No Real Fruit Separated from Jesus

(Fr. Andrew’s homily for Sunday, April 28th)

Today's gospel (John 15:1-8) is about how to glorify God by giving fruit, abundant fruit. Jesus says that we need to be pruned. Jesus also says that we need to remain in him. What do these things mean? Don't we all want to be fruitful? Don't we all want to give glory to God with our talents? How does that happen?

1.  We need to be pruned. This “pruning” is usually understood as suffering: suffering purifies our soul from sin and gives us an opportunity to grow in love. But the first pruning happens in our intelligence, in our hearts, when God’s word, as a pruning hook, appears in our lives to challenge the way we live... God’s word offers us the truth, like a sword cutting out from our mind error and falsehood. God’s word requires faith, acceptance, submission... and these are not easy. This is the first pruning of which Jesus is talking today: “You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you” (John 15:3) The disciples have accepted and understood the word, they realized that the word is challenging but they have committed to put it into practice: in this way, they are prepared to give more fruit.

2.  But they are not going to give more fruit unless they remain in Jesus. To remain in Jesus means to remain in the state of grace. We remain in the state of grace when we do not commit mortal sin, that is, when the words of Jesus remain in our hearts because we practice them, because we make decisions based on what Jesus says.

Now, remaining in Jesus is something interior, spiritual, not easy to recognize by the appearances. When you cut a branch from vine, the branch looks pretty much the same for a while; only after a few days it begins to wither and dry. People who have committed a mortal sin may keep doing some of the good things they always do, at least for a while. But they have lost their interior connection with Jesus, because they have rejected in their conscience what Jesus says and have not yet repented of doing so. Separated from Jesus we cannot give the fruits we are meant to produce for the glory of God. Separated from Jesus we are like a branch cut out, without life, one which will eventually wither and burn. Thanks to God’s mercy, by the confession of our sins we are able to be regrafted into the vine.

3.  Now, what are those fruits which we are supposed to give for the glory of God? Interesting and exciting question and I wish we had more time to talk about that. Each person’s fruits have to do with their circumstances and particular talents. Some will shine in the virtues of patience and longsuffering, others will be persecuted like martyrs, others will show the beauty of God’s plan in a quiet family life, with all its sacrifices and rewards, others will give glory to God in the missions, or in the fine arts, or in the universities... But we will not produce those fruits, and this is my point today, if we separate ourselves from Jesus.

Let me put it in a story form. Once upon a time, a certain branch looked at its fruit and fell in love with it. The branch was so enchanted with its fruit that it forgot where the fruit was coming from. The branch compared itself with the other branches and saw that its own fruit was more beautiful than other branches’ fruit. The branch started to look down at the other branches and thought, “I can certainly do better than them.” Then the branch thought that it could produce fruit on its own, and cut itself out of the vine. The branch fell to the earth, got dirty and was stepped upon by people; little animals ate its fruit and it eventually dried up and was sent to be burned with the rest of the chaff. But when the dry branch was being carried away, it looked back and saw for the first time how beautiful the whole vine was, and how beautiful each branch was in its own place. And the branch said, “My fruit was beautiful because I was part of the vine... Now I have no fruit at all. I wish I had remained in my place!”

Human beings can do something that the branches of the vine cannot do. We can become proud and think that we do not need the vine in order to produce fruit. We may even arrive to thinking that the only way to succeed, to obtain the fruit for which we long, is precisely by separating ourselves from what Jesus says... We do this, for example, when we think we can be happy by breaking a certain commandment; or, also, when we make plans for our lives trying to avoid asking ourselves if this is really what God wants for us. At that time we need to remember: there is no better plan than God’s plan. Nobody knows you better than God, and nobody loves you more than Him: if someone wants you to succeed, it is He, and if someone knows exactly the way you in particular can succeed, it is He.

May we remain in Jesus. He is the only one who will never disappoint us.