By Fr. Ed Liptak, SDB

It seems wise on this fifth Sunday of Easter to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us through careful reflection on the source of our spiritual life as presented by Jesus Himself. The Gospel of John reveals what Jesus taught about true Christian life at the end of the Last Supper.

Jesus was in open dialogue with his apostles and finally told them that the Spirit would teach them yet more, but it was time to leave. As they prepped to leave the Upper Room, He added another lesson and said, ” I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.” Speaking directly to them, He pronounced Himself to be the living Vine, and they were His branches. In that solemn moment, Jesus sought from them true and faithful discipleship.

Thus far the message was mostly for the Apostles to whom Jesus was leaving His Church. It is a fine example of how harmoniously Father and Son work. Jesus, as He went on, seemed to widen his invitation not only to the Apostles but to any of us: “I am the vine, you are the branches.”–“Whoever remains in Me as I remain in him will bear much fruit, because without me, you can do nothing.“–“Whoever 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.”  As always, Jesus is an honest talker. (See Jn 15:1-8).

The same St. John who gave us this Gospel helps us in the second reading to apply its message to our lives as Christians. To live confidently with God, nothing in our relationship with Him or our neighbor should be put on or artificial. “My children,” John’s passage opens, “let us not love in words only but in works and in truth.” No one loves hypocrisy, and Christ shows repugnance for it. Furthermore, God knows everything. It is no struggle for Him to recognize deceit.

John also defines what loving God means: “To love God is to keep his commandments.” He does not leave this as a bare statement. Instead, he explains, and though we hear similar explanations, it is well to repeat. As John puts it, God’s first commandment is to believe in the Name of Jesus Christ. That means taking ‘Who Jesus is,’ Jesus, in the fullness of his Being, body, blood, soul, and divinity, and taking it seriously by living it. The second, says John, is to love one another as Christ loved us, without pretense, in Spirit and in truth.

John offers this final advice:

“Those who keep his commandments. Remain in him, and he in them, and how we know that He lives is from the Spirit, he gave us.”

We Christians must live with conviction. Live, Lord Jesus! Live in me.

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