Abide in Me, and I in you

 

 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.  

 

 "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  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.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

 

- John 15:1–11 

 

This week, we are reading through Christ's Final Discourse at the Last Supper.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus told the disciples, "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.  A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also.  At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.   He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."  Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.  He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.  These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.'  If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.  And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.  I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.  But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do.  Arise, let us go from here."

 

 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."  My study Bible explains that the vine is a symbol of Israel (Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21).  In contrast to disobedient and unfruitful Israel, it says, our Lord calls Himself the true vine, which together with the branches constitutes a new and fruitful people of God:  the Church.   At the Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church, the bishop prays that the Lord will visit and confirm the vineyard, the local body of Christ, which He planted with His own right hand (Psalm 80:15-16).  Moreover, to abide in this vine is to abide in Christ and His Church.  My study Bible adds that this image of the vine and the branches shows several things.  First, that our union with Christ is intimate and real.  Second, that life flows from the vine to the branches -- to abide in Christ is dynamic and vitalizing.  Finally, the fruit we bear is both good works and mission (John 15:16; 17:18).  

 

  "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  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.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."  My study Bible comments here that one cannot love God and refuse God's commandments.  To love God is to keep His commandments (John 14:15).  

 

Christ's words in today's reading convey to us the depth of relationship in meanings of love, communion, and covenant.  The image of the vine, branches, and vinedresser conveys to us the depth of communion between Christ and His followers, and that this also includes God the Father.  As vinedresser the Father prunes those branches which do not bear fruit, for the health of the whole and so that the vine may be even more fruitful.  In the sense of this image, Jesus teaches, "Abide in Me, and I in you."  To abide is to "stay," in the sense of residing somewhere, staying in a particular shelter or home.  Jesus says, "He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."  Thus, He conveys to us that unless we make our home with Him, and He in us, we do not bear the fruits God looks for.  No branch can bear fruit off of its vine, and so it is with us.  Without the vine, a branch simply withers.  "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."  The spiritual fruit we bear by abiding in Him, and He in us, glorifies the Father, and declares that we are Christ's disciples.  Finally, what Christ offers to all of us is a communion of love:  "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love."  We are to remain in that love as a shelter, an abode, a place to dwell.  Finally, here is covenant, the bond that doesn't break and is inseparable:  "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."  Here is love, loyalty, and even duty.  So long as we keep in this love and follow what He teaches we abide in this communion.  We are to live to the fullest this life that produces spiritual fruit, keeping in His love, following what He teaches us.  This is an active love and a dynamic communion.  It is a covenant of love, a bond that goes all ways, between Father, Son, and the faithful, where faithful means being true to what we are taught, how we are guided, faithful to the One who loved us first (1 John 4:19).  Finally, here is the joy that surprises in the midst of the world:  "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."  We are not created to "be our own boss," so to speak, but we are created to bloom and to bear fruit, to grow in as healthy a way as possible.  And for us to understand the fulfillment of our own creation, we need Christ to guide, and the love of the Father, and the help of the Holy Spirit.  In this way, we fulfill the purpose for which we are created -- and that is the source of joy.  For so many people, "duty" may be seen as an oppressive word, but a duty borne of love is not coerced nor compelled; it is voluntary.  This is loyalty, and desire.  Often we imagine -- in the midst of a taxing circumstance -- that if only we had nothing to do, we could be happy.  But the truth is, human beings do not become happy by being idle; our joy comes by fulfilling a deeper purpose, and most particularly in living that love in this communion Christ describes.  It is the heart and life of our very soul that forms this communion, and the one in which Christ asks us to abide -- for there we will find our surprising joy.  If we think about it, we may come to understand that even in the midst of tribulation, in the midst of a difficult and troublesome world full of worries and hardships, we may still have this joy when we follow what He teaches, and abide in His life.  Let us learn to find this joy, in all circumstances.  Let us seek Him and stay where He teaches us to be.  

 

 

 

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love

Christ the true vine; 13th century.  Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece

 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.  

"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  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.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

 

- John 15:1-11 

 

We are currently reading through Christ's words to the apostles at the Last Supper, in what is called the Farewell Discourse.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus said to them, "If you love Me, keep My commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.  A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also.  At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."  Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.  He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.  These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.'  If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.  And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.  I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.  But that the world may know that I love  the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do.  Arise, let us go from here."

