5th Sunday of Easter - Cycle B

As we continue our journey through the Easter season we focus on the core truths of our faith.  This week we learn what it means to be church, not just as individual followers of Christ but how all of us together form the greater Body of Christ.  Though the term “Body of Christ” is not specifically used in our readings this week, these stories help form the foundation of what Paul and the Apostles will eventually see as how we as church form the Body of Christ and what that means.

The Word for the 5th Sunday of Easter
Acts 9:26-31
Psalms 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32
1 John 3:18-24
John 15:1-8

In our first reading from Acts of the Apostles we are introduced to Saul of Tarsus, a man whom the disciples feared, and with just cause.  Saul was a devout Jew who not only persecuted the followers of Christ but actively hunted them down to bring them to Jerusalem for trial.  Saul is also the same man whom we will come to know as Paul the Apostle.  As we pick-up the narrative in this week’s passage, Saul has already had a profound religious experience – a vision of the risen Christ appearing before him on his way to Damascus.  Paul is converted and baptized and now has made his way back to Jerusalem to seek out the disciples.  All along the way he’s been speaking boldly in the name of Jesus, in some cases narrowly escaping being killed by some of the crowds.  Still wary of his intentions, the Apostle Barnabus becomes his advocate as they send him to spread the word to Caesarea and Tarsus.  Our Psalm echoes the joy and praise Paul, the Apostles, and the entire church have for the Lord.

Our second reading continues our study of the 1st Letter of John.  This week, John tells us that our actions speak louder than our words – that love is not found in word or speech but rather in deed and truth.  John teaches that through living love we come to know God and keep his commandments.

Our Gospel this week from John gives us the wonderful story of the vine and the branches.  Here Jesus likens God to a vine grower – that is, someone who grows grapes for wine.  Jesus, in this scenario, is the vine, and we the people are the branches.  It’s an analogy to our interconnectedness as a people.  The branches can only produce fruit if they are connected to the vine (Christ), and the vine must be tended by the grower (God).  If the branch should reject the vine, however, that is, if we should turn away from Christ, we will no longer bear fruit, and those branches that don’t produce will be trimmed and burned.

Final Thoughts:
This particular Gospel passage is a favorite because Jesus, the master storyteller, uses imagery that is readily relatable to his followers.  As farmers, fishermen, shepherds, and other “people of the land,” they can appreciate the interconnectedness described in this story.  They can also readily appreciate the pruning of the branches that don’t produce.  Those of us who don’t work in the fields can find this part of the story pretty harsh, but for them, and anyone who has ever worked in agriculture, this matter-of-fact approach is a reality of the job.  But whereas the branch doesn’t have a conscious nor a soul, we do.  We can control our destiny, and therefore have the responsibility to produce and bear fruit – that is, to do our part for the love of God and the benefit of the greater community.  We are all interconnected.  We are all members of the Body of Christ.  Our love can spread life if we choose to love, but if we chose not to love, we risk being pruned.