5th. Sunday of Easter (Year B). (April 28, 2024):
“I am the true vine…My Father prunes every branch that doesn’t bear fruit, so that it bears more fruit…”
Introduction: Today’s Scripture selections emphasize the need for Christians to abide in Christ as a condition (condictio sine qua non) for producing the Spirit’s fruits of kindness, mercy, charity, and holiness.
Life Message: True Story: In the late 1980s, a fire destroyed a building on the lower East side of Manhattan. An alarm was sounded, and the trucks and personnel arrived in plenty of time to fight the fire. The people got out of the building quickly and in order. However, When the firemen arrived, and with their hoses ready to jump into action, it was discovered too late, that the city water line had never been connected to this part of the system- a deadly oversight indeed!
Today’s Gospel explains why Jesus must be the pivotal point in our lives, through the little parable of the vine and the branches. This metaphor is an invitation to stay close to Jesus, but be aware that, there is a need at times to for us to be pruned to bear more fruit abundantly. In short, to live a human life disconnected from the living God is tragic as well. Jesus did more than come to live among us. He is the life-giving vine, and we are the branches. And so he says today: “I am the true vine…My Father, the dresser, prunes every branch that doesn’t bear fruit, so that it bears more fruit…”
Conclusion: St. Paul experienced this reality. As Saul, he had been on top of the world, but God had another plan that required him to be trimmed back. Thus, the Lord intervened
in his life, blinded him temporarily, and eventually converted him to the new way of life. Despite all this Paul didn’t have life on a silver platter. All of us have had the experience of being cut back, pruned by God, but what has been our reaction? Have we grown angry, thrown in the towel, and given up? Young people in school are cut back when they fail to achieve their goals. General life challenges-ill health, financial problems, and addictive behavior-are ways God prunes us back.
Bottomline, we must all allow God to cut us down-a reality that is hard to accept! Hence strengthened by the Eucharist, may we be open to the action of the vine grower, and thereby stay strongly attached to Jesus, apart from whom we can do nothing, but connected to whom we can find eternal life. For, “I am the true vine…My Father, the dresser, prunes every branch that doesn’t bear fruit, so that it bears more fruit…”