 

  "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."  My study Bible comments that the vine is a symbol of Israel (Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21).  In contrast to disobedient and unfruitful Israel, it says, our Lord calls Himself the true vine, which together with the branches constitutes a new and fruitful people of God:  the Church.  In the divine liturgy of the Orthodox Church, the bishop prays that the Lord will visit and confirm the vineyard, the local body of Christ, is planted with His own right hand (Psalm 80:15-16).  To abide in this vine is to abide in Christ and His Church.  My study Bible comments that the figure of the vine and the branches shows first that our union with Christ is intimate and real; second, that life flows from the vine to the branches.  In other words, abiding in Christ is dynamic and vitalizing.  Finally, the fruit we bear is both good works and mission (John 15:16; 17:18).

 

 "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  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.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."  My study Bible notes here that one cannot love God and disobey His commandments.  To love God, as Jesus taught in yesterday's reading, is to obey God (John 14:15).  

Jesus teaches us something more about love in today's reading.  He says,  "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love."   He seems to say to us, to tell us through these words, that love comes from somewhere.  Love has a Source, and that Source is God.  As long as we know that we are created by a loving Father, then we know that there is love, and that love is part of who we are because it comes from the ultimate Source of all things.  Jesus teaches us, "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."   We express and live our love for Christ by keeping His commandments, and in this way we become like Him -- for He has kept the Father's commandments and so abides in the Father's love.  He is inviting us into this depth of communion, which is a communion of love.  We may stop to think, in our modern context, that to follow the commandments of an authority figure, even a parent, doesn't necessarily translate into love.  We can, after all, receive abusive or wrong commandments in our lives, from those whose wills are unhealthy, unhealed, suffering, and all the ways in which our imperfect world expresses its imperfection.  But Christ is not speaking of worldly commandments and worldly authority; He is speaking and offering the opposite.  He's offering us the life of what is necessary for us, and that which is in so many ways missing in our world.  He is offering communion in and with the Source of all love, even as we are in a world distant and separate from that communion, with the "ruler of this world" an opponent to Christ.  He follows with, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."  He's offering us joy even when we have sorrow, even when we are disappointed and afraid, even abandoned by the people and things we are fond of in life.  For this joy remains in us when all else may fail.  For what Christ is offering is to abide in Him, and He in us, within the strength and Source of the Father's love, rooted in a place so deep within us we might not even know it's there.  This is the way Christ offers us love and communion, and all we have to do is love Him by following the commandments which are His words of life for us.  These commandments are for us, and they are the words of eternal life for us.  They are the words that share His love with us, and share with us His joy.  Let us take in all that we are offered, and take Him up on His offer, so that we may abide in His love, and joy may abide in us. 

 

 

 

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free

 

 Then Jesus said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin.  Where I go you cannot come."  So the Jews said, "Will He kill Himself, because He says, 'Where I go you cannot come'?"  And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above.  You are of this world; I am not of this world.  Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."  Then they said to Him, "Who are You?"  And Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.  I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."  They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.  

 

Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.  And He who sent Me is with Me.  The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."  As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. 

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

 

- John 8:21–32 

 

In our recent readings, Jesus is attending the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.  He has been teaching in the temple, and has been confronted in a would-be trap by being presented with a with a woman taken in adultery.  After that, He continued in dialogue with the religious leaders.  Yesterday we read that Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."  Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.  You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.  And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.  It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.  I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."  Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?"  Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father.  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."  These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.

 

  Then Jesus said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin.  Where I go you cannot come."  So the Jews said, "Will He kill Himself, because He says, 'Where I go you cannot come'?"  And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above.  You are of this world; I am not of this world.  Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."  Then they said to Him, "Who are You?"  And Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.  I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."  They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.   My study Bible tells us that going away, in this first verse here, is a reference to Christ's death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.

Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.  And He who sent Me is with Me.  The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."  As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.  Jesus uses the term lift up, as He did with Nicodemus in John 3:14.  My study Bible explains that here, this phrase has a double meaning of being nailed to the Cross and also of being exalted by God the Father upon the completion of His work.  

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed."  My study Bible comments that Jesus expects all who follow Him to be disciples; in other words, learners.  To abide in His word is the responsibility of all believers, not simply of the clergy or an elite class of zealots -- but all of us.

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  My study Bible tells us that the truth refers here both to the virtue of truth and, more importantly, to Christ Himself (John 14:6).  To be free means the freedom from darkness, confusion, and lies -- and also freedom from the bondage of sin and death.  

