(Listen to this homily here).
Our Gospel this weekend is from John 15:1-8. Of all the Bible, the fifteenth chapter
of John is one of my favorites.
Jesus
presents a key image in the parable of the vine and the branches. Now I’m guessing none of you have a
vine or vineyard…I was a little confused on what a vine compared to branches
looks like, but it turns out it would be like the relationship between a trunk
and branches on a tree. So for
northern Minnesotans, think about a tree and its trunk and branches. They are connected. A branch cannot exist without the
trunk, though a trunk can exist without a particular branch.
This
morning I would like to walk through a few of the revolutionary teachings of
Jesus in these eight verses of Scripture.
The
first point I would like to make is when Jesus says, “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because
without me you can do nothing.” Note Jesus does not say, “Without me
you can do most things,” or “Without me you can do some things.” Nope…Jesus says, “Without me you can do
nothing.” Nothing.
This
is true. God holds everything in
existence. Nothing could exist
without God! Everyone here, every
breath we take, every beat of our heart, only occurs because God allows
it. For those of us who don’t worry
where our next meal comes from, or about finding enough clean drinking water,
or living in the comforts of the first world, we often think we are
self-sustaining. “Without me you can do nothing.”
Next,
soak in these three words: “Remain in me…” Here we must remember that God is not
some amorphous blob of energy in the sky.
He is not like the force in
Star Wars. He is not a watchmaker
who created everything and then walked away to let things run their
course. He is personal—three Persons in fact—and we refer to God as He and Jesus as me. Did you know that
less than fifty percent of Catholics believe in a personal God? I hope that is none of us!
Also, this statement is completely new to world
religion. The Greek or Roman
gods—did they want humans to remain with them? No! They were
in the sky only to be worshiped, obeyed or honored. But for humans to be with them? Absolutely not. Or consider a modern example in
Islam. Muslims believe Allah is a
master—humans are slaves. Are
slaves to remain with their master?
Nope—they are only to serve.
And then: “…as I
remain in you…”?! God wants to
remain with us?! Again, this is a completely novel
idea. To cite another
example—consider the fact that the goal in Buddhism is to be completely
annihilated to cosmic forces. We
are to cease in our own existence.
Do you see how Jesus’ claim is completely different than this religious
philosophy?
One final point—Jesus shows that God is personal, that
He wants us to be with Him and He wants to remain in us. And this is not
always comfortable. Jesus wants to
get in our face—literally (in the Eucharist!). He shows the pruning is necessary for us to be a branch on
the tree: “He takes away every branch in
me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes
so that it bears more fruit.” At every level, weeding and pruning is necessary.
Imagine, for instance, what our lives could be like
without Netflix. I admit, I could
watch less TV! Imagine if watching
TV was rooted out? What fruit
would be born? What could God
accomplish in you if your sins were cut out and burned?
The same could be said in our Church. While it goes against our democratic
tendencies, we don’t vote on truths.
There are times when the Church says, “This is behavior/teaching is
wrong. It needs to be cut out.” To this day our Church has the
authority to reject particular teachings or behaviors that are nothing more
than dead weight or bearing bad fruit.
Might I suggest you read John 15 in its entirety today
or during this week? In its first
eight verses we here revolutionary claims by Jesus—God is personal, wants us to
remain with Him and He wants to remain with us.
Finally, Jesus calls us to bear fruit. Bear fruit today and this week by
remaining with God and allowing Him to remain with you.
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