5th Sunday of Easter - Cycle B

1st Reading: Acts 9:26-31

Barnabas and Paul in Jerusalem
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[26] And when he had come to Jerusalem he attempted to join the disciples; and
they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. [27] But
Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how
on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he
had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. [28] So he went in and out among
them at Jerusalem, [29] preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke
and disputed against the Hellenists; but they were seeking to kill him. [30] And
when the brethren knew it; they brought him to Caesarea, and sent him off to
Tarsus.

The Growth of the Church
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[31] So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and
was built up; and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy
Spirit it was multiplied.

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Commentary:

26. This is the first time Paul presents himself in Jerusalem after his conversion.
He went up to see Peter, with whom he spent fifteen days (cf. Gal 1:18), and put
himself at Peter's disposal; and to check that his teaching was in line with that
of the Apostles.

Barnabas (see note on 4:36) dispelled the Jerusalem community's initial under-
standable suspicion of their one-time persecutor. They had been only too well
aware of his determination to suppress the Church and had not yet heard about
his preaching in Damascus.

During his short stay in Jerusalem Paul preached boldly his faith in the divinity of
Jesus and met the same kind of opposition as he did in Damascus.

30. For the second time St Paul has to flee for his life. Commenting on this epi-
sode, St John Chrysostom explains that, in addition to grace, human resourceful-
ness has a part to play in apostolic activity. "The disciples were afraid that the
Jews would do to Saul what they had done to St Stephen. This may be why they
sent him to preach the Gospel in his homeland, where he would be safer. In this
action of the Apostles you can see that God does not do everything directly, by
means of his grace, and that he frequently lets his disciples act in line with the
rule of prudence" ("Hom. on Acts", 20).

Chrysostom also sees in Paul's earlier flight from Damascus an example of pru-
dent conduct: "Despite his great desire to be with God, he first had to carry out
his mission for the salvation of souls. [...] Jesus Christ does not preserve his
Apostles from dangers: he lets them confront them, because he wants men to
use the resources of prudence to escape from them. Why does he arrange things
in this way? In order to have us understand that the Apostles are also men and
that grace does not do everything in its servants. Otherwise, would people not
have seen them as inert and lifeless things? That is why the Apostles did many
things by following the dictates of prudence. Let us follow their example and use
all our natural abilities to work with grace for the salvation of our brethren" ("ibid.").

31. St Luke breaks his narrative to give an overview of the steady progress of the
Church as a whole and of the various communities that have grown up as a result
of the Christians' flight from Jerusalem (cf. Acts 2:40, 47; 4:4; 5:14; 6:1, 7; 11:21,
24; 16:5). He emphasizes the peace and consolation the Holy Spirit has brought
them. This note of justified optimism and trust in God confirms that God is with
his Church and that no human force can destroy it (cf. 5:39). 

2nd Reading: 1 John 3:18-24

Loving One Another
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[18] Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth. [19]
By this we shall know that we are of the truth, and reassure our hearts before him
[20] whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he
knows everything. [21] Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confi-
dence before God; [22] and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we
keep his commandments and do what pleases him. [23] And this is his com-
mandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love
one another, just as he has commanded us. [24] All who keep his command-
ments abide in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us,
by the Spirit which he has given us.

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Commentary:

16-18. From Jesus the Christian learns what love is and what demands it makes
not only through his sublime teaching (like that about the Good Shepherd in John
10:1ff or his discourse at the Last Supper) but above all by his example: "he laid
down his life for us", by dying on the cross. We "ought" to do the same; the
Greek word St John uses implies a duty. That is, the precept of brotherly love im-
poses an obligation for two reasons--by the very nature of things, since all men
are brothers and children of God; and because we are indebted to Christ and
must respond to the infinite love he showed by giving his life for us.

Using an example very like that in the Letter of St James (cf. Jas 2:15-16), he
shows that true love expresses itself in actions: anyone who "closes his heart"
when he sees others in need does not truly love. The saints have constantly re-
minded us of St John's teaching: "what the Lord desires is works. If you see a
sick woman to whom you can give some help, never be affected by the fear that
your devotion will suffer, but take pity on her: if she is in pain, you should feel
pain too; if necessary, fast so that she may have your food, not so much for her
sake as because you know it to be your Lord's will. That is true union with his
will. Again, if you hear someone being highly praised, be much more pleased
than if they were praising you" (St Teresa of Avila, "Interior Castle", V, 3,11).

