Our spirituality is rooted in our relationship with Jesus: I am the vine; you are the branches.

On this the Fifth Sunday of the joyous Easter Season, we begin to focus on our mission of discipleship as we head toward the great feast of Pentecost.

The Gospel for this Sunday and next Sunday is taken from the 15^th of John’s Gospel – part of Jesus’ Last Supper discourse on the night before He died.  This chapter is sometimes the Gospel of Friendship as Jesus calls us his friends.  Of the many ways of describing Jesus in our lives -- as Lord, as Savior, as God – Jesus also invites to call Him friend.

In the fourth verse of this 15^th chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus says:  “Make your home in me as I make mine in you.”  Our spirituality is rooted in our relationship with Jesus.  Jesus offers us divine intimacy -- Make your home in me as I make mine in you.

Just as the defining element of family life is the love that is shared by each member of the family, the defining element of our discipleship of the Lord Jesus is the love we give and receive from Jesus and the love we give and receive for all of God’s people.

The evangelist John in today’s Gospel account wanted the disciples of Jesus to become with one with Jesus.  This was even more there was an institution of the Church.  After more than two thousand years, the message of Jesus is still focused on making your home in me as I make mine in you.

Jesus uses the beautiful metaphor:  “I am the vine and you are the branches.”  This is such a powerful image of the Church.  Jesus is the vine and the anchor of our lives and we are the branches.  What gives life to us as the People of God is that we are connected to Jesus.

Jesus has told us that without me you can do nothing.  If the branches are cut off from the vine, they wither and die.  If we are cut off from Jesus, we too lose our life-giving qualities.

They tell the story of a dad who was alienated from his children causing considerable pain in the family.  He had chosen to live by myself separated from his family.  His daughter went to visit him this one particular evening and they were sitting quietly near the fire space.  Then Mary quietly removed one of the logs from the fire place.  Her dad immediately reacted and asked why in the name of heaven did you do that?

Mary calmly said that this is how she feels when you, dad, cut yourself off from the love of your family.  With tears in his eyes, dad got the message and hugged his daughter.

What happens when we separate ourselves from the love of Christ?  As a branch cannot live apart from the trunk of the tree, we cannot spiritually live apart from Jesus.  I am the vine; you are the branches,

What keeps the church together at its best is Jesus.  Human leadership, moral authority, ritual dogmatism are not the center of the church.  Leadership can fail, moral authority can take wrong turnings and ritual dogmatism can override the concerns of people. The center of the church is Jesus Christ. Our unity with Jesus is the central bond of the church. He is the Vine, we the branches.

Jesus that goes on to say that every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it bears more fruit.  As to we move toward the great feast of Pentecost in which we are missioned to continue the mission of Jesus, Jesus desires to do some pruning of our very selves.  The goal always is to bear much fruit, to bring as much life into this world as the vine of Jesus originally produced.  No one could pull this off by himself or herself.  It all revolves around being branches of the Risen Jesus.

Recently my computer developed a little virus which managed to give me a bit of a headache trying to figure things out.  Plain and simple, this virus needed to be pruned out of my computer system. 

So too, in your discipleship of the Lord Jesus, what spiritual viruses need to be pruned to anchor yourself more fully in Christ Jesus?  What areas of your life is Jesus not yet Lord?  Could it be that I am too attached to what others think of me?  Our pride, our ego can get the best of many of us.   Am I too attached to the material stuff of my life?  Who is the person that I need to forgive to carry out the mandate that as we are forgiven, we are to forgive one another.

In what ways as a parish faith community do we need to be pruned by the Lord Himself for us to more faithfully witness to the love of Jesus to one another and to all?  Does our celebration of the Eucharist lead to glorify God by the way we live our lives?  Is there an obvious connection between our prayer and the actions of our lives?  Can we share ourselves more fully with the poor and the needy among us?

In the first Scripture reading, when Saul arrived in Jerusalem, the disciples were afraid of him.  Paul is ostracized when he tries to graft into the Christian community.  Barnabas, his advocate, stands in Paul’s defense.  Paul would bring new flavor to the true vine, and they were afraid of him.  Who am I afraid of?

Please God we will always welcome new members who wish to be grafted into our faith community.  The only requirement necessary is that all of us are connected and anchored in Jesus as the center of our lives.

Have a blessed day.