READINGS: Acts 9:26-31; Psalm 21:26-28,30-32; 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8
THEME: NO PASSIVITY IN THE LIFE IN CHRIST
a. WE ARE ONLY BUT THE BRANCHES OF THE VINE
Dearest friends, today, Jesus uses the imagery of a vine tree and its branches to speak to us about life in him. In this imagery, the first thing to note is that we are not ourselves the tree, Jesus is the tree. The tree not only provides a room for its branches, but it also provides the nutrient and the stronghold which the branches need.
Hence, the branch can only live as long as it remains attached to the tree. We are all branches of the same tree. Our lives as Christians are nourished by the same Christ’s nutrient. No one must claim to be himself or herself the nutrient provider nor the stronghold of another branch.
Again, all the branches of a tree do not grow at the same time. Some come up earlier, and even begin to bear fruits before others come up. The first branches must not see the later ones as inauthentic and less in dignity of a branch. In the first reading, Paul had difficulty of being accepted and accommodated by the first disciples, because of his past life.
He became a later branch of Christ, and he had to fight to establish his dignity among other branches, not through swords and arrows, but through a true life of evangelization and of testimony to the love of God and the Goodnews of Christ’s resurrection.
b. CALLED TO BE FRUIT-BEARING BRANCHES OF THE VINE
What defines us as the branches of Christ is not our being just branches, but the fruits that we bear. When we see a mango tree, we can tell that this is a mango tree, even if the branches have no fruits. But that is not the case with us as the branches of Christ.
People can only tell that we are the branches of Christ when they see the fruits that we bear. Hence, what makes us true branches of Christ is not our being Christians but our living as Christians. What we are must be known through how we live. There is no passivity in the life in Christ. When a biological tree, say Mango tree, has a lot of branches which bear many fruits, and may be few others which are just there without bearing fruits, the owner, or the farmer may not bother himself about the few ones that do not bear fruit since he still gets enough fruits from the fruit-bearing branches.
But that is not the case with our life in Christ. That my fellow Christians are bearing wonderful fruits of love and peace etc. do not make up for my passivity in bearing any fruit. My mother’s true life of faith or my dad’s excellent way of bearing testimony of his faith, do not make up or suffice for my lack of fruit bearing.
Each and every one of Christ’s branches is expected to be active in bearing fruits because what defines each and every one of us is not that we are Christ’s branches but that we are Christ’s fruit-bearing branches. Hence, it is either that we are in Christ as fruit-bearing branches, or that we are entirely not in him, even when we think we are still his branches. There is no passivity nor half-way.
Life in Christ is the life of “either…or”. It is either we are in him producing fruits of love, peace, forgiveness, etc. or that we are not. St. John, in the second reading reminds us that our life in Christ must be something real and active, and our way of showing that we live in Christ is by living the kind of life that he wants, that is, life of love of God, and love of our fellow human beings.
In the gospel, Christ shows how important it is that we bear fruits when he says, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples”. That is, our proof of being Christ’s disciples depends on the fruits we bear. The Father is not glorified just because we are mere branches of Christ, rather that we are fruit-bearing branches. By bearing fruits, we glorify the Father, and prove ourselves to be Christ’s disciples.
c. THE FRUITS OF THE BRANCHES ATTRACT PEOPLE TO THE TREE
Two pear trees stand in a compound. One has many big fruits and attractive to the eyes, but no one is interested in it, the other one has many fruits but not as big in size as the other one, but crowd gather around it, plucking its fruits. The fruits of a tree determine how and how much people will be attracted to the tree, and how happy they will be gathering and remaining around the tree.
When people see a tree, the first thing that attracts them is the fruits they see on it. Then when they draw near, pluck the fruits, and eat, their continuing to stay or to visit the tree determines on the sweetness of the fruits produced by the branches of the tree. The problem is never with the tree, but with the branches. So also is our life in Christ. If many people are living the Church, if many people are showing no interest again in the things of God, if many people are no longer interested in coming close to the Church, it is because the branches of Christ have failed to produce attractive and (most importantly) sweet and healthy fruits of love and kindness, forgiveness and reconciliation, joy, and peace etc.
d. APART FROM THE TREE, THE BRANCH DIES OFF
Some people may say, “since I am not ready to bear the demanding fruits of my Christian faith, it is better I do not belong to the tree at all.” Dear brothers and sisters, that is not the point Christ is communicating to us today. Even when we pretend not to be interested in the things of God, there is always something missing because we are created to be the branches of Christ the Vine. What Satan does is to put into our mind that we are not capable of living the life in Christ. In the world today, a lot of things come directly to our face to shout “You do not need God in order to live a happy life”.
But Christ keeps telling us, ‘No matter how much you pretend that you do not need me, without me, you are nothing”. As a branch cannot live without its tree, so can we not live apart from Christ. Christ remains our true vine. Remaining in him guarantees us shield and security from the destructive wind of materialism and the scorching sun of egoism. The further we move away from Christ, the drier we become as branches. May Christ, the true Vine, strengthen us, his branches, in remaining in him, and also in bearing wonderful fruits, no matter what the world tells us. Amen
Fr. Nnamah Henry Chukwuezugo
Catholic Diocese of Aguleri