Gospel Reflection Sunday April 28th 2024 – Fifth Sunday of Easter

By Fr Brian Maher OMI

Last week, it was sheep and shepherd. This week, it is vine and branches.
If we admire nothing about Jesus except that he was a superb observer of people and nature and that he was an equally superb storyteller, we will have much to admire. Sheep, vines, wheat, corn, sowing, harvesting, salt, foxes, snakes, coins – you name it, and Jesus could brilliantly work it into a story or parable to explain the Love of God for us and the coming of God’s Kingdom to us. He was a man wonderfully in tune with creation and constantly finding examples of God’s presence in it.
From this alone, we have a lot to learn. God does not live in cathedrals, temples, mosques, synagogues or churches; more accurately, God does not only live in these places. God is all around us, in the extraordinary wonders of the cosmos and the most ordinary snowflake or ray of sunlight; in the homeless beggar who sits at our feet as we pass by without even noticing, and in the first cry of a new-born child welcomed into the arms of a loving family. Ordinary and extraordinary, rich and poor, sinner and righteous – God is present in all of them.
As we look this week at Jesus’ observations of a working vineyard, we might open our own eyes to the stories God is telling in everything we see, hear, touch, taste and smell. The stories are there and so too is God.

Like sheep and the shepherd, the imagery of vine and vineyard comes to us from the Old Testament. Psalm 80 introduces the image beautifully: “You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land”. (Psalm 80)
The vine is the People of Israel, chosen by God, taken from slavery in Egypt, protected through the dangers of the desert, brought to the ‘Promised Land’ of Canaan (Israel), and made into a great Kingdom by David.
How wonderful! Unfortunately, the second part of Psalm 80 tells us the awful tragedy of the vine. Left to grow strong and be fruitful, it became corrupt, betrayed by some of its own people, burned and neglected. But, and this is very important, God did not abandon his vine. Another man would come, the “son of man”, anointed by God and sent to restore the vine to its original goodness. The words of the psalm: “Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine … They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your face! But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself! Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name!” (Psalm 80).

People often ask why we, Christians, want to dwell so much on the Old Testament. ‘We are followers of Jesus’, they say, ‘…why can’t we just reflect on Jesus’ words, recorded in the Gospels and New Testament?
The trouble with attempting that is that we lose the context and the power of Jesus’ words. Jesus was a Jew. He was born, lived and died a Jew. He attended the synagogue every Sabbath and sometimes read and spoke there. All of his Apostles and first disciples were Jews. Like Jesus, they were devout in keeping the law of Moses and observing the Feasts of their faith. On the awful days of Jesus’ arrest and death, they were in Jerusalem to celebrate the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread, which began with Passover. Even after the horror and shock of his death, Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb on Easter Sunday morning to ensure that he is buried with all proper Jewish rites and rituals. There, she encounters the Risen Lord.
Likewise, all of those who heard Jesus speak were Jews. They heard the stories and parables of Jesus with Jewish ears, and they interpreted what they heard with Jewish minds and hearts.
For us to try to understand the words and stories of Jesus without understanding, in at least a general way, the central themes of the Old Testament, is like trying to put together a large IKEA wardrobe without any instructions! (try it and see!)

When Jesus spoke about the vine and the vineyard, he was well aware of Psalm 80 and its meaning. All of those who first heard him speak of vines and vineyards were immediately able to recognise the imagery of Psalm 80 in his words. Probably the best way for us to understand the power and impact of Jesus’ words is to ask ourselves the question, “What did those who first listened to Jesus tell this parable about vine and vineyard hear him say?”
The truth is that we can understand very little of the language and meaning of the Gospels without starting where Jesus himself started, with the history of God choosing Israel as his people, the Law of Moses, and the Prophets.
I am not suggesting that we have to be scripture scholars or experts in the Old Testament to meet and recognise in Jesus the face of God. God is so much greater than that. God speaks to all of us. God is, in fact, within us through the Spirit sent to us at Pentecost, a feast now almost upon us!