From what do you need to be free?  Jesus' freedom is inextricably tied up with the truth, for how can we ever be truly free from something unless we first understand what is true and what is false?  It is also tied in with any concept of justice or righteousness, because we cannot discern either justice or righteousness unless our understanding is based in the truth of what is and what isn't.  For an example of these things, let us look to the Crucifixion of Christ itself.  Of what was Jesus truly guilty to have received a sentence of crucifixion?  Certainly Pilate himself found no wrong according to Roman law.  In St. John's reporting of Christ's trial before Pilate, Pilate twice says, "I find no fault in Him," and later seeks to release Him to the crowd, asking, "Shall I crucify your King?" (John 19:4-16).  In our previous chapter, Nicodemus speaks up against the hasty action of his fellow members of the Council, saying, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"   But Christ's accusers can do nothing in response but  deliver a lie, saying, "Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee" (see John 7:50-52).  In these examples we can see immediately the question of truth and its importance for notions of justice and righteousness.  Jonah the prophet was from Galilee, something these Biblical scholars of their time are supposed to know; either their claim to expertise is not true, or they are deliberately obscuring the truth.  On the other hand, Nicodemus seeks to uphold a proper search for truth by reminding them that lawful judgment requires hearing from the accused first.  But if we look at the Crucifixion itself, we see a greater example of what truth has to do with being free.  For Christ's freedom is precisely in His own innocence, and His mission from the Father.  All along, He has been saying that His union is with the Father, His mission is from the Father, as He is taught by the Father, so He does -- and as the Father judges, so Jesus will judge, and not of Himself.  See yesterday's reading, above, in which Jesus tells the religious leaders, "You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.  And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me."  His freedom in this sense is guaranteed by His loyalty to the Father and His unwillingness to compromise with what He knows to be false.  We can only imagine what shame crucifixion would bring to a family such as His, but we understand Christ's very state of freedom to rely on the truth, and not judgment by appearances, and in this He was free and remained so.  There is yet another example at the Crucifixion, close by the Jesus, and that is the thief who recognized his responsibility for his crime, and turned to Christ asking for forgiveness -- and was granted such.  He asked of Christ, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."  Jesus replied, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise" (see Luke 23:39-43).  So, in that case, it was the truthful acknowledgment of his crime that set free the thief to be received by Christ in His Kingdom.  Both cases -- Christ's innocence and the thief's crime -- are true, and both are necessary to the freedom of each, as well as our freedom to understand and to seek the same discernment in our own lives, even the same truth in Christ which guides us.  We human beings experience many confusing layers of what may or may not be true in life. So much depends upon experience and perspective, even awareness itself, or education, or how complete or incomplete is our grasp of all the facts pertinent to whatever things we may consider.  And so, truth can be elusive and even seemingly changing.  But this is why we seek Christ for discernment of the truth that makes us free, because we don't have that divine perspective of Christ.  We are not "from above," as Christ so eloquently puts it.  We are not born with the discernment that Christ offers through participation in His life, and the subsequent growth He offers to us.  We may be trapped in cycles of guilt that are not based in truth, or of irresponsibility equally not based on truth.  We may find ourselves punishing ourselves for things we can't change, and looking in all the wrong directions to salvage our lives from something truly devastating.  Christ's freedom is the deepest one can go; it is what we would call ontological, even a state of being within us.  That is, a state of freedom at the depth of soul and identity.  Only Christ can offer this because on He has the perspective of the ultimate Healer, for -- as we are told by St. John -- in Him is life, and that life is the light we need (John 1:4).   His light is truth, and in that truth is our real freedom.

 

 

He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him

 

 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. 

 

- John 6:52-59 

 

 Yesterday we read that the religious leaders in Capernaum complained about Jesus, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

 

  The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him."  My study Bible comments here that Christ was crucified in the flesh and His blood was shed on the Cross, and on the third day He was raised in a glorified state.  So we receive the grace of His sacrificial offering by coming to Him in faith and by receiving the Eucharist in faith.  This is what He indicates here, coming upon the sign of feeding the people with bread in the wilderness (see this reading from the beginning of this chapter in John's Gospel).  To eat His flesh and drink His blood therefore is a reference to the Eucharist, which grants the faithful eternal life.  Thus, as Jesus says here, He abides in us and we abide in Him.   My study Bible quotes St. Hilary of Poitiers:  "There is no room left for any doubt about the reality of His flesh and blood, because we have both the witness of His words and our own faith.  Thus when we eat and drink these elements, we are in Christ and Christ is in us."  

"As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.  Once again, as He has done throughout His discourse in this chapter, Jesus returns to the theme of His unity with the Father.  He insists that His life is thoroughly dependent upon the Father, so those who will feed on Him will live because of Him.  He is the bread which came down from heaven, and therefore the bread of eternal life.

