Daily Gospel Reflection: Wednesday of Fifth Week of Easter
Bishop Robert Barron
Wednesday of Fifth Week of Easter
May 1, 2024
Gospel: Jn 15:1-8
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.
You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.
Remain in me, as I remain in you.
Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own
unless it remains on the vine,
so neither can you unless you remain in me.
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.
Anyone who does not remain in me
will be thrown out like a branch and wither;
people will gather them and throw them into a fire
and they will be burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.
By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”
*United States Conference of Catholic
Bishop Robert Barron
Friends, in our Gospel passage today, Jesus declares that he is the vine and we are the branches, adding that “anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither.”
It’s odd that we accept this sort of language very easily when it comes to our bodily health, while we balk at it when it comes to spiritual or supernatural health. Doctors and health specialists can say, with a clarity and matter-of-factness, that certain practices and behaviors are absolutely essential if one wants to maintain physical well-being. Unless you eat a balanced, nutritious diet, you will get sick and unfit. If you smoke, drink to excess, and never exercise, your body will become unhealthy, and if these practices (or negligences) become exaggerated, you will die. It just isn’t that complicated.
Jesus is not engaging in charming poetic imagery. He is laying out the spiritual facts. The spirit is a living thing, and it derives its life from the vine. If, therefore, you are separated from the vine, you will die spiritually; you will stop living a supernatural life. And it’s just not that complicated.
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