This week I faced a difficult dilemma. I prayed about it. From my prayer, I had an idea to resolve it. The idea made good sense and fit within Church teaching and moral principles, so, I took it as the Word of God, and followed the idea.
Two days later it was very clear that following that idea had made things WORSE! “Help, Lord!” I cried out. I was so distressed by an email I received that I couldn’t even read it all. I went to bed and slept fitfully.
Maybe God needed the humility of that “Help, Lord!” cry, or maybe God needed my original efforts as a puzzle piece in his solution, but in an email two days later I learned that, through a totally unrelated event, the whole matter had been resolved in way better than I could have imagined.
Praise the Lord! (That’s what alleluia means, you know).
It was such a surprise, AND a wonderful, example of today’s Gospel
John 15:1-8
Today’s Gospel is part of the Jesus’ Farewell Discourse to the disciples after supper on Holy Thursday. In Chapter 14, Jesus comforted his disciples. Now, as Chapter 15 begins, he outlines what the rest of their lives will be like. He begins with:
“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.
In many ways this is the same message Jesus gave in Matthew 25 in the parables of the Talents, the Wise and Foolish Maidens, and the Last Judgement. John remembers the message in words of theology, rather than in story. But the message is the same: “Keep your eyes on me, friends. You will get pruned by coming events and left to think and act for yourselves. That will be hard, especially if you aren’t paying attention to what you have been taught. Stay connected with me, and you will eventually bear much fruit. Stay connected “because without me you can do nothing.”
My beginning story today was a situation where I WAS connected. I was doing my best to listen. But I could do nothing…except through the connection (humble prayer). I prayed and tried my best, but the fruit came from God working things out in his own, wonderful way.
Acts 9:26-31
This story from Acts is an even more dramatic example of how the Father is the vine grower, Jesus is the vine, and us disciples-on-the-vine are to bear the fruit. Paul, who approved of Stephen’s stoning in Acts 7 encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus and was converted in the beginning verses of Acts 9. Between that and today’s verses, Paul is almost killed in Damascus. It has been “quite some time” since his conversion. He is now preaching FOR Christ.
Paul is trusted by the Christians in Damascus, but runs amuck of the Jews. The Christians have to lower him over the city wall in a basket one night to get him out of town (Acts 9:23-25) He comes to Jerusalem.
At first the Christians in Jerusalem are afraid of him, but, as we see today, Barnabas takes charge and convinces the community to trust Paul. Barnabas is an interesting character. His name was actually Joseph, but he was such a generous and warm man that his nickname was Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement.” He was a powerful evangelist, present in the community from Pentecost (see Acts 4:37). His trust of Paul was enough to calm the fears of the others. They helped Paul escape back to his home town Tarsus.
Interestingly, this put Paul in a good geographic spot as Christianity began, as we will see next Sunday, to spread into the Gentile world.
This action of disciples-on-the-vine also helped the church be at peace “throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria.” That little sentence, too, is very important, for that was all the church there was. It was a time of peace before visions, persecutions, and the Holy Spirit moved the great story of Jesus beyond the chosen people called Jews to the chosen people soon to be called Christians.
1 John 3:18-24
1 John applies these wonderful adventure stories to us. “Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.” In other words, let us disciples-on-the-vine remember to keep our eyes and hearts on Jesus. He is the vine. We are to be the branches. How do we do that? John’s words:
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.
Disciples-on-the-vine and Polarity
Last weekend I attended a “summit” called by the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle (known as the Paulist priests). Our topic was Polarity in our nation and our church. Sometimes, people believe the concern about polarity is about the difference in points of view—Liberal/Conservative Republican/Democrat or whatever. That is the fertile ground with wheat and tares for polarity, but that COULD BE like the struggles of the early church with St. Paul–it could be the fertile soil for the Good News of God’s Love to spread in new ways for us.
The problem isn’t the differences, but rather how we handle the differences. How do we treat those who think or act differently? Who even seem to be the enemy? Do we look at information through the eyes of the Gospel and Church teaching—then discuss issues along those lines, letting the Holy Spirit guide us? Or do we just look at and believe sound-bite media, then attack people, rather than explore what Truth there may be in their perspectives?
What do we do? How do we make sure we remain connected to Jesus the vine, believing in him, reassuring our hearts, so we “know that he remains in us from the Spirit he gave us.”
Prayer
This famous prayer from Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton seems to fit today, along with prayers that we always remain connected to the vine:
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”
