FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER B

[cappie]

  As we continue to celebrate the  resurrection of Our Lord, we are called to bear fruit and become disciples because we love – though this isn’t always easy

How do we proclaim the Good News about Jesus when we think there is just too much happening around us and in the world? The answer is never the same and will vary from person to person. Still, the overall message of this Gospel, suggests this simple response: We show up. We love others. We share the Good News with others. We speak and act in ways that support this message of love.

In our Gospel, Jesus is addressing us. Twice, he says, “I am,” reminding us that God knows our hearts. There is no need to hide from God, no need to hide those parts of ourselves of which we are ashamed. Instead, this truth, this love, draws us nearer to God. It allows us to see those parts we think cannot be restored and instead allows us to run to the Father, allows us to abide in God. Our Second Reading  reminds us that if we love one another, God lives in us. There is no secret we can keep from God.

But what is love?  We can look to the One who sent Jesus into the world to die for us to create a clear example of love.  A love that  empowers us to act in ways that seek the well-being of all.  

 Imagine the following: You walk into any nursery or vineyard and there you encounter different individuals caring and tending to the needs of every vine. The vine grower tends to them all, making no exceptions! The vine grower is aware of what each vine needs to bear fruit. The vine grower loves the branches. Similarly, God examines our hearts, provides for us, and can also remove those parts of ourselves that bear no fruit. If the vine grower worries about all the vines and knows that every branch can bear fruit, then the pruning becomes a special and necessary part of the growth process. Pruning will change the outcome for the vine, and it will change our outcomes, too.

When we remain in God, we invite God into our lives – however messy that may be. When we remain in God, we are empowered to seek our place in this world, loving others, living into the mission of the Church, restoring all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.

It is a slow and transformational relationship between the vine grower and the branches.  

We cannot do this work alone. We have Jesus’ example of love by being in relationship with people.  We have the disciples’ example of love by following Jesus, even amid their own shortcomings.  Our world needs people who are capable of this love because a church that only condemns and only sees sin would not truly be the church. It would not be transformed by grace or mercy. There would be no opportunity for restoring our brokenness.

As God transforms us, we transform the world. Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador knew what it meant to be transformed by love; he knew what it meant to be with the people of his country and knew that speaking the truth would likely cause his death; he knew that loving the people of El Salvador meant that his actions and words mattered. He is reported to have said, “If a man knows how to detach from himself and knows how to love, he is a saint; if a man speaks too much about holiness but does not know how to love, he is no saint.” This is how we love.

When we remain in God, God remains in us. God remain in our relationships. God transforms. God will allow us to bear fruit.