5th Sunday of Easter 

 

My dear parishioners,

God is Good!!!  All the time!!!  And all the time!!!  God is Good!!!

By God’s grace, Paul’s life was changed as he made his way to Damascus. Now he arrives in Jerusalem. This reading records experiences there that will lead to his becoming the apostle to the gentiles.

Once again Jesus uses rich agricultural imagery to describe the relationship between God, Jesus, and Jesus’ followers. Vineyard imagery can be found in the Old Testament as exemplified by Is 5:1–7 and Sir 24:16–17. In the metaphorical description of this Gospel, the Father is the gardener or vine grower, Jesus is the vine, and Jesus’ followers are the branches. Anyone who has actually worked in a vineyard will appreciate the accuracy and realism of the process described in this Gospel.

The vine grower. The Father is the gardener of the vineyard; what is described here is the process of pruning the vines so that they can produce fruit. Dead branches must be cut away to make room for new growth. The pruned branches are usually stacked together and eventually burned. This task of removing dead branches without harming those that are healthy is very difficult but necessary. In the Gospel, it is Jesus’ word that has performed the process of pruning. The word, like a two-edged sword, gets rid of the dead branches so that new branches might emerge.

Remain in me. The word remain is very important in the Gospel of John. It bespeaks a deep level of intimacy that exists between the Father, Jesus, and the disciples. It is the dynamic of divine mutuality. Here Jesus reminds his followers how necessary it is for them to strengthen the mutual bond between him and his followers. This is how new fruit will be produced. New fruit here refers to the work Jesus undertook during his earthly ministry and the works of his followers, who will take up Jesus’ divine commission.

The failure to remain in Jesus. Those who do not remain in Jesus are equal to dead branches on a vine. They hinder growth, and thus they are cut away and gathered together for burning. The goal of this whole process is that people become disciples of Jesus and that they bear much fruit. Ultimately, this glorifies the Father. The richness of this passage is that realism and metaphor are creatively intertwined. Image and application are carefully combined so that the real spiritual significance of gardener, vine, and branches is highlighted. It is all about the divine mutuality that produces much fruit

Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org. All rights reserved

 Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Aloysius