It is perhaps important to recall here the history of the heresies of the Church, particularly in its early centuries and the various Ecumenical Councils which were called on account of them.  Many scholars and theologians will teach us that each heresy, in fact, involved a diminution of the divinity of Christ -- and in particular, therefore, His unity with the Father which He so emphasizes in this chapter of John's Gospel.  Throughout the past several readings, Jesus has spoken to us of the essential reality and power of faith.  But that faith only contains its power to work in us because of His unity with the Father (and the Holy Spirit) and that He can extend this unity to us.  Through the Eucharist, we may participate in this divine life, through the "bread of heaven" we may also, by grace, join in this communion as we are able.   As Jesus repeats over and over again, the life that He offers is a life that is inextinguishable and unending.  Therefore if we are really going to pay attention to His words, we must come to understand that as tempting as it might be for people to believe Christ was simply a very holy man, or a good person with good things to teach us, that is inadequate in terms of His actual preaching and teaching.  In this chapter of John's Gospel, as the quotation from St. Hilary of Poitiers indicates, it is made clear without reservation that all of this is possible through the power of the Father working in Christ, and through Christ's work in the world, His Passion and Resurrection.  Through these things the Eucharist comes to us as "flesh and blood" in this tangible spiritual sense.  As we discussed in Monday's reading, when Jesus speaks of faith as the "work of God" we may do, He's speaking of something much more substantial than a code we ascribe to, or a belief we may have.  Faith is, instead, the rock upon which He would build His Church, and it includes even the Father working in us ("No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day" -- see yesterday's reading, above).  How the Father can participate in us, even as we participate in the life of Christ, and He in us, is and remains a great mystery and paradox.  We can't even begin to explore the nature of the divine without wondering how a human being could be in communion with God without stumbling upon definitions and the limits of our nature.  But let us consider at once that the distinguishing character of God the Father, as shown in Christ ("He who has seen Me has seen the Father" - John 14:9), is love.  As God is love (1 John 4:8), so we understand that it is in the nature of love to transcend boundaries and work even across time and space and dimensions we can't understand.  It is love and devotion that characterize Christ's relationship to the Father.  It is within the fullness of this love that He makes His sacrifice on the Cross -- not only love for us, but also out of love for the Father who sent Him in turn, because the Father loves us, and loves the world.  Ultimately, no matter what messes we make of our world and our lives, it is the true nature of creation to be solidly couched in a Creator who is love and who creates from love and loves us and all the world.  Jesus has come, as He has said in the conclusion to yesterday's reading, to give His flesh "for the life of the world."  When we abide in Him, we abide in love, and it is that love which  gives life to the world. 

 

 

Abide in Me, and I in you

 

Vine and branches harvest, 4th century Byzantine mosaic; Mausoleum of Santa Costanza, Rome, Italy

 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.  

"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  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.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

 

- John 15:1–11 

 

Currently we are reading Christ's Farewell Discourse which He gave at the Last Supper.  Yesterday, we read that He said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.  A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also.  At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."  Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.  He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.  These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.'  If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.  And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.  I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.  But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do.  Arise, let us go from here." 

 

 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."  My study Bible tells us that the vine is a symbol of Israel (Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21).  In contrast to disobedient and unfruitful Israel, it says, our Lord calls Himself the true vine, which together with the branches constitutes a new and fruitful people of God:  the Church.   At the Divine Liturgy, the bishop prays that the Lord will visit and confirm the vineyard, the local body of Christ, which was planted with His own right hand (Psalm 80:15-16).  To abide in this vine, it adds, is to abide in Christ and Christ's Church.  The figure of the vine and the branches shows, first, that our union with Christ is intimate and real.  Second, that life flows from the vine to the branches -- to abide in Christ is dynamic and vitalizing.  Finally, the fruit which we bear is both good works and mission (John 15:16; 17:18). 

 

 "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  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.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."  My study Bible reflects that one cannot love God and disobey God's commandments.  It states that to love God is to obey Him (John 14:15).  

