LIVING – 5TH Sunday of Easter, Year B
Different ways and understandings of living are present in the world. Some limit the understanding of living to what kind of work they do. “I make my living…” Some think in terms of the flesh. “that is really living…” Different philosophies present different ways of living. Different religions (Moslem, Hindus, Hebrews, Christian) present different ways of living. This meditation, suggested by the fifth Sunday of Easter Scriptures, is on the Christian understanding of living. All the Scriptures tell us about life with God, and how we can live that life. When we are responding to God, and for us in the New Testament, to God in Christ by the Spirit, we are truly living. Quite obviously the topic living cannot be exhausted by these Scriptures, but they can help us to get some insights into the Christian way of living.
The Acts of the Apostles is about how the early Church lived under the Spirit of Christ and how through faith they had “seen the Lord”. This selection tells about Saul whom we know as Paul. Paul sees his life and living really beginning at the time he saw the Risen Jesus, came to faith in Him, and took up the mission of proclaiming Christ and calling people to follow the Christian way of living. Christian living is greatly affected by knowing the Lord and experiencing the Spirit present in one’s life. Enjoying the “increased consolation of the Holy Spirit” is central to living the Christian way. Being with the assembly of God’s people is as essential to living the Christian way as living with people is essential to living a human life. Paul sought to “join the disciples” in Jerusalem after his conversion. True spiritual living is connected with being united to the community of faith. This is part of God’s plan. “I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people.” (Ps.22)
Living the Christian way of life touches our daily lives. Not keeping the teachings of the New Testament is not living. Living is connected with loving “…in deed and truth”. We know we are living spiritually if we are keeping God’s commandments, according to the first Letter of John. Living means peace with God. His commandments are connected with faith and believing. “And His Commandment is this: we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as He commanded us.” A loving person, a believing person is a living person according to the New Testament. The more believing and the more loving we are, the more we are living. Faith and love leads one to remain in Christ and united to His followers in the Church by the Gift of the Holy Spirit. “Those who keep His commandments remain in Him, and He in them, and the way we know that He remains in us is from the Spirit He gave us.”
Whatever is living is growing, and whatever is growing will be fruitful. Growth in the Spirit takes place in union with Christ and in union with His members in the Church. We are called to a very high form of living! Jesus brings us to the heart of the Christian way of living in His teaching on the vine and the branches. The living image of the Church (Christ and His members) reveals the Lord helping us in our living the Christian way of life. “I am the true vine…you are the branches.” To keep the branches alive and living, we need to be pruned. The Spirit works in us to clear away the dead areas of our life, our sins, which keep us from living fully the Christian way of life. We experience pruning in the form of guilt, pain in resisting sin, pain in growing spiritually, suffering as we struggle to follow the Spirit of Christ instead of the spirit of the world opposed to Him.
We experience trimming of our branches in the form of being taught the Word of God. We feel the cutting edge of the Lord’s Word piercing our minds and hearts, clearing away false ideas, breaking down the resistance to the truth, and bringing us more into the Son’s light. We are “cut back” so that we will be more completely exposed to the Son and to the reign and wind of the Spirit. This helps our growth. “…and every one (branch) that does (bear fruit) He prunes so that it bears more fruit.” Dead branches are cut away. Trials, challenges, tests, missions, purifications, and invitations to come closer to the Lord in prayer are signs the Lord is “trimming us”.
If the Lord didn’t work with us in trimming ways, we could not grow and live and be fruitful. We would only be existing and not living on the vine of Christ. The more fruitful the Lord wants us to be, the more He trims us. Fortunately, He doesn’t leave us alone. “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.” We work with those we love and those we want to see living and growing. We don’t leave them alone, unless they reject us in some way.
Living in New Testament terms means being in Christ and living by His Spirit. The greatest joy we can have in life is to be living in Christ by His Spirit and united to His disciples in the Church. The greatest sadness is to be a branch separated from Christ. “Anyone who does not remain in Me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.” If we pray, we can never be totally fruitless. “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.”
The Lord wants us living more than we do. We all know our greatest joy comes when we see those we love living fruitful lives. Give glory to God by living His way! “By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become My disciples…Remain in Me, as I remain in you.”
What a hope we have!