Today's readings: Acts 9, 26-31; 1 John 3, 18-24; John 15, 1-8.
As we proceed further in the Easter season, there is a deepening of Jesus's identity and our relationship with him. The vine discourse in St John's Gospel today underlines our need to remain connected to Jesus as the unique source of what gives meaning to our existence. This may sound absolutist, but it is clearly implied in Jesus's words: "As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, neither can you unless you remain in me."
To understand what it means to say that Jesus is the vine, one needs to go to the Old Testament, to Isaiah's song about a vineyard. For the prophet, God's vineyard was a disappointment because it yielded sour grapes. It was an image of Israel as an unfaithful bride. In the way Jesus speaks about himself being the vine, what is being affirmed is that this vine can never again be uprooted or handed over to be plundered as in old times.
This is St John's way of speaking about the Church as the body of Christ. It is true, the vine can no longer be uprooted; but it will constantly need purification. What are the implications of Jesus's words? Particularly when he says: "Cut off from me you can do nothing." This affirmation may bring to mind some of the deepest questions about the nature of human existence, of human autonomy, of God and of our relationship with Him.
If God created us in His own image and likeness and made us free, to what extent do we depend on Him? What is being emphasised here is that Jesus is not just a spiritual master to be listened to; Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, so to bear fruit we must remain in him.
The image of the vine and the branches says a lot about our belonging to Christ and the Church. The Church is not an organisation or a club. It is a living organism. This new image of the Church was a major breakthrough in the Second Vatican Council. And unfortunately, we continue to perceive our belonging to the Church in terms of membership, which is translated more in sociological than theological terms.
Through the imagery of the vine and the branches, Jesus wants to speak of intimacy. As the Irish philosopher John O'Donohue writes: "Our hunger to belong is the longing to bridge the gulf that exists between isolation and intimacy. Distance awakens longing; closeness is belonging." Our belonging to the Church is meant to be a belonging of closeness and intimacy, not a legalistic belonging according to set rules.
The vine discourse keeps us focused precisely on the source of true life. In our uncertainties and insecurity, the only guarantee for our peace of heart is to remain in his love, a love that is compassionate, heals, forgives, and reassures. Cut off from this love means being unplugged, disconnected, left in the dark.
Our problem today is that we are children of a civilisation that is suffering the consequences of a fractured relationship between the culture we promote and the faith that nourishes our integral humanism. On the one hand, the modern mind has fallen victim to what C.S. Lewis calls "the poison of subjectivism", reducing morality to a matter of feeling or to a sub-division of psychology.
On the other hand, morality has been collectivised, in the sense that democracy has become our religion. This puts our civilisation at risk, making us believe that humanity can save itself. It amounts in practice to Russian philosopher Vladimir Soloviev's Anti-Christ.
The words of Jesus are eye-openers because again, as C.S. Lewis writes in A Preface to Paradise Lost, "when poisons become fashionable they do not cease to kill". The remedy for all poisons imaginable is in the heart of God which is much greater than our consciences and than our weaknesses. As John confirms in the second reading, "we need not be afraid in God's presence".