19-22. The Apostle reassures us: God knows everything; not only does he know
our sins and our frailties, he also knows our repentance and our good desires,
and he understands and forgives us (St Peter, on the Lake of Tiberias, made the
same confession to Jesus: "Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you":
Jn 21:17).

St John's teaching on divine mercy is very clear: if our conscience tells us we
have done wrong, we can seek forgiveness and strengthen our hope in God; if our
conscience does not accuse us, our confidence in God is ardent and bold, like
that of a child who has loving experience of his Father's tenderness. The love of
God is mightier than our sins, Pope John Paul II reminds us: "When we realize
that God's love for us does not cease in the face of our sin or recoil before our
offenses, but becomes even more attentive and generous; when we realize that
this love went so far as to cause the Passion and Death of the Word made flesh
who consented to redeem us at the price of his own blood, then we exclaim in
gratitude: 'Yes, the Lord is rich in mercy', and even: 'The Lord is mercy"' ("Re-
conciliatio Et Paenitentia", 22).

This confidence in God makes for confidence in prayer: "If you abide in me, and
my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you" (Jn
15:7; cf. 14:13f; 16:23, 26-27).

23-24. The commandments of God are summed up here in terms of love for
Jesus and love for the brethren. "We cannot rightly love one another unless we
believe in Christ; nor can we truly believe in the name of Jesus Christ without
brotherly love" (St Bede, "In I Epist. S. Ioannis, ad loc."). Faith and love cannot
be separated (cf. Gal 5:6); our Lord himself told us what would mark his disci-
ples out--their love for one another (Jn 13:34-35).

Keeping the commandments confirms to the Christian that he is abiding in God:
"If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love" (Jn 15:10). Moreover,
it ensures that God abides in his soul, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit: "If you
love me you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will
give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever" (Jn 14:15-16).

"May God be your house and you God's; dwell in God that God may dwell in you.
God dwells in you to support you; you dwell in God in order not to fall. Keep the
commandments, have charity" ("In I Epist. S. loannis, ad loc.").


Gospel Reading: John 15:1-8

The Vine and the Branches
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(Jesus said to His disciples,) [1] "I am the vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
[2] Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, He takes away, and every branch that
does bear fruit He prunes that it may bear more fruit. [3] You are already made
clean by the word which I have spoken to you. [4] Abide in Me, and I in you. As
the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you,
unless you abide in Me. [5] I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides
in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do no-
thing. [6] If a man does not abide in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers;
and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. [7] If you abide in
Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.
[8] By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My
disciples."

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Commentary:

1. This comparison of the chosen people with a vine was used in the Old Testa-
ment: Psalm 80 speaks of the uprooting of the vine in Egypt and its re-planting in
another land; and in Isaiah's Song of the Vineyard (5:1-7) God complains that des-
pite the care and love He has lavished on it, His vineyard has yielded only wild
grapes. Jesus previously used this imagery in His parable about the murderous
tenants (Matthew 21:33-43) to signify the Jew's rejection of the Son and the calling
of the Gentiles. But here the comparison has a different, more personal meaning:
Christ explains that He Himself is the true vine, because the old vine, the original
chosen people, has been succeeded by the new vine, the Church, whose head is
Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:9). To be fruitful one must be joined to the new, true vine,
Christ: it is no longer a matter of simply belonging to a community but of living the
life of Christ, the life of grace, which is the nourishment which passes life on to the
believer and enables him to yield fruits of eternal life. This image of the vine also
helps understand the unity of the Church, Christ's mystical body, in which all the
members are intimately united with the head and thereby are also united to one
another (1 Corinthians 12:12-26; Romans 12:4-5; Ephesians 4:15-16).

