V.J.E

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.”

For many years, every time this Gospel passage was read during Mass, I always became perturbed at the part where Jesus says that the Father takes away every branch in Him that does not bear fruit. For one thing, how could Jesus have branches in Him that do not bear fruit? I mean…He’s Jesus! That just didn’t make sense to me. Then, on top of that, every homily that has ever been delivered on the passage contains the same message, namely: The Father is a vindictive God, waiting to strike you down the moment you mess up. If you don’t produce fruit, you’re going to get cut off.

But have you every noticed that no matter what happens, you will get cut? Obviously, if you don’t produce fruit, you get cut. But even if you do produce fruit, you get pruned. So in other words, you still get cut.

This year, I’m so happy because my eyes have been opened to a new interpretation of this passage. As I read this Gospel, I was reminded of a time when I lived at an apartment complex where there were beautiful tall trees. There was one day where I witnessed maintenance men cutting the trees down, all the way to their stumps. I always thought that trees cut down to the stump never grow back. I was amazed therefore, to see that the trees grew back to their original heights, only a few months later. By recalling this memory, in light of this Gospel, I was consoled by the thought that the Father is not a cold tyrant waiting to strike me down but a truly loving parent who knows exactly how to discipline me so that I become great. He doesn’t over discipline me, nor does he shy away from disciplining me. There are some times when I need just a bit of pruning here and there, maybe just a dead leaf or two. But there are some times when I need to be cut down all the way to my core. Regardless of how much discipline I get, I always end up growing up even more vibrant then before because I remain in Jesus.

The branch, therefore, that remains in Jesus differs from those branches that do not remain in Him. Such branches naturally wither and become brittle, because they are not being nourished by a Source. But even then, God the Father doesn’t just throw these branches away. He collects them, gathers them up in His arms and throws them into a fire… Don’t you see?? Even withered branches can become great!! We are all called to a greater dignity because we are made in God’s image. So He pursue us and challenges us because He is faithful and will have His way in us. And so He deals with us according to our relationship with Him. If you need a bit of pruning, that’s what you’ll get. If you need to get cut down completely, that’s what you’ll get. If you need to be transformed completely from a lifeless, complacent, lukewarm soul into a blazing, zealous, fool for Christ…then that’s what you will be drawn into.

God is mercy, and ever pursues you with furious love. Don’t abuse His love and mercy for you. Don’t take His forgiveness for granted. Strive, rather, to always remain in His love. For those who remain in His love, are satisfied and want for nothing. Why? Because He, himself, says that what ever we ask in His name, He will do. He has no reason to lie.

V.J.E

Beloved, we are God’s children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)

Beloved, we are God’s children now;

The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that since we are God’s children now, we were not always His children. We were in need of adoption like animals at a pet store, waiting for someone to adopt us. And so, like a potential pet owner, walking around in a store, looking for an animal to rescue from its prison, God initiated the search for us. He bought us to set us free, and to bestow on us a dignity above all other things. And He’s not limited to a certain number of pets that he can adopt. He is capable of claiming and wants to claim all of us as His own. He wants to love on us and give us a home with Him, even though we are but dust…. In His glorious display of God-power, he has animated our dust, has given us flesh and bones, has breathed into us His very self, and has transformed us into men, in His own image. This dust, He has graciously called His children. How crazy is that?!

what we shall be has not yet been revealed.

Within the inscrutable mysteries of His love, He gave us His Son, Jesus, in marriage. Jesus not only marries us in the sense that Jesus is the Bridegroom and we collectively, as the Church, are His mystical bride. Jesus also marries us in His very self as fully man and fully divine! This is the ultimate fulfillment of “man shall leave his father and be joined to his wife. And the two shall become one flesh.” We have been married/joined/grafted to Christ in the most intense of ways. We have literally become one with Him! And yet we shall not know the fullness of this reality until we are in heaven.

We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.

How can John say that we will be like the Father, simply because we will see Him? How can a pet ever be like its master simply because it sees him? How does that make any sense? I have yet to hear any breaking news about a dog that turned into a man because it was looking at its owner. And as stated before, John says that we are God’s children. The pet is the owner’s child? I know that there are lots of people who consider their pets their children, but, still; No matter how much we want to believe that our pets are “people too”, they are not. So what’s going on here?

He isn’t saying that by looking at the Father we become like Him- We mustn’t assume that we have taken initiative to look and thus by our own power have become. No, the true order of events is that God takes the initiative to transform us, then we become and then we are able to see. So John is saying when that moment finally comes when we are fully united to our Bridegroom, as a spotless Bride, with Him in heaven, then we will finally be like God, and thus we will able to see Him as He is.

And yet I do believe that there is something to looking at God and becoming like Him. It’s no different from the experience of living with others. You start to imitate each other, you copy each others idiosyncrasies and manners. How much more is this reality made manifest in a relationship with the Almighty God?

So in light of the Gospel today, I am drowned in the mercy of God. That He would love me so much to the point of laying down His life for me. What a Good Shepherd I have?! He outdoes Himself in goodness.