From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts:
In Sunday’s Gospel, John reveals how to receive whatever you pray for! “[A]sk for whatever you want and it will be done for you.” John 15:7b.
All we have to do is “remain.” “Remain” or “abide” is an important word in John’s Gospel. Earlier, Jesus speaks of himself as food for us: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” (John 6:56) Consider how he uses “remain” in this part of our Gospel:
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.
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 you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.
By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”
John 15:4-8 (emphasis added)
The relationship between Jesus and his followers is like the relationship between the grape vine and its branches. As long as the branch stays connected to the vine, life flows into it, it grows, it will bear grapes. Cut its connection to the vine, it withers and dies without producing anything. In Jesus’ day, such branches were collected, dried, and tossed in the fire—all they were good for.
The connected branches bore grapes that were made into wine to drink with enjoyment and pleasure. Jesus is the vine, his followers are branches of the vine. Unlike actual grape vine branches, his followers can choose to cut themselves off from the vine. Thus, the importance of “remain.” Remaining or not remaining is up to us. The vine, our Lord, “remains” whether we stay or go. He is The Source of our deepest life, the life of our inmost self. As the free beings the Father created us to be, we can ignore that Source and go our own way. Long term, he warns, that will not go well.
If we “remain” connected to the Vine, that is, living in interaction with the Lord every day, fruitfulness will come. Through that on-going living connection, we will learn to ask for what is best, most life-giving, for ourselves and those around us. One thing we learn is that what is actually best for ourselves and others can be a long way from obvious – and a very long way from easy. Once we are aware of what is best, we may “ask for whatever we want and it will be done for us” because it will be what He knows is best, too.
For further reflection:
A good goal for this Easter Season would be to instill a new habit in our mental processes. This is the habit of pausing as we go through our day and asking: “Is what I am doing (working on, saying, or thinking) ‘remaining with Jesus’? Am I walking with him or toward him in this? Is he asking me to stop and re-consider, or is he encouraging me to continue?”
As with any habit, this will take practice to make part of our routine. Perhaps a lot of practice. We must be patient with ourselves. Our Lord is notoriously patient, so he takes in stride our failures to fall right into this pattern. He wants us to remain in him so he can remain in us. Anyone who loves another wants the beloved one to remain.
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