View as Webpage

Morning Devotion for Wednesday in Easter Week

April 12, 2023

The Invitatory

Alleluia! Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Reading: John 15:1-11

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I 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. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones

Anyone who has maintained a vigil by a dying family member is well acquainted with its tense, grieving, suspenseful atmosphere. One is at loose ends and yet barely holding on to some measure of composure, on the alert for the last breath, yet wishing to hold it off. Pondering what lies ahead, desperate for relief. The mood in the Upper Room where Jesus and his disciples have gathered on the night before his crucifixion is tense. The disciples are unhappy and feel uncertain about the future. Jesus speaks to his remaining disciples of his own departure. He uses this time not to focus on the crisis in his own life or to seek their encouragement and support, but on the future that his disciples will face without him. His words are intended to encourage, comfort and support them in the very near future and in their life without him.

The image of Jesus as the vine is striking. It quickly activates the imagination. The vine is the most vivid metaphor in the Farewell chapters and sets in motion the relational dynamics of this passage. Though rooted in the past, here the vine image is all in the present, with no development. Even though something may happen to the branches, nothing happens to the vine, suggesting that life, fruit, joy and also judgment are now.

The image’s function is to enable people to answer the question, how do people know God? God is “from above” and people are “from below.” Jesus overcomes the elusiveness of God by making God known. The use of this earthly image reminds us that God is the creator of the earth. Moreover, the vineyard can be experienced through human senses. The image of the vine captures the imagination and encourages reflection.

The “vine” metaphor and the branches introduce a new condition. What the disciples have known in their relationship with Jesus will be lost, not to be regained. Jesus both consoles them and reveals what new form their relationship to him will take. The meaning of his words will have to be lived into.

As Jesus speaks of his identity, whatever former Old Testament associations that attach to the vine, must be put aside. All the Johannine images, “ the true vine,” the ”true temple,”; “true bread from heaven”; and the water that quenches thirst. “I am the true vine” is the expression of Jesus' mystery and identity as a unit holding the parts. He embodies the Hebrew sense of “corporate personality.” When Jesus identifies himself as the “true vine” he means that he is faithful and he fulfills the destiny of Israel as the Messiah. Jesus is at the heart of the image of the vine. “I am the true vine,” The repeated reference to the vine, associates the Johannine community with this well known symbol. The image, already having strong roots in Judaism, is now expanded and made universal. It is intended to assure them of complete joy.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy Name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.