and the elders; and they reported what God had done through them. 5 But some of those who had come to trust were from the party of the P’rushim; and they stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Torah of Moshe.”
6 The emissaries and the elders met to look into this matter.
Psalm 122: (0) A song of ascents. By David:
(1) I was glad when they said to me,
“The house of Adonai! Let’s go!”
2 Our feet were already standing
at your gates, Yerushalayim.
3 Yerushalayim, built as a city
fostering friendship and unity.
4 The tribes have gone up there, the tribes of Adonai,
as a witness to Isra’el,
to give thanks to the name of Adonai.
5 For there the thrones of justice were set up,
the thrones of the house of David.
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