However, armed with the words of Psalm 80 we can listen to the stories Jesus told about vines and vineyards, branches and pruning, fires and withering, with new ears. When we do, we discover that what Jesus was saying in this Gospel about himself, his relationship with God and his mission on earth was monumental.

When he says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener…”, just think about what he is saying.
Until Jesus, ‘the vine’ was always ‘The People of Israel’ – the whole nation, the Chosen people of God. If Jesus now says, “I am the true vine…” he can only be replacing the ‘People of Israel’ with himself.
He was making an extraordinary claim. He was, in fact, saying, “…just as God revealed himself to the People of Israel and chose them as his people, so now God is revealing himself through ME (Jesus), the Chosen One, the promised Messiah, the ‘new’ People of God.” Jesus was saying, “The ‘son of man’ promised in Psalm 80 is now here! You are looking at him.”
When he said it, those listening must have experienced a whole range of emotions from shock to amazement, horror, anger, fear, rejection, confusion, and, for a few, acceptance and belief.

If that claim is monumental, look what he is saying about himself. If he is now the vine, then “God is the gardener”. God is revealing himself through the person of Jesus – the new vine. It is now, no longer through the whole People of Israel, but through Jesus, that God will make himself known.
The next step for Jesus is logical and clear. “Only those who listen to my words and who accept them as God’s words can be part of the new ‘vine’.” He is telling them quite clearly that unless they accept him as the new vine, they will be fruitless branches that will be cut away and burned. But for those who do accept him and believe his words, there will be new life, reward and unity.
Jesus does not say it in this Gospel, but he is leading up to the most incredible claim of all – “The Father and I are one.” and “…he who sees me, sees the Father.”
Jesus, the shepherd of the Old Testament who will die for his sheep, and the ‘new vine’ through which God is revealing himself to the world is, in fact, one with God!

Sometimes I say to myself, if only I could have lived then, and come to know Jesus as a person. If only I could hear and see him, walk with him and eat with him, look into his eyes and maybe in them ‘see’ the eyes of God, then I could believe and follow and lay down my life as the Apostles did.
But then I pull myself up and wonder, would I? I would have walked with a wonderful man, who healed the sick, fed the hungry, forgave sinners and welcomed all. But would that be enough for me – in my stubbornness and pride – would I have missed the signs of who he really was?
Maybe, and maybe not. I can only hope…!

We may not be able to talk with Jesus as a man, or walk with him or hear his voice but we have an advantage the first followers did not have – the Resurrection.
Even after Easter Sunday the followers of Jesus were struggling to make sense of something completely new and utterly incredible. Yes, they experienced the Resurrection but understanding it took time and came about only through doubts, fears and confusions.
We, on the other hand, have two thousand years of prayer, reflection and then more reflection. We have the comfort of the creed we say every Sunday – ‘that he was crucified, died and was buried, and on the third day he rose from the dead.’ We are certain, in faith, that Jesus is the Word of God, who was from the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.
Before the Resurrection all that Jesus said and did was wonderful and life-giving, but so are the words of the Psalms and the Prophets. It was only in the Resurrection that we saw, once and for all, that Jesus did talk and act with the authority and voice of God.

The Cross is the ultimate and final act of the Love of God. At the moment of his death Jesus took on himself all of the evil and darkness of the world and then, in the Resurrection he overcame it. We need never again fear death and darkness. In the Cross, paradoxically, death and darkness triumphed but in the Resurrection they were vanquished forever.

As we move even closer to Pentecost and the fulfilment of Jesus’ promise – God’s promise – ‘to be with us always, even to the end of time’, we continue to bask in the light of the Resurrection.
Jesus is “the true vine”. As his followers in today’s world, we are called to be the fruitful branches of that vine, filled with the conviction and certainty of the Resurrection and ever renewed by the Joy of the Gospel.
But are we?

Many thanks,

Brian.

If you have any comments, questions or thoughts on this scripture reflection, please feel welcome to email me at b.maher@oblates.ie

Gospel Sunday April 28th 2024, Fifth  Sunday of Easter |

I am the vine, you are the branches