The image of the vine that Jesus uses in the Gospel for this weekend sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole. There are so many videos on the internet about grafting. I learned the term ‘scion’ from these videos. It might be a familiar term to anyone who does a lot of gardening, but not to me. For those of you in my boat, a scion is a little cutting of a branch that you insert into an established plant or tree, which then grows by being grafted into that existing plant. It was fascinating to see all the many different methods used for grafting. And it was so cool to watch time-lapsed videos of the scions beginning to grow and bud after being grafted. Seeing those new little buds come forth just brightened my heart. New life is awesome!
There is much from that grafting process which speaks to our walk as Christians. As members of the body of Christ, the reality of the life we lead is that we are grafted. Jesus speaks beautifully about it in the Gospel: “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.” This is the truth, but often we forget it. At our Baptism, we were grafted onto the incredibly powerful branch who is Jesus Himself. We were given that vital connection to the Person who is fully God and fully human, and were inserted into His new and glorious life. But so often we try to pull ourselves away from the Branch. We mistakenly think that Jesus and His grace are just part of our life, instead of our very life. But remember, Jesus doesn’t say, “Without me you can only do a little,” or “Without me you won’t be very successful.” No, He says, “Without me you can do nothing.” Every blessing in our life has its root in Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life. Whether we realize it or not, when we try to work apart from Him, we are making ourselves wither and produce rotten fruit which won’t do us any good in the long run. I can think of so many times in my life where I put so much time and energy into something, only to realize that it was distracting me from what Jesus was trying to do in me. So often we fail to bear the good fruit of holiness, virtue and growth in our relationships because we are trying to bear fruit apart from Jesus.
The key for us is to keep returning over and over to Jesus and let ourselves be pruned, as He talks about. Where we have developed those unfruitful branches in our lives, Jesus can gently but firmly snip them away, so that we can bear lasting fruit. I recently saw a post from a father on social media talking about how he stepped away from promotions in his professional life and sacrificed financially, living more frugally on a smaller salary in order to be free to spend more time with his wife and children. He did this after the example of his own father, who did the same thing in order to have ample time to devote to him, his mother and his siblings. The man talks about how his father was inspired to do this by words of advice from someone who had taken the opposite path. At his retirement, this other man spoke of how disappointed he was that he had given such a huge chunk of his life to his work. The father on social media said that he took his father’s example to heart and spent his life pouring himself out for his family and community while working a less demanding job. Now his example has inspired his own son to do the same thing! Here are people who have chosen to allow themselves to be pruned, to intentionally give up some of the things the world defines as success in order to focus on more important things.
This is what we are each called to do in our lives, to constantly seek the Lord’s guidance about where we need pruning so that we can bear the true fruit that God has intended for us. This happens by allowing the life of God to flow more fully through us through the Holy Spirit. Just as the grafted branches flourish by drawing life from the plant onto which they are grafted, so we are called to open our hearts to the newness of the Holy Spirit flowing into us and through us through the Sacraments which we have access to by being grafted onto the Body of Christ, the Church. Parents and children, you are both called to pray about where God is inviting you to bear fruit. Too often, lesser goods such as jobs, sports and hobbies can take up so much of our effort that we can find ourselves drawn away from service to God, our families, siblings and friends. Jesus invites each of us this Sunday to pray about what fruit we are bearing.
Jesus also invites each of us to think about those in our lives who are like a scion that is not grafted into the vine. There are people around us who either have never experienced the grace of Jesus or who have pulled themselves away from Him. Like the Apostle Saul in the reading from Acts today, we too can speak and act in boldness in the name of Jesus. I pray that we all may be filled with strength flowing from Jesus, the Vine, to help us bring others to be grafted onto Him, as well!
The vine and branches are a rich symbol because although grapes were not a super common fruit in Jesus’ time, they grew especially well in the specific climate of Israel, the Promised Land. When the Hebrew people were on the boundary of the Promised Land after their Exodus from Egypt, one of the things the scouts brought back was a branch with a cluster of grapes. So from the early history of God’s people, the vine has been a symbol of the fruit of the Promised Land. Unfortunately, because of their fear, the Hebrews refused to enter the Promised Land immediately and had to learn to trust in the Lord as they wandered the desert for forty years. I would have to imagine that the Isrealites thought about those vines growing in the Promised Land every time they drank the cups of wine at their Passover meals in the desert. Eventually, a new generation was able to enter into the Promised Land and they began to cultivate those vines themselves.
Even now, we use the “fruit of the vine” at every Eucharist. I think Jesus knew what He was doing when He transformed wine into His Precious Blood at the Last Supper. By drinking of the wine transformed into His Blood, we renew our connection to Jesus the Vine, and are strengthened to bear the fruit of holiness He intends for each of us. His Precious Blood helps us on our journey to the ultimate Promised Land of Heaven, keeping us connected to the One who will get us there. By remaining intimately connected to Jesus and allowing His Spirit to flow through us, our hearts are put in communion with Jesus and through Him, with the Father.
This is why Jesus tells us boldly: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.” This isn’t some magical formula for getting whatever we want from God. Remaining firmly rooted in Jesus through the grace of the Sacraments transforms our desires to be one with His, leading us to ask for the things He already wants to give. The Father is always more than happy to abundantly answer the prayers which His Son has inspired us to pray! His answer might not be in the way or the timeframe we expect, but He will always answer and will always bring fruit when we seek Him through Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit!
+ Father, thank you for allowing us to be grafted onto your Son, the true vine! Jesus, help us to open our hearts more and more to You so that our prayers and actions will be rooted in Your inspiration. Holy Spirit, help us to be open to your work so that the fruit we bear will last into eternity. We ask this through Christ, our risen Lord. Amen. +