FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR B

Acts 9: 26-31  

Psalm 21 

1 John 3:18-24 

John 15:1-8

ABIDING IN JESUS CHRIST

On this fifth Sunday of Easter, we meditate on Jesus’ discourse on the vine and its branches (John 15:1-8). Jesus uses this image to talk about the network of relationships that characterizes the Christian life, inviting us to abide in him so as to bear much fruits. The fact is this: you are either connected to Christ or you are disconnected from him. If you abide in him, you will bear much fruits. But if you do not abide in him, you become fruitless and sterile. You go from frustration to frustration, from crisis to crisis, for a life without Christ is a life full  of crises: “For without me, you can do nothing”, says Jesus.

Thus, Jesus’ emphasis is on the absolute necessity for us to abide in him. He is the vine. We are the branches. God the Father is the vine grower. Consequently, the fruitfulness of our life depends on our connectedness with him. We must therefore remain always connected to him. We must develop a personal relationship with him through prayer, listening to the Word of God, participating in the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and doing good to one another. To remain in Jesus also means finding a reason to live and hope in spite of challenges. It is to make him our shelter, our dwelling, our security. 

Furthermore, to abide in Jesus means keeping his word that calls us to love one another (1 John 3:18-24). To abide in Jesus has therefore a social dimension. Sometimes, it implies integrating sinners, the rejected and the marginalized into our community. Other times, it means forgiving others and lettting go our weapons of revenge, resentment and anger, letting go the wounds they might have inflicted on us.

This is exemplified in the first reading. It took the intervention of Barnabas for Paul, a former persecutor of Christians, to be accepted into the community of believers in Jerusalem, despite his conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9: 26-31). As such, our intimacy with Christ must always be translated in concrete actions so that we may love one another, “not in word or speech but in deeds and truth.” May the Lord help us to abide in him so as to bear fruits to the glory of God. Amen