Some of us might be put off by Jesus' insistence (now seen several times, and in various forms, in the Farewell Discourse) that to love Him is to keep His commandments.  We might consider this in light of political thought and democratic values, or autocratic parenting that demands absolute obedience.  But then we would be forgetting that God is love, and that what it means to follow Christ's commands is to abide in that love.  That is, to abide in His love, which is the source and understanding of what love is and does.  Therefore by so doing, we learn ourselves what love is, and how to love in turn.  ("We love because He first loved us" - 1 John 4:19.)  In today's reading, Jesus emphasizes the need to abide in Him.  This is the only way we can truly bear fruit, the kind of good fruit that Christ seeks.  Jesus says, "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  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."  He gives Himself, once again, as the example.  He keeps the Father's commandments, and abides in the Father's love.  So we are to do the same with Christ.   He gives us the image of the vine and branches for this; as branches, we must bear good fruit, and there is only one way to do that -- by abiding in the vine.  Note that He also says, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit."  Those branches which fail to bear the spiritual fruit desired will be pruned away, removed from the vine.  And even those that bear fruit will also be pruned in and of themselves, so that they produce more.  This gives us an image even of how Christ's commandments shape our lives, as we grow in discipleship, learning His "way," and discard or cast off those things we come to understand as hindrance, stumbling block, the "wrong way."  This is a dynamic image of love, in which there is give and take; we are given His commandments made in love, and in turn we show love by learning from Him, abiding in Him and His commandments, living His life that He shows to us and offers us.  So we also become bearers of fruit, and we are in turn "pruned" in order to more abundantly bear that fruit.  This is a dynamic, powerful, loving relationship -- and He describes what it means to "abide in Him" in ways that make it clear that this is growth and a process that doesn't end, but also extends to the world and keeps growing, both internally through God's love and work, and externally through whatever fruits are produced and made to grow even more abundantly (see Matthew 5:16).  So, we have a dynamic lifetime ahead of us, couched in Christ's love, and through that love, His teachings for us, His guidance, His leading.  Let us bear the fruit He seeks, and abide in His love, learning His commandments more fully day by day.  He gives this word, He says,"that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

 

 

Abide in Me, and I in you

 

Vine and branches mosaic, 4th century.  Santa Costanza Church, Rome

 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  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.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

- John 15:1–11 

 

Currently we are reading through what is known as Jesus' Farewell Discourse, given at the Last Supper.  Yesterday we read that Jesus taught the disciples, "If you love Me, keep My commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.  A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also.  At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."  Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.  He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.  These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.'  If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.  And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.  I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.  But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do.  Arise, let us go from here." 

 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."   My study bible expands extensively on this passage.  It says that the vine is a symbol of Israel (Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21).  In contrast to disobedient and unfruitful Israel, it says, our Lord refers to Himself as the true vine, which together with the branches constitutes a new and fruitful people of God:  the Church.  In Church services, the bishop prays that the Lord will visit and confirm the vineyard, the local body of Christ, which the Lord planted with His own right hand (Psalm 80:14-15).  To abide in this vine is to abide in Christ and His Church.  My study bible explains that the figure of the vine and the branches shows first that our union with Christ is intimate and real; second, that life flows from the vine to the branches -- abiding in Christ, it says, is both dynamic and vitalizing; and third, the fruit we bear is both good works and mission (John 15:16, 17:18).  

"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  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.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."  My study bible comments that one cannot love God and disobey God's commandments.  To love God is to obey God (John 14:15).  

In today's reading, the setting is somewhere Jesus has moved the disciples in order to continue His Farewell Discourse.  They have moved from the setting where they ate the Passover Meal (the Last Supper) to another location.  The images of the vine and branches perhaps gives us a hint as to the location, a place in which a grapevine could be seen growing, such as in an arbor.  But the power of Christ's farewell speech to them is in the image of the vine and the branches.  He speaks of Himself as "the true vine" and God the Father as the vinedresser.  This suggests one true vine that bears the true fruit of Israel, the people of God.  And this vine is in the hands of God the Father, who prunes and nurtures, and tends the vine.  Those branches that produce no fruit are borne away, but of the branches that do, "every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit."  This gives us an image of the work of God in our lives, trimming away those things that get in the way of our spiritual growth and fruitfulness, a constant repentance that lets go of what we don't need.  But perhaps the most important word Christ gives to us all is, "Abide in Me, and I in you."  Note that with Christ, this "abiding" does not go just one way.  It is instead a thorough depth of relationship with Him.  And we should note that this is a mutual abiding; it doesn't just go one way.  We abide in Him, and in return His commandments of life are known to us.  We can therefore bear spiritual fruit, which in turn glorifies the Father.  And then Jesus goes much deeper.  He says, "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love."  We are not promised life, spiritual fruit, and understanding of Christ's word alone.  We are promised love.  And there is even more to this love we are given and in which we share:  "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.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."   Christ's love, and the commandments He speaks to us, are both His joy -- and they become the fullness of our joy.  This is a promise indeed, and for when all else fails in life.  This is a rich inheritance in which we can participate, and through which we can be filled.  It is a never-ending promise, for God's steadfast love and mercy don't know worldly time.  Instead, this promise waits for us.  All it needs is our trust.   John the Baptist spoke of this joy when he said, "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled" (John 3:29).   In Matthew 11:11, Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."  If John, then, understood this joy in his place as friend of the bridegroom, imagine what we're promised in terms of Christ's word, the Father's love, and the help and understanding of the Holy Spirit Jesus has promised.  Let us bear the fruit produced by abiding in that love.    For this will be our joy.

