The Necessity Of Being In Him

 

We bear thorns and brambles outside Christ.

Reflection on Today’s Readings, 5th Sunday of Easter, April 28th, 2024
Texts: Acts 9:26-31; Psalm 22:26-28, 30-32; 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8 

Jesus Christ emphasises, today, the necessity of being in Him. Jesus Christ does not use the image of vine to tell the nature of our existence in Him. He uses the image of vine and its branches to tell the necessity of being in Him. He says, “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 nothing.” We have to be in Him to bear fruits. We bear thorns and brambles outside Christ.  

Unless we are in Christ we cannot fulfil the purpose of our call. We are called to bear fruits. In the words of Christ: “You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another” (John 15:16-17). It is necessary for us to abide in Christ to bear fruits. If we do not abide in Christ we will fail in God’s mandate for us. 

Our prayer is also effective

We do not only bear fruits when we are in Jesus Christ, our prayer is also effective. Jesus Christ puts it thus: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.” St. John, in the second reading says, “Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.”  

When we keep the commandments of God, we also abide in Him. St. John, in the second reading, says, “All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them.” We abide in Christ by keeping His commandments. At another place, he says, “By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says, 'I abide in him', ought to walk just as he walked” (1 John 2:5-6). We abide in Christ when we model our lives after His life. 

Being in Christ is to preach in His name

One of the fruits of being in Christ is to preach in His name. In the words of St. John, “God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God” (1 John 4:15). Paul is an example here. When he turned to God, he preached in the name of Jesus. We read, “So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the  Lord.”

Prayer  

Almighty ever-living God, constantly accomplish the Paschal Mystery within us, that those you were pleased to make new in Holy Baptism may, under your protective care, bear much fruit and come to the joys of life eternal. Amen

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke