20210502 FRUITFUL WITNESSING
02 May, 2021, 5th Sunday of Easter
First reading | Acts 9:26-31 © |
Barnabas explained how the Lord had appeared to Saul on his journey
When Saul got to Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him: they could not believe he was really a disciple. Barnabas, however, took charge of him, introduced him to the apostles, and explained how the Lord had appeared to Saul and spoken to him on his journey, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. Saul now started to go round with them in Jerusalem, preaching fearlessly in the name of the Lord. But after he had spoken to the Hellenists, and argued with them, they became determined to kill him. When the brothers knew, they took him to Caesarea, and sent him off from there to Tarsus.
The churches throughout Judaea, Galilee and Samaria were now left in peace, building themselves up, living in the fear of the Lord, and filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 21(22):26-28,30-32 © |
You, Lord, are my praise in the great assembly.
or
Alleluia!
My vows I will pay before those who fear him.
The poor shall eat and shall have their fill.
They shall praise the Lord, those who seek him.
May their hearts live for ever and ever!
You, Lord, are my praise in the great assembly.
or
Alleluia!
All the earth shall remember and return to the Lord,
all families of the nations worship before him;
They shall worship him, all the mighty of the earth;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust.
You, Lord, are my praise in the great assembly.
or
Alleluia!
And my soul shall live for him, my children serve him.
They shall tell of the Lord to generations yet to come,
declare his faithfulness to peoples yet unborn:
‘These things the Lord has done.’
You, Lord, are my praise in the great assembly.
or
Alleluia!
Second reading | 1 John 3:18-24 © |
The commandment of faith and love
My children,
our love is not to be just words or mere talk,
but something real and active;
only by this can we be certain
that we are children of the truth
and be able to quieten our conscience in his presence,
whatever accusations it may raise against us,
because God is greater than our conscience and he knows everything.
My dear people,
if we cannot be condemned by our own conscience,
we need not be afraid in God’s presence,
and whatever we ask him,
we shall receive,
because we keep his commandments
and live the kind of life that he wants.
His commandments are these:
that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ
and that we love one another
as he told us to.
Whoever keeps his commandments
lives in God and God lives in him.
We know that he lives in us
by the Spirit that he has given us.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn15:4,5 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Make your home in me, as I make mine in you.
Whoever remains in me bears fruit in plenty.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 15:1-8 © |
I am the vine, you are the branches
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘I am the true vine,
and my Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch in me that bears no fruit
he cuts away,
and every branch that does bear fruit
he prunes to make it bear even more.
You are pruned already,
by means of the word that I have spoken to you.
Make your home in me, as I make mine in you.
As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself,
but must remain part of the vine,
neither can you unless you remain in me.
I am the vine,
you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me, with me in him,
bears fruit in plenty;
for cut off from me you can do nothing.
Anyone who does not remain in me
is like a branch that has been thrown away – he withers;
these branches are collected and thrown on the fire,
and they are burnt.
If you remain in me
and my words remain in you,
you may ask what you will
and you shall get it.
It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit,
and then you will be my disciples.’
FRUITFUL WITNESSING
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Acts 9:26-31; PS 22:26-28,30-32; 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8]
Being a Christian is more than just getting baptized, attending church services regularly, receiving the sacraments, doing our little part in giving to the poor and to the maintenance of the church from our abundance. Being baptized is not simply to save our soul and get a passport to heaven. This individualistic view of salvation is contrary to the gospel. We are called not just for ourselves but we are called for others. The only way to save ourselves is to save others with us. The best way to grow in faith is to evangelize others, for by sharing our faith with others, our understanding of our faith is crystallized and reinforced. Secularization does not want us to do this. By marginalizing faith, not only is religion taken out of public life, but without witnessing to his faith the believer will gradually lose his faith. Either we evangelize the world or the secular world will secularize us even more.
When the Lord called Saul, it was not simply for his salvation but he was called to be the apostle to the Gentiles. He told Ananias, who was horrified in being instructed to pray over Saul for healing, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” (Acts 9:15f) This was true for all the apostles called by the Lord. All of them were called to be fishers of men. (cf Mt 4:19) The Lord reminded the apostles at the end of His life, “It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit, and then you will be my disciples.”
