Created to bear fruits (Sunday, Easter 5, Year B, 2021)

-

We are created to bear fruits: good fruits of love, peace and righteousness. We can only do this if we remain attached to Christ the Vine. And this implies that we must be ready for the pruning of the Spirit. By the good fruits we bear, we will prove to the world that we are the children of God. 


As a grand master in the art of teaching, Jesus used certain imageries (things common to the people) to expound some truths about Himself and about our relationship with God. In John 6, Jesus describes Himself as the bread of life. In John 10, He says that He is the Good Shepherd. Today, as we have it in John 15, He also describes Himself as the True Vine. Bread, sheep, shepherds, vine, etc are things that the people of his time could easily identify with; because they were mainly farmers. 


Jesus is the True Vine; we are the branches; and God is the vinedresser. Vine is not common in Africa. Few things about a vine will help us understand our relationship with Christ: (1) It is the most delicate of all plants. Once cut off, it withers away. A branch must be attached to the vine for survival. (2) The vine is not a tree. It is a twisted network of twines. Thus, vines can’t be used for furniture or for building as other trees. It has only one purpose: to produce fruit. If it does not produce fruit, it is only good to be burnt. It either bears fruit or is cut down. (3) A branch needs constant pruning for greater productivity. (4) Almost every other thing goes bad with passage of time, but the product of vine (that is, wine) gets better with age. We get better when we continue to abide in Christ. 


As branches of Jesus the true vine, we are expected to bear fruits. In Gen. 1:28, after God had created the humankind, the first task given was: “Be FRUITFUL and multiply, fill the earth…”. In Isa. 5:1-7 and Jer. 2:21, God told the Israelites that they were planted to produce fruits of justice not to yield wild grapes. 


Some people understand this task of “bearing fruit” only as “child-bearing”. My Novitiate encounter with a mad man! If it is only about bearing children, then those who are biologically infertile are not doing the will of God. The fruits that God wants us all to produce or bring forth in fulfillment of the purpose for which He created us are the sweet fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, generosity and faithfulness – cf. Gal. 5:22-23); not the sour fruits of evil, hatred, wickedness, lust, etc. We can’t profess to be part of Christ and bear sour fruits or bear no fruits at all. Those attached to Christ must bear good fruits. And by these fruits, we can prove to the world that Christ abides in us (cf. 1 John 3:18-24).        

                

In Acts 4:32, it is written that the early Christians were bound in love; they were of one heart and mind; and they lived in peace. They produced those sweet fruits of the Holy Spirit because they were attached to Christ the true vine and were open to the pruning of the Spirit. If we don’t produce the fruits of the Spirit, are we even supposed to be called Christians or the children of God? Many of us don’t bear fruits because we are not ready to be pruned. To be pruned is to accept the discipline of the Spirit; it is to allow the Spirit work in us and train us for higher values. Paul subjected himself to the pruning experience: a branch that once bore sour fruits of wickedness later began to bear the good fruits of peace, love, apostolic courage and tolerance (cf. Acts 9:26-31). He was engrafted into Christ; he remained attached to Christ; became a changed person, and began to bear the desired fruits of the Spirit. Let us not remain attached to Christ: He is the true vine; we are the branches.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gifts versus the Giver (Monday, Week 20, Year II)

-
Image
A gift, by the virtue of what it is, is given. In other words, there must be a giver. Gift can come or be in the form of a good friendship or relationship, material thing, good job, personal talent, and so on. Every cherished gift is the delight of our eyes, the pride of our power and the desire of our souls. The gifts that we possess should then remind us of the giver. It smacks of arrogance and ingratitude when gifts are used without acknowledging or making reference to the giver. For the Jews, the Temple or Sanctuary was the delight of their eyes, the pride of their power and the desire of their souls. It was a precious gift which they jealously guarded. However, they adorned the Sanctuary but did not truly adore the One for whom the Sanctuary exists. They were too attached to the “gift” (sanctuary) but were completely detached from the Giver of the gift – from Yahweh. Ezekiel prophesied to them that this sanctuary which was their delight will be profaned and taken away from them. M
Read more

Persecution and Triumph, the Two Realities of Christian life (Saturday, Week 33, Year 2, The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

-
Image
The book of Revelation is full of symbols and imageries that need to be carefully interpreted for us to understand the message they communicate. In today’s first reading (cf. Rev. 11:4-12), John was told about two olive trees and two lamp stands serving as witnesses to the Holy One. Who or what do these two sets of witnesses (olive trees and lamp stand) stand for? When we read further in order to understand what happened to these two witnesses, it may be a bit clear to us that the “two witnesses” may be pointing to Moses and Elijah, judging from what they did on earth and what they stand for. Moses stands for the Law; and Elijah stands for the Prophet. Anyone who bears witness as Moses bore witness to the Law of God must be persecuted by the beast as the first reading (from the Book of Revelation) recounted. Anyone who bears witness to the messages of truth as Elijah and other prophets did must be persecuted just as the prophets were persecuted. Persecution is a fate that awaits every
Read more

Enkindle the Embers of Unity, Quench the Fire of Disunity (Wednesday, Week 22, Year A)

-
Image
For some time now, we have heard Paul talk about the spiritual and the unspiritual: what it means to live and operate on the level of the Spirit (the spiritual) and on the level of the flesh (the unspiritual). Paul was very emphatic about this topic possibly because he was addressing a group of people who were too intellectual and academic in their approach to the things of God and all of that. Remember that the Corinthians were Greek; and the ancient Greeks were known to be too particular and more interested in intellectualism, sophistry, philosophy and human wisdom. And we must not forget that Paul has been very suspicious of over-reliance on worldly/human wisdom in understanding and appreciating the things of the Spirit. To rely more on human/worldly wisdom is a sign that one may be operating on the level of the flesh; and to operate on the level of the flesh breeds a whole lot of vices such as division or sectionalism, hedonism, and so on. In today’s section of that letter to the C
Read more