Elizabeth Wourms, D.Min., is joining us as a new contributor to the Ite Missa Est daily reflections. We are grateful that she has agreed to share her wisdom, knowledge, and talents with us. Elizabeth is a recent convert to Catholicism and newer member of Immaculate Conception Parish.
Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Doing and Being. As disciples of Jesus, we live in the tension between the doing of our faith – the working it out, and the being of our faith – living securely in our identity as sons and daughters of the Living God. I see this tension reflected in today’s readings.
The Early Church struggled to understand how their Jewish heritage and the strict observance of the Mosaic Law fit into the developing Christian movement. Although ancient Israel had a strong identity as the People of God (their being), they possessed an equally strong commitment to religious practices (their doing). For many, if not most of the Jewish people, the key question became, what must we do? This question is reflected in the first reading as the leaders among the Jewish converts insisted that circumcision was necessary for salvation for those seeking to faithfully follow Christ. What must I do to be saved? this question echoes through the New Testament – see, for example, the rich young man (Mark 10:17 and Luke 18:18), the expert in the Law (Luke 10:25) and the jailer (Acts 16:30). The Early Church did well to wrestle with these questions of ritual and practice – it was imperative that they came to true and wise discernment. We, too, live with the question what must I do?
In the Gospel text, I see a different question. Instead of what must I do, I ask myself who am I? Jesus invites us to a deeper understanding of our identity; our identity in Him. Jesus’ metaphor of a vineyard is significant, because his disciples and other Jewish people of his day would have immediately understood his reference to the many comparisons throughout the Hebrew scriptures to Israel as a vineyard. The Old Testament prophets made many references to the Israelites as God’s vine or vineyard. Their fruit-bearing came as a result of their striving to observe God’s commands, and the prophets frequently convicted them for their failure to bear fruit. Israel struggled to thrive; their best efforts often left them withered and dry. I don’t know about you, but I often find myself parched and exhausted from my own efforting – my striving to be obedient to God and to live faithfully.
But Jesus announces, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.” By “true vine,” he means the original root stock. Jesus not only incorporates all of Israel into himself, but all peoples everywhere (Gentiles), as well. We are all “grafted in,” as St Paul describes (Romans 11). Jesus himself is the life-giving source, the vine itself! We are his branches. We see our very essence reflected in these life-giving words – our role is not to strive, our role is to be, to be and remain part of and participants in Christ. God calls us from striving to thriving!
Remain . . . remain in me, and I will remain in you, our Savior promises. Jesus repeats this refrain eight times in this short passage! This word remain carries the connotation of abiding, there is a permanence inherent in its meaning. Recognizing this location of our being in Christ is a game-changer! As a branch in this living and True Vine, I don’t come and go; it’s not a temporary or transient existence! I abide, I remain in Him always – that is my truth, my reality, even in those moments when I feel distant from God. Just as plants receive water and nutrients from their roots and stock, how much more are we fed, nourished, energized, and enlivened by Jesus’ infinite, unconditional love that flows through us as we find our being as branches in him. It is truly in him that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).
When I picture an actual vine, I realize that the branches do not “effort” on their own to bear fruit. Their fruitfulness is a natural outcome of their abiding. The branches receive everything they need to thrive from the root stock. So it is for us in Christ. Our fruitfulness as disciples is not a result of our own efforting, our striving out of our own limited resources. Our fruitfulness as disciples is pure grace and the gift of our loving Savior as we abide in him. In our Gospel text, Jesus acknowledges, apart from me, you can do nothing. Earlier in his discourse (John 14:12), Jesus told his disciples that they would do even greater things than these because he was going to the Father, with the implication that they would receive divine power for these works. St Paul knew and declared this truth, I can do all things through him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13). I often frustrate and exhaust myself trying to do all things in my own feeble strength, when all I need to do is abide and receive.
Christ’s imagery of the vine reminds me of the Eucharist, too. The humble fruit of the vine becomes the very Christ himself in the Cup of Salvation, True Vine pouring forth his extravagant love and grace. The Eucharist helps to keep us anchored in this life-giving Vine and truly nourishes us for our daily life. Eucharistic grace reminds me that the question is not what must I do? but rather where do I find my existence and my strength?
Lord Jesus, remind me, moment-by-moment, that I exist in you, and that your love, your grace, and your Resurrection power flow through me, empowering me and overflowing to others. Thank you, Jesus, that I don’t have to effort in my own strength.
- Elizabeth Wourms