Scripture Reflection, May 10, 2009: Growing Fruits in God's Vineyard

Scripture Readings:
Acts 9: 16-31
Psalm 22: 26-27, 28, 30, 31-32
1 John 3: 18-24
John 15: 1-8

In today’s Gospel we hear Jesus talking about the parable of the vine and the branches. We don’t need to be experts in horticulture to understand its meaning. Pruning grapes is a dramatic event since about 90% of the plant has to be removed to produce vigorous new growth. The image of the vine and the branches is so familiar to a people who for centuries planted vineyards and cultivated grapevines. They knew well that only the vine engrafted onto the trunk can become green with leaves and rich with clusters of grapes. The vine that is cut off, on the other hand, shrivels up and dies. There couldn’t have been a stronger image for expressing the nature of our bond with Christ: Christ is the vine, the Father is the vine grower, we – the disciples of Christ - are the branches who are called to bear fruit and need to be pruned for new growth.

When I was little, my father and my grandfather used to have their annual argument over how to prune the apple and cherry trees we had in our backyard. Behind the discussion was the desire to be able to harvest plenty of fruits in fall – but also the fear that because of a wrong cut we wouldn’t see any apples or cherries. Pruning the trees is to take care of them, it means discerning the right treatment so as not to hurt the trees, but to allow them to grow and give the best of themselves.

What are the fruits that Jesus expects from us? Good works? New disciples? A holy life? If we look around in the Catholic and Christian community we can find an infinite number of fruits: service projects for the poor, the marginalized and the sick; projects for ecology and social justice, for peace and reconciliation; families who try to pass on Christian values to their children; philanthropy; spiritual guidance and many more. So many groups, congregations, movements, families and single persons give their gifts and talents in the service of others. The possible fruits are as infinite and diverse as God’s people. The important thing is that they are fruits of the same vine. In order to bear the fruit that Jesus is expecting from us, we need to be engrafted in the trunk, in Jesus Christ himself. Only if we are well connected with Jesus will we be able to love in “deed and in truth”, as it is mentioned in the second reading.

This Gospel speaks of pruning, but also of remaining. In fact the word remaining is used eight times in this passage. Perhaps this is because we cannot bear fruit on our own, but need to remain in Christ like the branches remain on the vine. We receive the grace of remaining in Christ through the sacrament of Baptism, but it is up to us to bring to fruition what Baptism has brought about to life, and discover its grace. To always remain in him, Jesus asks us to keep his commandments. In his first letter, John explains what that means: “We should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ and love one another just as he commanded us.”

Following Jesus’ commandments is a choice that we are called to live out day by day, also in the small things. In this past two weeks I got really busy with things I needed to do. Most of them were directly related with ministry or service to other people. At a certain point I realized that I was about to lose focus on what I was doing. I was working for God in a certain way, but almost lost sight of him. It was hard to concentrate on prayer and also during mass I got distracted with re-organizing the to-do-list I had in mind. I needed to stop and remind myself on what really matters. I cannot be Jesus for the people I serve, if I’m not connected with him in my heart. I remembered the sentence: “Nothing is better organized than what love orders.” I need to do things out of love – for Jesus and the people I am working with or ministering to. Otherwise they won’t recognize the fruit as fruit of the vine. So I started trying to do things more calmly and more prayerfully, open to the needs of the people around me and to go with the flow, instead of trying to keep things under my control.

Remaining in Christ can mean not to lose focus on Jesus in the things we do and to allow him to work with us – make him our co-worker. And doesn’t the pruning go hand-in-hand with the remaining? When I tried to re-focus on my life with Christ, I had to let go of my worries, my judgments, my plans, my selfishness and my pride. The words about the pruning can sound frightening. But God is a careful and loving gardener. He cares for us and wants to help us to develop the gifts we have and to become our true selves. We don’t need to be afraid of being pruned by God. The pruning is a result of our commitment to discipleship and our desire to remain in Christ always. The pruning makes us grow in our personality and our love for God and makes us remain ever deeper in relationship with God and with one another. And we can be certain to have God’s help on this path of discipleship, as he promises: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.”

Birgit Oberhofer