Sunday 28th April. Easter 5

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

Last week we were offered the image of Jesus the Good Shepherd, the one who knows us and lays down his life for us.  This week we are given the image of Jesus as the Vine and we as the branches.

This image is vital in the way we understand our lives as Christians “hid in” or “in communion” with Christ as His body, and the relationship between the Body of Christ and the Father.

There are two textual points that help us understand Jesus’ words better in this passage.

The first is that the same word in Greek is used to men both prune “Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.”  and cleanse “You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.”  There is a sense in which the words of Jesus by preaching the word of God is already pruning and cleansing our souls of what is extraneous to a good life in God and for the salvation of our souls.  (Nothing the Son does is separate from the Father and the Father is the source of the Word through the eternal begetting that we affirm as our faith every time we say the Creed.)

The second is the use of the word “abide.”  The Greek word is μενω (meno) which for a little word has a lot of meaning.  Its core meaning is “to stay in a given place, state, relation or expectancy.”  This means that although we translate it into English as abide (a word that sems to denote endurance and stickability), we need to be aware that the abiding is in a number of ways and states.  Only by thinking about this as a staying/remaining/abiding in the fullness of place, state, relation and expectancy can we know what Jesus is teaching.  To abide in Him is about our whole lives and about our Hope.

It is in the Hope of the Son and the salvation he offers from the Father that we abide.

Indeed, it is more than that.  It is about the Word of God forming us in His image, as we were created and we are now re-created in Him, so that whatever we ask of the Father will be totally consonant with His will.  Our abiding in the Son conforms us to Him. Which is why He is the Vine and we are the branches.

May you abide in the Him and bear much fruit.

Love and Prayers,  Fr Clive