BIBLE STUDY #88
FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
May 6, 2012


READING 1
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 9:26-31

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples,
but they were all afraid of him.
not believing that he was a disciple.
Then Barnabas took charge of him and brought him to the apostles,
and he reported to them how he had seen the Lord,
and that he had spoken to him,
and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.
He moved about freely with them in Jerusalem,
and spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord.
He also spoke and debated with the Hellenists,
but they tried to kill him.
And when the brothers learned of this,
they took him down to Caesarea
and sent him on his way to Tarsus.

The church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace.
It was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord,
and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit it grew in numbers.


The Word of the Lord



READING 2

1 JOHN 3:18-24



Children, let us love not in word or speech

but in deed and truth.



Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth

and reassure our hearts before him

in whatever our hearts condemn,

for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,

we have confidence in God

and receive from him whatever we ask,

because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

And his commandment is this:

we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,

and love one another just as he commanded us.

Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them,

and the way we know that he remains in us

is from the Spirit he gave us.



The Word of the Lord



GOSPEL

JOHN 15:1-8



Jesus said to his disciples:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.

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.

You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.

Remain in me, as I remain in you.

Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own

unless it remains on the vine,

so neither can you unless you remain in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,

because without me you can do nothing.

Anyone who does not remain in me

will be thrown out like a branch and wither;

people will gather them and throw them into a fire

and they will be burned.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you,

ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.

By this is my Father glorified,

that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."



The Gospel of the Lord



Reflection



When Jesus calls himself the vine, he is borrowing from the Old Testament. The vine (or vineyard) was an Old Testament symbol for Israel. Isaiah 5:1-7 describes God’s covenant love for his people like a vinedresser who tends his vineyard with loving care; see also Hosea 10:1, Jeremiah 2:21, Ezekiel 15, and Psalm 80:9-16.



Jesus is the true vine because he replaces all imperfect connections to God, even the vine of Israel. After the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD when it seemed that the vine of Israel was no more, the remnants of Israel met in Jamnia to preserve Judaism, and they called themselves ‘the vineyard’ and rejected all those who believed in the vine of Jesus. This is part of the reason why followers of Jesus

broke off from Judaism and began their own religion.



Jesus is the vine; he is our connection to the Father. When we “remain in Him” then we participate in his loving relationship with the Father; we are blessed with God’s love and grow in our relationship with him. This image is a way of describing our bond with the Father. God is the vinedresser, Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches who bear fruit, described as love. The source of this love is the Father, it is disclosed in Jesus, we share in this love, and we also share this love with the community.



The gospel talks about 2 kinds of pruning: complete and partial pruning. In the first sense, it is our refusal to bear fruit (our rejection of Jesus and his message) that causes us to be pruned from the vine. This is not God rejecting us, but us rejecting God. We are then completely separate from the vine. We can no longer bear fruit because we are not connected to the vine. A branch cut from the vine will wither and die. When are cut off from Jesus, we will also wither and die.



The second instance is a pruning that makes us better branches. Through God’s love and forgiveness we can overcome our faults, failings and sins and become better disciples; God’s love and forgiveness ‘prunes’ away sin and error so we can be better witnesses and bear more fruit. Whenever we sacrifice for our faith, we grow in that faith. Suffering ‘prunes’ us and makes us grow stronger.



A branch that is cut off from the vine that withers and dies cannot be grafted back onto the vine and live. However, when we are pruned from the vine because of our desire not to bear fruit, we can always be grafted back onto the vine through forgiveness. There is always the possibility of turning our lives around and becoming part of the community again. Those who refuse to remain in Jesus will eventually be gathered and thrown into a fire, a symbol of eternal damnation.



Bearing fruit, or love, is not just a feeling, but an action. Love in its truest form is our relationship with God and our relationship with each other. When we love, we take time in prayer and sacraments to bolster and improve our faith; and we spend time serving other people, to be Christ for them. We are to see Christ in others and be Christ for others. Love is who we are and what we do.



The one sentence in this gospel that intrigues me is, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.” Does this mean that I can get whatever I ask for? Can I ask God for a new car and expect it to be parked outside my house when I finish praying? When we first decide to be disciples, our prayer is usually centered on ourselves and our needs (or perceived needs, anyway). As we grow in faith, we come to understand that we should forget what we want and seek what God wants. Then we are in harmony with God’s wishes. We want what God wants, so our prayers are answered.



In the first reading from Acts of the Apostles, we have a portion of Paul’s initial experience as a Christian and an apostolic preacher. When he first began preaching Christ, he was considered an apostate by the Jews. On top of that, he was not believed by the Christian community of Jerusalem who were all afraid of him; in fact, the Hellenists, who were Palestinian Jews who spoke Greek and

who were part of the Christian community actually tried to kill him. It was only through the intercession of Barnabas that Paul was accepted by the community. Barnabas brought him to the apostles and Paul related his conversion experience. He was sent back to his native Tarsus for a time.



What we see here is the apostles maintaining control over the community. It wasn’t enough that Paul had this experience of Christ; this experience had to be interpreted and approved by the church to preserve the purity of its mission.



A good example of this is a man who thinks he has a vocation to the priesthood. He is tested and scrutinized by the seminary and the diocese to determine the validity of that vocation. Just because someone thinks they have a vocation doesn’t mean they do. Some make it, some don’t. On the other hand, if someone really has a vocation and is being called by God, they will eventually be ordained. If it’s of God, it will happen. If not, it won’t.



In the second reading, we are called children of God, a profound title of endearment and not a comment on our maturity. Being people of faith and love means we will abide in God no matter what our feelings may tell us. Our obedience to God means we have confidence in prayer and trust in God’s judgment. Our obedience includes our belief in Christ and our love for one another.





Fr. Phil