Road to Emmaus Fifth Sunday of Easter

May 6, 2009

First Reading – Acts 9:26-31

Responsorial Psalm – Ps. 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32

Second Reading – 1 Jn. 3:18-24

Gospel Reading – Jn. 15:1-8

Jesus says to his Apostles at the Last Supper, "I am the true vine…you are the branches" (Jn. 15:1, 5). This imagery of vineyard, vines and vinedressers is full of meaning if we take into account the Old Testament background.

Israel the vine, God the vinedresser

There are many places in the Old Testament that use the vineyard or vine as an image to speak about the people of Israel. This is in addition to God himself being the one who tends to the vineyard, i.e. God is the vinedresser.

In Psalm 80 Israel is referred to as a vine. "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" (v. 8-9).

In Isaiah 5 we are given the parable of the vineyard. "Let me sing for my beloved a love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes…" (vv. 1-2).

Jeremiah tells us, "Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed" (2:21a). Hosea also informs us: "Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit" (10:1a).

Presupposed in all of these passages is the fact that God is the vinedresser. God brought the vine out of Egypt. He is the one who planted it to yield good grapes.

The unfruitful vineyard

In the Gospel reading for this Sunday Jesus also says something about the vine needing to bear good fruit lest the "branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned" (Jn. 15:6). These are words of condemnation and judgment. And, this is exactly what has happened to Israel and will happen to Israel again.

In the very same context of the Old Testament passages quoted above there is also the theme of judgment.

In Psalm 80 the Psalmist asks, "Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it" (vv. 12-13).

In Isaiah God tells us what he will do to his vineyard. "I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry!" (5:5-7). It also says, "When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? (5:2c).

Jeremiah says, "How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?" (2:21b). And Hosea continues his prophecy: "Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will break down their altars, and destroy their pillars" (10:2).

Then there is a passage from Ezekiel which is very much in parallel with the reading from John’s Gospel. God asks Ezekiel, "Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any wood, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest? Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do men take a peg from it to hang any vessel on? Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel; when the fire has consumed both ends of it, and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing; how much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything! Therefore thus says the Lord God: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will set my face against them; though they escape from the fire, the fire shall yet consume them; and you will know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them. And I will make the land desolate, because they have acted faithlessly, says the Lord God" (15:1-8).

Israel was called to be the vineyard of God onto to which the branches of the nations would be grafted. But they have become a false vineyard through their wickedness, forsaking the Lord. They are a people of bloodshed who have become degenerate, becoming a wild vine, yielding wild grapes. The divine vinedresser tended his vineyard with loving care, but the time has come for the vineyard to be destroyed, and a new vine, a true vine, to be raised up.

(Column continues below)

The true vine

Jesus is the true vine. He takes unto himself what was Israel’s mission. Jesus comes as the new Israel to succeed where they failed, to be faithful, where they were faithless. He will also, however, pronounce judgment.

The land becoming desolate that Ezekiel spoke about would happen in 586 B.C. when the Babylonians would conquer Jerusalem They destroyed the city and the Temple and exiled the people.

Jesus comes on the scene, and speaking about the rebuilt Second Temple says, "Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate" (Mt. 23:28). Then referring to the Temple once again he says, "Truly, I say to you, there will not be left one stone upon another, that will not be thrown down" (Mt. 24:2). On another occasion, using words like that of Ezekiel, Luke tells us that Jesus, "set his face to go to Jerusalem" (9:51). In 70 A.D. the Romans will destroy Jerusalem and the Second Temple.

Jesus is the true Israel. Here are a few parallels to consider:

1. Israel was made up of twelve tribes. Jesus calls to himself twelve Apostles.

2. Israel had gone down to Egypt and then out of Egypt. Jesus went down to Egypt and then out of Egypt.

3. Israel was given the Passover by God. Jesus inaugurates the new Passover at the Last Supper.

4. Israel went to Mount Sinai to receive the law. Jesus goes to a mountain to deliver the new law in the Sermon on the Mount.

5. Israel was in the desert for forty years. Jesus goes into the desert forty days.

6. Israel tested God in the desert. The devil tests Jesus in the desert.

7. Israel is led into the Promised Land through the river Jordan by Joshua. Jesus goes through the waters of the Jordan in order to lead us to the Promised Land.

8. Israel will have its Temple destroyed. Jesus will have his temple, i.e. his body, destroyed.

9. Israel was a true vine that became unfaithful. Jesus is the true vine who stays faithful.

The branches

The good thing for us is that Jesus wants us to become part of the true vine, part of himself. But to do so we must abide in him, and bear good fruit.

In the Gospel reading we understand that if we do not abide in Christ we will be "gathered, thrown into the fire and burned" (Jn. 15:6). If we as branches do abide in him but do not bear fruit we are taken away (cf. Jn. 15:2). In essence we have ceased to abide in him. Then, if we do abide in him and bear fruit we will be pruned so as to bear more fruit (cf. Jn. 15:2).

The third option is the only real option for all of us. We must abide in Christ and bear fruit. As Jesus says, "…apart from me you can no nothing" (Jn. 15:5). He does not say that we can do some things, but not others. He does not say that we will be able to do very little. He says apart from him we can do nothing. This is the case because apart from him we are dead, and dead things can do nothing.

But, how do we abide in Christ?

First, by letting his words abide in us (cf. Jn. 15:7). This means that his words become part of the very core of who we are. We must have his words on our minds, on our lips and in our hearts all the time. It should be like the prophet Jeremiah who said, "Your words I found, and I devoured them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart…" (15:16).

Second, we must abide in his love (cf. Jn. 15:9). How? "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love" (Jn. 15:10).

A third way of abiding in Christ is expressed to us in another part of John’s Gospel where Jesus says in no uncertain terms, "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" (6:56).