John 15: 9-17
Dear Friends,Today’s selection follows immediately last week’s text on Jesus as the Vine. While it does not mention the vine, it refers to it with the important verbs to “remain” and “abide.” These verbs convey the message of Jesus as the source of all life. They remind us that we must stay connected to Jesus to bear fruit. This season of Easter is all about the riches and blessings of that new life.
When Jesus tells us to “remain in my love” (John 15:8) he is asking us to respond to his love. He is calling us to say attached, to be rooted in him who is the vine. Abiding in him has personal consequences: purification and transformation. We need to embrace his way of seeing things. We need to expand our horizons, to be ever more inclusive. We need to reach out to take in the rejected and abandoned. We need to be open to the ever-expanding requirements of the Gospel message.
Central to today’s Easter message is the gift of joy. The fullness of joy is ours when we are faithful to his call to love. Verses twelve and seventeen begin and end a section with “this is my commandment, love one another.” Between these opening and closing verses, Jesus describes what the command to love means. Christian love is distinct because it is fashioned by Jesus. It demands sacrifice and self-giving. When Jesus adds “as I have loved you” (John 15:12) the disciples were, no doubt, aware of the events that had preceded this last meal. The Good Shepherd story talked of his willingness to lay down his life. The raising of Lazarus came with abandonment of personal security. The washing of the feet was a powerful call to service and humility in love. All of these examples were a foreshadowing of the ultimate expression of love in the passion and death on the cross.
As friends, they had experienced the self-sacrificing love Jesus was calling them to live. The life they received by remaining connected to the vine must bear fruit in the world. We, like the disciples, are called to share life and love with the risen Christ.
This passage on love displays for us the relationship of Jesus with the Father. His invitation is for us to share this relationship. It will be the source of our joy. It is the opening to the joy of eternal life. This joy begins now when we walk with Jesus on the path of love for one another.
The Easter message for us is that Jesus’ commandment to love is our invitation into the Alleluia. When we love in the pattern of Jesus we are living the new life, we are bearing the new fruit of the vine. We are filled with a joy that transcends the “Dos and Don’ts” of our traditional faith. Our experience of life, embedded in the vine, explodes into a “Yes Lord” from the depths of our heart. The Lord has risen! Alleluia!!
Loving one another is the surest way into the Pascal Mystery.
