Vine and Branches

Based on John 15
The analogy of the vine and branches teaches us that we are called to form intimate relationships with each other and with Christ by trust, “fruitfulness” and love.


One like Us:
John's Gospel opens by describing Jesus as the “Word made flesh” essentially meaning, that the very means of our creation also became the end itself. Its like saying the potter becomes part of the pot he creates (or is the pot he creates). This is a significant point in understanding the content of John's gospel, especially in terms of what we are called to do.
The vines and branches passage begins with the foundation of trust. Trusting in Jesus is the meaning of faith. Pope Benedict's book Faith and Future gives a good definition of Christian faith: “the basic form of Christian faith is not: I believe something, but I believe you. Faith is a disclosure of reality that is granted only to him who trusts, loves, and acts as a human being...”
Jesus in becoming human allows us to more intimately place our faith in him. God is now accessible to our ability to believe in. The vine and branches analogy continues this thought. There is a clear connection between God and Jesus and between us and Jesus. Transitively, through our unity with Jesus we are instantaneously united with God. “Remain in me, as I remain in you” Here the faith is mutual between human and divine. Jesus places his faith in us and remains in us, and gives us the model by which we trust in him. Jesus is the true vine, as branches our lives depend upon him for everything—hence we can ask anything of Jesus to sustain us as we remain in him. Therefore, by being the true vine we can trust him, and to trust him is to remain in him.

Fruit of the Vine
Fruitfulness is a major theme of the gospels. Many of you may recall the passage about the fig tree that was made to wither because of its lack of fruit. More importantly however is to understand the meaning of producing fruit. Our own mass gives us a hint of the meaning when we use the terminology of “the fruit of the vine” in conjunction with the sacrifice of the mass in the Eucharist. Eucharist is both a reality and a unity. Therefore within our own lives we must embody a reality and strive for unity. Only within Christ's love, can we produce the fruits we truly need to bring true unity. Christ's faithfulness to us is beyond our faithfulness to him though, so there is no excuse for anyone to not strive for unity through love and relationships.

Relationships
The fruits on a vine are developed on the branches. What are the branches in our lives? To understand this we must understand meaningful relationships. As young men and women we have a multi-faceted array of relationships within our lives. We have relationships with our family, friends, and community. All of these relationships affect our lives in one way or another. We in turn affect the lives of others through our relationships. Some of our relationships are by choice, others by virtue of fate. Fruitfulness demands some kind of result for what we do. The result is either internal or external. Helping an elderly lady cross the street is one type of fruit. Forgiving that significant other and finding a means to a resolution is still another. Any work of mercy can be thought of as a fruit. Any practice of virtue. Any demonstration of kindness. But why are all these fruits? They are fruits because they are Christlike. The “fruit of the vine” becomes our “spiritual drink.” The blood of Christ was shed as a sacrifice for us. Becoming Christlike in our relationships then makes our very selves fruits. The fruits of ourselves then become the living Eucharist for others that nourishes and unites. Fruits nurture relationships.

Vine or Branch?
If then we are called to be Christlike, that implies we should then be like a vine. Indeed the analogy of the vine and branches supports this idea. The branches of the vine are like the vine itself. So indistinguishable in fact that a friend related to me this week that while cutting grass along his fence this summer, he was also trimming away branches of this vine that had been growing along it. A few days later he discovered that he had killed the entire plant, because he trimmed the vine in the process of trimming the branches. At the time he had no idea, nor could he tell the difference. Without a true-living vine, the branches all die. Jesus is the living vine, and all who remain in him, is truly alive. Yet we too are called to be like the vine, to establish branches of our own. The branches we have then rely on us for nourishment, like we rely upon Christ for nourishment. Indeed we are vines for those who depend upon us, and we ultimately rely on Christ to continue to be Christlike for others. Being the vine then brings us back to our Eucharistic image, in which we become Eucharist for others, just as we become vines for others to be our branches.

Pruning
One of the most important aspects of the vine imagery is pruning. God prunes us to become more fruitful and meaningful. Without pruning a branch is not as able to devote its energy to produce fruit. Yet timing is also a fact. This leads us to know that everything has a time and place, and that certain things must be finite, and that others when in excess are no longer good for us. Jesus reminds us it our only our fruit that will remain. In our own lives can we relate to times when God has pruned us? Pruning does not necessarily imply pain, but it does imply sacrifice. The parts of our lives that are pruned away are sacrifices of many kinds. There's pain in separation from the things we desire, but there is also liberation that comes soon afterwards in the fruits of our labors. The trade-off then is functional. We necessarily must prune to produce a good fruit. If we never devoted our times and energies into meaningful endeavors, what fruits can we harvest in the end? If we do not exhibit endurance, resilience in our perils, how can we have room for fruits if we do not give ourselves room to live? We should definitely meditate on the different kinds of pruning in our lives. See the good that comes with sacrifice. Jesus had to die so that he could conquer death. Jesus must be the bread that is both broken and shared. Pruning then is another aspect of our Eucharistic existence.

The Commandment of Love
Jesus says twice to remain in him, the first time was “remain in me as I remain in you”, the second time he says “remain in my love.” Jesus also gives us a commandment to love twice. The first time he says “Love one another as I have loved you” and the second time he says “love one another.” Both times the second statement is simplified from the first. Why the repetition and simplification? Because both are necessarily important and intertwined ideas. The first defines, the second commands. First he defines how to remain in him, or how to love. Then he asserts that we do it. Therefore, the commandment of love isn't a blind command, but a defined command in terms of personal relationships. Love then is an expression within personal relationships. Love is defined to be between people and to be between people and God. Jesus loves God, and God loves Jesus, and Jesus loves us. We are needed to complete the unity by loving Jesus and God. Love is the foundation of trust. Through love we can trust and build relationships. The reason is that love is the reality of grace. Without love and without grace both our faith and hope disappear. Love brings God's grace within our lives to reality. The Church's visible expressions of grace in the sacraments for example are best understood as expressions of love.
Baptism – Love that cleans and redeems
Confirmation – Love of faithfulness and determination
Eucharist – Love that sacrifices and unites
Reconciliation/Penance – Love that forgives and makes new
Holy Matrimony – Love that brings new life
Holy Orders – Love that shares and gives
Anointing of the Sick – Love that heals
Love then is inevitably the real manifestation of God's grace in our lives. All loving relationships, actions, thoughts are the reality of grace within our lives, because God is love. The vine and branches analogy give us an accurate way of identifying and acting upon God's own essence of love.

Reflection Questions

What ways are you Christlike? What ways can you relate to Christ's human nature? Christ became one like us, how can we become like him?
What are the fruits in our lives? In what ways have the fruits of our lives made our lives more meaningful?
What are some of the most important relationships in your life? What are some of the least important relationships? What ways can our relationships unite us? Separate us? What does the vines and branches analogy offer to bring to relationships? Can we all be united?
Are you a vine for others? Are you a branch? What ways can we be more Christlike in our lives?
We are pruned constantly by our loving God. What ways have we been pruned? How do these sacrifices of self lead to a more fulfilling and fruitful life?
What is love for you? What ways has Christ loved you? What ways have you loved like Christ? Is it hard to love?