The Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year B)
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower…
Remain in me, as I remain in you.
Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own
unless it remains on the vine,
so neither can you unless you remain in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do nothing.”
-John 15:1, 4-5
Last week, I had the opportunity to visit the town of Tepatitlán in Jalisco, Mexico. This historic community was founded in 1530 and one of its most important sites is the historic Shrine of the Señor de la Misericordia. The title “Lord of Mercy” refers to a miraculous crucifix that is visited by more than 2 million pilgrims each year. Despite the beauty of the crucifix itself (and it is a truly striking depiction of Jesus on the cross), my attention was captured by a painting hanging near the sanctuary high on a wall on the south side of the shrine. This image portrays Jesus as he is typically depicted during the passion—crowned with thorns and wearing a white loin cloth. What is striking about the image, however, is that there is a vine, heavy with grapes, growing from the wound in Christ’s side. Beyond this unusual detail, however, is the fact that Jesus himself is grasping, squeezing a bunch of the grapes whose juice is flowing into a chalice at the bottom of the painting.
When I asked the friend who was with me (and who grew up in “Tepa”) about the origin of the image, he admitted that he didn’t know but shared that it had always made an impression on him when he visited the shrine as a child. (Unfortunately, neither of us thought to take a photo of the painting while we were in the church!)
Later that day, I began to do a bit of research and discovered that the painting of “Christ the Vine” was connected to a relatively obscure tradition of Orthodox icons which were especially popular in Romania.
A contemporary icon depicting “Christ the Vine” with the Brâncoveanu Martyrs, Orthodox Christian martyrs who were killed in Romania in the 18th century
As I spent time looking at the painting, what struck me most was that detail of Jesus crushing the grapes.
This opened up for me a number of reflections about the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice and death, in which he handed himself over to those who would put him to death. And, of course, there is the eucharistic image as the wine in the chalice is clearly connected to the Body of Christ, again, expressing the Lord’s self-gift. Beyond all of this, however, I recalled the words proclaimed in the Gospel for this Fifth Sunday of Easter: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing”
If Jesus is himself the vine, then the works of faith, hope, and love that are expressions of our commitment to Christ—in fact, all of our lives—can be understood as being the grapes, and this fruit is only possible because of our union with the One who is himself the root.
The image these icons present for us capture a dynamic and a truth about which our words quickly begin to falter. And yet, looking at the painting in that church, I knew that what was being depicted on that panel was true. Our lives and all the fruit that they bear are not, in fact, ours to claim as our own. Rather, the goodness, abundance, beauty, and joy that we have that we might share with the world are themselves a gift to us, because left to our devices, we are little more than pruned branches that have no life within them. As Pope Francis has reflected:
To remain in Jesus, and Jesus remains in us. To remain in Jesus, to have the sap, the strength, to have justification, the gracious gift, to be fruitful. And He remains in us to give us the power to [bear] fruit (see Jn 5:15), to give us the strength to bear witness by which the Church grows.
But there is one more aspect of the image that deserves consideration on this Easter-season Sunday and that is the crushing of the grapes. And here, I think we discover a truth that is even more profound than those mentioned above.
Very simply, grapes—the fruit of the vine—are not cultivated for their own sake. In fact, if a grapevine is left on its own, without being tended or pruned, it will become overgrown and tangled, producing fewer and inferior grapes. The plant also becomes susceptible to disease and rot. But when the vine is properly tended and productive, it’s abundant fruit can be harvested, bringing nourishment and joy (think of wine!) to others.
The lesson that Jesus seems to be offering us is that it isn’t simply enough that we find our life and nourishment in him, the True Vine. We also have to be willing to offer the fruit that we bear—our good works and life itself—for the benefit of others, just as he offered himself in the Eucharist and on the cross.
Ultimately to embrace the Christian life and to live our baptismal commitment (which we renewed on Easter Sunday) means that we have to allow ourselves to recognize the Source of all that we have and are and to share in Christ’s same gift-of-self by allowing all that we do and all that we are to be shared for the sake of others.
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.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Fifth Sunday of Easter
