2-9-17 - Commanded to Love?

We go from failed love to divine love, as we transition from the lectionary-appointed Gospel to the one we will hear at St. Columba’s this Annual Meeting Sunday. (Everyone else, come along for the ride!)

The passage we’ve been on shows Jesus giving some hard lessons – equipping his followers to be focused and strong in the face of adversity. We need to be too, facing indifference, complacency – and, who knows, maybe even persecution. This training talk may also have had a pruning purpose. At the end of his time with these disciples, Jesus will say, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:1-2) Jesus’ teaching, even when it sounds harsh, reflects the work of that Master Gardener, who desires that we bear good fruit.

And he argues that we can only bear good fruit if we abide in his love, as he abides in his Father’s love. “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”

In the safety of God’s abiding love, we can dare to prune the unfruitful parts of our lives, our psyches, our patterns. In this passage, as in the harsher one from Matthew, Jesus offers discipline, like a trainer or a coach does. The question for us is, Do we want to be disciples, to take on a discipline? Do we want to be trained? Do we want to bear fruit?

Here’s my prayer suggestion for today: Let’s get in touch with the love of God that has us reading this reflection in the first place. Get centered as best you can, and invite the Holy Spirit to fill you with love, to surround you with love. Ease into it, as you would into a hot bath. Let it fill your heart, whatever that feels like or looks like. Say thank you for every reminder of God’s love you can think of. And, if you’re willing, say you’re open to being trained.

Whatever else Jesus is up to, he is also presenting a view of God’s love, the way a loving parent minces no words keeping a child from traffic or a hot stove. We are God’s children, in every sense; God loves us enough to want to see us thrive. In fact, what Jesus desires for us is joy: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”

Living under discipline and making hard choices are not incompatible with joy. And a deep source of joy is knowing our lives are bearing the fruit of love. Let the gardener do his thing and see what fruit pours out in our lives.