How can we be His fruitful witnesses? The scripture reading gives us three fundamental principles. Firstly, we must remain in Him. This is the first and most important foundation of discipleship and witnessing. Three times in the gospel text today, Jesus underscored this absolute necessity when He said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away. Make your home in me, as I make mine in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, but must remain part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.”
But what does it entail to remain in Him? Christian Faith is not an ideology or a philosophy or some doctrines that we assent to. It is our personal relationship with the Lord. Our faith is primarily in a person, not a set of doctrines. So to remain in Him requires us to be one in mind and heart with Him. To be a Christian is to be identified as another Christ. The Hebrew word for Christ is Messiah, the Anointed One. Christians are anointed with Chrism at baptism, and are identified with Christ in His desire to save humanity. Without falling in love with Jesus and motivated by His love, we are not truly His disciples.
A clear expression that we belong to Him is when we obey His commandments. Obedience is not imposed on us from without but from within because of our personal identification with Him. The only way we know that we are abiding in Jesus is when we keep His commandments. Hence, following today’s gospel text, the Lord continued, “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.” (Jn 15:9-11) When we love someone and are identified with the person, his/her will and desires become ours. This was certainly the case of Jesus who was obedient to His Father’s will even unto death, not because He had to but because He wanted to. At the end of the last chapter of John, as He proceeded to Jerusalem to meet His passion, He said, “I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us be on our way.” (Jn 14:31)
But to remain in Jesus is also to remain with the Church, which is His Body. There is no question of an individualistic Christian. This is why there is a danger in attending on-line Masses and services only without belonging to a physical Christian community. Our relationship is not just with God or Christ directly but meeting Him in the Christian community. After Saul’s conversion, Ananias welcomed him into the Christian community at Damascus. Later, when his friends heard of a plot by the Jews to kill him, “they took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket” so that he could escape to Jerusalem. (Acts 9:19-25) Again at Jerusalem, when the Christians were suspicious of him, it was Barnabas who “took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.” (Acts 9:27) Without the encouragement and support of Ananias and Barnabas and the Christian community, Paul would never have made it to be the apostle to the Gentiles. We, too, need our Christian brothers and sisters to support us in our faith and to encourage us, especially when we are struggling, not just with personal trials but even in ministry and in mission and evangelization.
Secondly, fruitful witnessing requires pruning. Jesus said to His disciples, “Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes to make it bear even more. You are pruned already, by means of the word that I have spoken to you.” Quite often when people take up ministry and mission, they are unaware that they are still much wounded and that the sin of Adam still lives in them. We need to be purified of our conscious and unconscious motives and weaknesses through a daily meditation on the Word of God. We must never forget that we can go from worldly cravings to spiritual worldliness as well. The sins of the flesh and the world still follow us when we are baptized, such as lying, dishonesty, greed and lust. Often in ministry and mission, pride, egoism, insecurity, defensiveness, arrogance, unforgiveness and vindictiveness still live in us. Only God’s word can purify our motives and intentions.
Pruning also calls for setting our priorities. Just like the vinedresser who has to decide what branches to cut off so that the remaining branches can bear more fruit, so too not all good things are always good for our ministry and mission. The devil can tempt us to do many good things until we find ourselves burnt out. Rather, we must be prudent to know our limits and our strength and choose which battles to fight. We cannot fight all battles. We are not the Messiah of the world. There is only one Messiah. We cannot do everything. Even Jesus had His priorities. When the people were looking for Him, He said, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” (Mk 1:38) Everything is urgent but not everything is important. And even if they are important, we need to do what is critical for our mission.
Finally, the Lord said, we must pray. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask what you will and you shall get it.” We need to understand the mind of Christ and feel with Him in His heart for humanity. Prayer is the way by which our will and His can be aligned. Only because we are one in Him, our prayers will always be fruitful. Also, in prayer, by listening to His Word and allowing His word to live in us, we will know our priorities, and understand our true motives in what we do.
When we have done all we could, then we will not be disturbed even when our conscience condemns us, as St John wrote in the second reading. On the contrary, we can rely on the mercy of God and His providential plan for us. God is more understanding and compassionate to us than we for ourselves. Indeed, when the devil seeks to accuse us and unsettle us and condemn us for our failures and shortcomings even when we have done our best, then we should entrust everything to God’s mercy. This is because we remain in Him and He in us as “we keep his commandments and live the kind of life that he wants. His commandments are these: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another as he told us to. We know that he lives in us by the Spirit that he has given us.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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