As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me

 

 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

 

- John 6:52-59 

 

This week we have been reading through chapter 6 of John's Gospel.  The chapter begun with the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, in which 5,000 men (and more women and children) were fed with five barley loaves and two fish.  But from there, as is typical of John's Gospel, Jesus' teachings expanded, as the people sought to compel Him to be king.  He has been teaching about the bread from heaven.  In yesterday's reading, we were told that the religious leaders complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God,'   Therefore everyone who has learned and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.  Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." 

The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.  If we review the events that have led to this juncture, we remind ourselves that the crowds have followed Jesus since the feeding in the wilderness (see Monday's reading), as they wanted to forcefully make Him king.  He evaded the people by walking on the water (Tuesday's reading), and finally had returned to Capernaum, where He now has been teaching in the synagogue.  The crowds have followed Him, but now we also have the input of the religious leaders, who question Him.  As is so often the case in John's Gospel, our passage today begins with a misunderstanding, which Jesus must expand upon and explain, when the religious leaders (the Jews, as John's Gospel uses the term) as one another, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  My study bible comments on today's passage that Christ was crucified in the flesh and His blood was shed on the Cross, and on the third day He was raised in a glorified state.  We receive the grace of Christ's sacrificial offerings by coming to Him in faith ("I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst," verse 35), and by receiving Holy Communion in faith.  In Communion, we eat His flesh and drink His blood in its mystical presence, and this grants the faithful eternal life ("Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day," verse 54).  In this way, Christ abides in us and us in Him ("He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him," verse 56).  My study bible quotes St. Hilary of Poitiers:  "There is no room left for any doubt about the reality of His flesh and blood, because we have both the witness of His words and our own faith.  Thus when we eat and drink these elements, we are in Christ and Christ is in us."

My study bible has expanded upon the teaching that there are many parallels in chapter 6 of John's Gospel to the Exodus story in which Israel fled Egypt.  Let us first recall that John 6 begins by telling us that it is now the time of Passover (see 6:4).  In the Exodus story (Exodus 11-17), God fed Israel (God's people) with manna, and gave them drink from a miraculous source of water (Exodus 16:1-17:7).  In today's reading, and in Christ's recent teachings we've been reading about, Jesus declares Himself to be the true food and drink, the true bread that has come down from heaven (verses 48-58, given over our past two readings).  My study bible comments that these parallels show that Christ our God is the fulfillment of the old covenant, and that the breaking of His body and the shedding of His blood, which free humankind from the slavery of sin, fulfill the sacrifice of the Passover lambs (John 1:29), which brought the people out of slavery into the Promised Land.   The misunderstandings which we encounter in John's Gospel regarding the metaphors that Jesus must use to teach people about the mystical realities present in His mission to us, serve as platforms for teaching.  We have to consider, as do the religious leaders, for example, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"   What does that mean exactly?  He has taught us that He will give His flesh through His sacrifice on the Cross, when He said, in yesterday's reading (above) that "the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."  When Jesus went by night to teach Nicodemus, He said to Nicodemus at one point, "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:12).  By "earthly things" Jesus meant the mystical realities He was bringing into the world, such as the mystery of Holy Baptism, and in the case in today's reading, the mystery of the Eucharist.   If we are to understand these things properly, and clearly in accordance with the teachings in John's Gospel, we need to understand them as mysteries:  that is, as elements of the divine or sacred which are brought into our world through Christ's Incarnation and mission to us, and given to us even as part of our lives in this world.  As Christ was the "God-Man," the union of both the human and the divine, so He gave us the mysteries -- the sacred sacraments -- of the Church, meant to unify heaven and earth.   This is the understanding of the ancient early Church, and it remains true today in the mystical presence of the Eucharist and other sacraments, in the working of the Holy Spirit in our world and our lives, in our prayer lives, in the reality of God's presence which Jesus taught abides in us.  This is the great gift of John's Gospel.  It's found in all the Gospels, but is truly present here in its most specific and elaborate forms of meaning given in Christ's words to us all throughout the Gospel.  If we lose the concept of God mystically present to us and meant to be a part of our world as the full effect of Christ's mission as Incarnate Son, then we lose the great gift the gospel message is meant to be.  Jesus called Himself the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17).  In the flesh, He is Lord, and come to bring us closer and into union with Him, to give us grace which remits sin, sets us free from the slavery of sin, and to be "taught by God" (John 6:45, quoting from Isaiah 54:13).  Through His Passion, He will bring the divine fully into union with our human experience in this world, and offer us His flesh to eat -- the mystical reality of His once-and-for-all sacrifice which brings us into union with Him -- which allows us to participate in the life of Christ.  None of these things are "magic."  They are not meant to be some sort of wishing well, or simplistic set of special incantations.  To see them this way is to have no understanding but a materialistic way of seeking to perceive a deeper reality.   We enter into a depth of these realities through faith.  This is our connection.  And it is that faith to which we must consistently turn as we encounter obstacle and difficulty in our lives, struggle with temptations, meet cruelty or hardship or ignorance, and find God's way for ourselves.  This is the mission, the offering of the flesh which He gives "for the life of the world."   Jesus says, "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me."  Let us remember this connection we're given, this grace of participation in the life of the divine.  We are meant to "taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8), to find our lives through the life He offers to us, even as He says.

