The Vine and the branches

It’s the 5th Sunday of Easter and today’s gospel reading teaches us another attribute that our Lord Jesus Christ uses on himself. We’ve already talked about his being the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The other week, we featured our Lord’s being the Bread of Life and yes, we know him as the Truth and the Light. Last Sunday our Lord was the Good Shepherd. Today we get to learn about his being the Vine and we are his branches. You can read it in John 15: 1-8.

“[Jesus said to his disciples,] 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. 2 He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. 3 You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. 4 Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine.

5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and thrown them into a fire and they will be burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. 8 By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

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This was one teaching that the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ could easily understand. After all, during the time of Jesus, much of the world was mostly agriculture based and therefore the metaphor that our Lord uses could easily be understood by the people of his time. While the world today is highly urbanized, this metaphor is still very much understood.

God the Father is the owner of the vineyard, while our Lord Jesus Christ is the vine and those of us who believe in his words are the branches. However, those who no longer listen to the Word of our Lord, will be pruned, and if you read closely, it is not our Lord Jesus Christ who does the pruning, but God the Father who is the vineyard owner. Indeed, if the branch is detached from the vine it cannot bear fruit anymore, it withers and dies and is thrown as trash and burned. This clearly means, if you are away from the vine that is our Lord Jesus Christ, then you’re going to hell.

Few theologians these days speak of this burning in an unquenchable fire, which we have known as “hell”. Even Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, with all her wisdom and intellect, tells the public that hell doesn’t exist. Perhaps Sen. Santiago needs to open her Bible and read these very words from our Lord Jesus Christ to jolt her into realizing that the people who do not believe in hell are the ones who get there.

Fr. Stefano M. Manelli of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate wrote in his book “Day by day with Mary”… “Many are damned. At Fatima, the Immaculate Virgin showed hell to the three young shepherds. Lucia described that vision as bet as she could with these word, “We saw devils and souls in human form plunged in a sea of fire as if they transparent and black coals bronzed in human form, floating about in the fire, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks from huge fires, without weight or balance, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us faint with fear.”

“You have seen hell said Our Lady. “To save them, the Lord wants to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.” Fr. Manelli then reminds us of that passage in Matt. 10;28 when our Lord Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” This is one of our Lord’s best teachings… someone can easily kill with a gun and the person dies. But while it is the body that dies, the soul is released for final judgment. If a person does not obey the Words of our Lord, refuses to repent, then he has a huge chance of getting into hell, where there is wailing and grinding of teeth.

Today’s passage is part and parcel of the Last Supper and you can find similarities between today’s gospel and the gospel yesterday, which is in John 14:7-14 “The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.” That work is the act of pruning the branches. Then on verse 13 and 14, it reads, “And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”

What a great divine promise… that if you let our Lord Jesus into your life, you can ask him for anything. But why ask the Lord for worldly things when you can ask him for eternal life? As St. Augustine said, “If Christians listened to no sermon other than that on the Judgment of God, it would be enough to make them observe the gospel and lead a holy life of grace.”

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