2. Our Lord is describing two situations: that of those who, although they are still
joined to the vine externally, yield no fruit; and that of those who do yield fruit but
could yield still more. The Epistle of St. James carries the same message when
it says that faith alone is not enough (James 2:17). Although it is true that faith
is the beginning of salvation and that without faith we cannot please God, it is also
true that a living faith must yield fruit in the form of deeds. "For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through
love" (Galatians 5:6). So, one can say that in order to produce fruit pleasing to
God, it is not enough to have received Baptism and to profess the faith externally:
a person has to share in Christ's life through grace and has to cooperate with Him
in His work of redemption.

Jesus uses the same verb to refer to the pruning of the branches as He uses to
refer to the cleanness of the disciples in the next verse: literally the translation
should run: "He cleanses him who bears fruit so that he bear more fruit". In other
words, He is making it quite clear that God is not content with half-hearted com-
mitment, and therefore He purifies His own by means of contradictions and
difficulties, which are a form of pruning, to produce more fruit. In this we can see
an explanation of the purpose of suffering: "Have you not heard the Master Him-
self tell the parable of the vine and the branches? Here we can find consolation.
He demands much of you for you are the branch that bears fruit. And He must
prune you 'ut fructum plus afferas": to make you bear more fruit'.

"Of course: that cutting, that pruning, hurts. But, afterwards, what richness in
your fruits, what maturity in your actions" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 701).

3. After washing Peter's feet Jesus had already said that His Apostles were clean,
though not all of them (cf. John 13:10). Here, once more, He refers to that inner
cleansing which results from accepting His teachings. "For Christ's word in the
first place cleanses us from errors, by instructing us (cf. Titus 1:9) [...]; secondly,
it purifies our hearts of earthly affections, filling them with desire for Heavenly
things [...]; finally, His word purifies us with the strength of faith, for 'He cleansed
their hearts by faith' (Acts 15:9)" (St. Thomas Aquinas, "Commentary on St. John,
in loc.").

4-5. Our Lord draws more conclusions from the image of the vine and the bran-
ches. Now He emphasizes that anyone who is separated from Him is good for
nothing, like a branch separated from the vine. "You see, the branches are full
of fruit, because they share in the sap that comes from the stem. Otherwise,
from the tiny buds we knew just a few months back, they could not have pro-
duced the sweet ripe fruit that gladdens the eye and make the heart rejoice.
Here and there on the ground we may find some dry twigs, lying half-buried in
the soil. Once they too were branches of the vine; now they lie there withered
and dead, a perfect image of barrenness: 'apart from Me, you can do nothing'"
(St. J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 254).

The life of union with Christ is necessarily something which goes far beyond one's
private life: it has to be focused on the good of others; and if this happens, a fruit-
ful apostolate is the result, for "apostolate, of whatever kind it be, must be an
overflow of the interior life" (St. J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 239). The Second
Vatican Council, quoting this page from St. John, teaches what a Christian apos-
tolate should be: "Christ, sent by the Father, is the source of the Church's whole
apostolate. Clearly then, the fruitfulness of the apostolate of lay people depends
on their living union with Christ; as the Lord Himself said: 'He who abides in Me,
and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing'.
This life of intimate union with Christ in the Church is maintained by the spiritual
helps common to all the faithful, chiefly by the active participation in the Liturgy.
Laymen should make such a use of these helps that, while meeting their human
obligations in the ordinary conditions of life, they do not separate their union with
Christ from their ordinary life; but through the very performance of their tasks,
which are God's will for them, actually promote the growth of\ their union with Him"
("Apostolicam Actuositatem",4).

6. If a person is not united to Christ by means of grace he will ultimately meet
the same fate as the dead branches--fire. There is a clear parallelism with other
images our Lord uses--the parables of the sound tree and the bad tree (Matthew
7:15-20), the dragnet (Matthew 13:49-50), and the invitation to the wedding (Mat-
thew 22:11-14), etc. Here is how St. Augustine comments on this passage: "The
wood of the vine is the more contemptible if it does not abide in the vine, and the
more glorious if it does abide....For, being cut off it is profitable neither for the vine-
dresser nor for the carpenter. For one of these only is it useful--the vine or the fire.
If it is not in the vine, it goes to the fire; to avoid going to the fire it must be joined
to the vine" ("In Ioann. Evang.", 81, 3).
　

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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

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