He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him

 

 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

 

- John 6:52-59 

 

Yesterday we read that the leaders in the synagogue complained about Jesus, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give in My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." 

 

 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. Let us first remind ourselves that the term the Jews in John's Gospel is most frequently used to depict the religious leadership, as if we are talking of political parties.  Jesus, we're told, is teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum, so these are the rulers in the synagogue who repeatedly question Him for His teaching.  They clearly have no idea what He is talking about, as once again John's Gospel takes us from earthly understanding of things from daily life, to the meanings that Christ gives them.  My study bible comments on the entire passage in today's reading that the eucharistic significance of this passage is indisputable.  It says that Christ's declaration that He Himself is the living bread that gives life is a revelation of the Mystical Supper of the New Testament Church.  John's Gospel does not give to us the details of the Last Supper which Luke records (see Luke 22:19-20, which contains the "words of institution").  But John gives to us the significance and truth of these events, by giving to us Christ's own words.  We should keep in mind that the original hearers of these Gospels already knew of the events themselves.  Christ was crucified in the flesh and His blood was shed on the Cross.  On the third day He was raised in a glorified state.  My study bible further comments here that we receive the grace of His sacrificial offering by coming to Him in faith (verse 35) and receiving Holy Communion in faith.  In Communion, we mystically eat His flesh and drink His blood, and this grants the faithful eternal life, as Christ abides in us and us in Him.  St. Hilary of Poitiers comments here:  "There is no room left for any doubt about the reality of His flesh and blood, because we have both the witness of His words and our own faith.  Thus when we eat and drink these elements, we are in Christ and Christ is in us."

For many people, it seems, the meaning of "mystical" is lost in a modern social construct.  But the notion of the mystical is key to all of our apprehension of what faith is, and to the very existence of God.  While we cannot understand God as God understands God (in other words, we cannot know God as an equal or as a being of the same order), we are capable of apprehending that the qualities of God as Being as far beyond us, and yet also exist with us and within us.  God is of such dimensional reality that permeates all existence, has created all of existence that we know, and dwells also far beyond our comprehension and understanding.  These are the things we are capable of grasping.  But where God and the worldly intersect is by its very nature mystical, and the Church from her earliest beginnings accepted the presence in the Eucharist of the Body and Blood of Christ.  This is not, in the eyes of the Eastern Church, something explicable on worldly terms.  It is a given that it is true because we have the words of Christ, the Gospels, the witness of the earliest Church, and all the experience of the faithful since.  Our whole faith really makes sense through this understanding of the mystical, the reality of God's presence in our lives although we don't see God as God sees God.  We can sometimes sense God's presence, and we always must return to Christ's words regarding the Spirit, who together with the Father and the Son is worshiped and gloried (as we say in the Creed), also God:  "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8, in which Jesus teaches Nicodemus by night about holy baptism).  In the words of Christ, and to paraphrase, we cannot tell where God comes from or where God goes, but we can know the mystical reality of God in our lives and the evidence of God's interactions with us.  We can know through faith what God has done and is doing within us.  We know when our souls are filled, or when they are longing for something more that the world can't give us.  All of these things are part of what is mystical, the hidden reality of God which is, nevertheless, present with us.  Another term for sacrament is "holy mystery."  To quote from an OrthodoxWiki page, which explains succinctly much better than I do, "The holy mysteries or sacraments in the Orthodox Church are vessels of the mystical participation in divine grace of mankind."  The bread and wine of the Eucharist, as instituted at the Last Supper, and affirmed in the words of Christ in today's reading, are those vessels through which we partake of the mystical presence of Christ's Body and Blood.  We don't know how this happens; we take it on faith that it does.  For the Eastern Church, this mystery is left simply there, until such a time at which we no longer look through a glass darkly but know as we are known.   As St. Paul writes, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).  We accept Christ's words which are truly indisputable, affirmed in so many ways in the Gospels, and forming a coherent whole with His life and ministry and repeatedly stated purpose of His ministry, mission, and Passion.  Let us for a moment retrieve the sense of true Mystery that belongs to our faith, and dwell where He goes and takes us with Him, even as we dwell in the world, for this is where we have been called.

