Scripture Study for
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Acts 9:26–31 / Psalm 22:26a / 1 John 3:18–24 / John 15:1–8
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Understanding the Word
By Br. John R. Barker, OFM
The reading from Acts this week takes place after the baptism of Saul, who has begun to preach the gospel, to the astonishment of those who had known him as a persecutor of Christians and to the consternation of some of the Jews, who conspire to kill him (9:1–25). Given his past, it is understandable that when Saul arrives in Jerusalem the disciples are leery of him. Barnabas, whose reputation among them must have been good, vouches for him, and Saul gives further evidence of his sincerity by his “bold” proclamation of Jesus as the Son of God (9:20) and his debates with the Greek-speaking Jews. Now that Saul has stopped persecuting the church, it can enjoy a period of peace, consolidation, and growth.
John has continued to exhort his audience to love God and one another, even to the point of laying down their lives for each other in imitation of Jesus (1 John 3:16). Those in whom God’s love abides show that love through their actions; love expressed in words alone cannot be true love. When one acts in love, however, then one “belongs to the truth,” and may stand with confidence before God. This confidence in God’s good will toward those who belong to the truth is grounded in the knowledge that they are obedient to God, which itself is a sign that they “remain in him, and he in them,” a mutual indwelling that is attested by the Spirit.
Like that of the Good Shepherd, the image of Jesus as “the true vine” is drawn from the Old Testament. In Sirach 24:16–17, Wisdom says that “I spread out my branches . . . I bud forth delights like a vine.” And Isaiah 5:1–7 is just one of several passages that refer to Israel as the vineyard of the Lord. Jesus as the true vine is both tended by the Father (making him the embodiment of God’s people) and the source of life for Christians. Just as God tends the vineyard of Israel, so God “prunes” the church through the “word” of Christ, whose teachings and actions form God’s people. Just as Jesus remains in the Father and the Father remains in him, so it is for Jesus’ disciples, whose very lives are truly dependent on remaining in Jesus.