(Audio)
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.
We are meant to bear fruit. Yet we often invest much of our identity and energy in fruitless pursuits. These aren't neutral. Rather, they are those things which drain and damage us, making us less than we are meant to be. It isn't that every action of ours needs to be some sort of obvious corporeal or spiritual work of mercy. It is rather that all of our actions should be able to be done with the fruits of the Spirit, with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithful, and self-control, all manifest in them. Yes, we can have hobbies. But we can't have hobbies that make us grouchy, impulsive, or unavailable for others. We must do only what we can do with love, joy, and peace.
It seems obvious that we wouldn't want to pursue things which steal our peace. Yet we all do this from time to time. Who of us hasn't done so by turning to the news to sate our curiosity in recent times? We don't want to think about it this way, but at such times we are turning away from Jesus for the source of our peace and toward the world. It is certainly possible to read the news and remain in peace. But we often don't do it.
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.
We can read the news in peace, with love, and with joy. But we can only do so if we do it together with Christ. It is then that the news can become the energy of prudent action and charitable prayer. We are ultimately called to do only what we can do will remaining in the presence of Christ. This might challenge us in our recreation. We might have the sense of guilt and of not deserving to enjoy ourselves that causes us to hide these things from Jesus. Yet Jesus does not see us this way. He offers us his own righteousness. He wants us to have life and have it to the full. He is simply asking us to do only those things which make us genuinely flourish which is what it means to bear fruit.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do nothing.
We need to allow the LORD to prune us by his word. Even things that had been heretofore central to our identity may have to go.
“Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice,
you cannot be saved.”
The necessity of circumcision had its time. It marked the people of God as set apart for his praise and glory. But it now impeded the march of the Gospel to all the nations. It was being used as a bludgeon to assert the dominance of one culture over another. This shows us just how sensitive we must be to what God is doing here and now. It shows us just how preciously we must treat our connection to the vine, Jesus, who gives us life. It seemed to those Jews that circumcision itself, along with other external acts of the law, was the vine. But only God himself can truly be for us the source of life.
The readings today provide two practical ways to make sure we remain connected to the vine. We allow ourselves to be pruned by the word that Jesus spoke to us. We seek out and accept the voice of the Church, God's Spirit speaking through his body. These will both reveal in us parts of ourselves that are not connected, that are languishing, and are headed toward death. By God's power they can be severed and we can know a fuller life.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
“We will go up to the house of the LORD.”
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