These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full

 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  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.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

- John 15:1-11

In our current readings, Jesus and the disciples are at the Passover supper, also known as the Last Supper.  He is speaking to the disciples, giving them His Farewell Discourse before going to His Passion.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus said,  "If you love Me, keep My commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.  A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also.  At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."  Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.  He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.  These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.'  If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.  And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.  I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.  But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do.  Arise, let us go from here."

 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."  My study bible explains that the vine is a symbol of Israel (Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21).  But in contrast to the disobedient and unfaithful vine, Christ calls Himself the true vine.  Together with its branches this vine constitutes a new and fruitful people of God, which is the Church.   In the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Church, the bishop prays that the Lord will visit and confirm the vineyard, the local body of Christ, which He planted with His own right hand (Psalm 80:15-16).  If we abide in this vine, we abide in Christ and in His Church.   My study bible explains that the figure of the vine and branches shows first that our union with Christ is intimate and real.  Second, life flows from this vine to its branches:  abiding in Christ is dynamic and vitalizing.  Finally, the fruit that we bear is both good works and mission (v. 16; 17:18). 

"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  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.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."  Once again, Jesus returns to the central theme of His love.  My study bible explains that to love God is to obey God; one cannot love God and disobey God's commandments.  Christ offers us what He Himself has:  His love for and abiding in the Father and keeping His commandments.  So He asks of the relationship we have with Him as well; in this way we are one vine with many branches.

Let us think about Christ's joy, which He speaks of in His final words in today's reading.  What is this joy?  Is it not clearly a product of the love within which He abides in the Father?  Jesus has repeatedly explained what this means:  that the love between Father and Son is revealed through Christ obedience to the commandments of His Father.  Moreover, this is what He asks of us, His disciples -- that we must abide in Him, in love.  And if we love Him, we will  keep His commandments.  All of these things go hand in hand.  So deep and great is this love and connectedness, that we are to be in a communion that is distinguished and known by the fact that we have love for one another (John 13:34-35).  He has given all the tools we need, through His commandments, to teach us how we are to do this, to live like this, to express this love for one another.  But what He tells us is that our communion -- this vine -- is an extension of first of all His relationship to the Father.  He asks us to live as He has lived His life.  He has set the example, and given us the paradigm of what it is to Abide in Me, because this is how He has lived by abiding in the Father and doing the Father's will, in love.  And here is His joy that He shares with the disciples -- and by extension, with all those who would be His disciples.  If we abide in that love, and therefore in His commandments, this is where we will find our joy in life.  It is a long road through the difficulties of life, the disappointments, and the discoveries of betrayals and infidelity.  A long road indeed through lies and corruption of this world, and its injustice.  But we remember the Passion to which Christ goes, which will expose all of those things for judgment and witnessing.  Indeed, He is "the faithful witness" according to Revelation 1:5.  In the fullness of Christ's joy, the world is a setting for witnessing:  living and abiding in His love together with the Father and the Spirit, following His commands, and witnessing for a true justice that surpasses human expediency.  All of these things constitute what He asks of us when He tells us that we are to abide in Him in order to bear much fruit.  Let us continue our focus on building this joy within ourselves as we find our lives increasing in the faith He asks of us.   As He goes to His hour of glory, we are reminded of the words in the book of Nehemiah, when the people were read the commands of the Law:  "Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."