One of the books I have been reading this week was written by a Jewish rabbi from Rochester in the US, who a few decades ago came to a understanding of Our Lord Jesus Christ that his fellowmen mostly abhor. He realised that Christ was the Hebrew Messiah long awaited by the Jews. This man’s name is Bernis, and his journey into the Christian faith began with friendship with evangelical Christians, although he spearheaded the creation worldwide of a type of Jewish synagogue called ‘messianic’ – that is Jews who believe in Christ and are somehow baptised, but not obviously attached to any of the various branches of protestantism, much less the Catholic Church.
The language Bernis uses in his books is the born-again type of protestant language, but there have been other Jews like him who have taken the further step and joined one of the Apostolic Churches, of which ours is one. I have read several of their stories, because I love to hear of Jews who break through the walls the rabbis have built for centuries and see with wonder the glory of the Holy One manifested in the God-man. The usual theme I find is this: a Jew who accepts Christ and somehow becomes a Christian doesn’t feel that he or she has ceased to be a Jew; rather, they find that their Jewishness is deepened and that they stand at the end of a long story that began with the election of the patriarch Abraham. The reason I mention all this is that it forms a good introduction to the two principal readings today. In the first reading, we find that S. Paul, called here by his Hebrew name Sa’ul (Luke calls him by his Greek name Paulos when he is in the Greek countries), some time after having his extraordinary conversion of heart on the road to Damascus, is now looking for the Apostles of the Lord. He has seen Christ in vision on the road, and now he is looking for those who saw Christ with their own eyes, heard them with their own ears.
“So [Paul] reached Jerusalem, where he tried to attach himself to the disciples; but they could not believe he was a true disciple, and all avoided his company. Whereupon Barnabas took him by the hand and brought him in to the Apostles, telling them how, on his journey, he had seen the Lord and had speech with Him, and how at Damascus he had spoken boldly in the Name of Jesus. So he came and went in their company at Jerusalem, and spoke boldly in the Name of the Lord. He preached, besides, to the Jews who talked Greek, and disputed with them, till they set about trying to take his life. As soon as they heard of this, the brethren took him down to Caesarea, and put him on his way to Tarsus.”
Acts of the Apostles, 9: 26-30 [link]
He, Paul, had also been given a task by Christ – he was to be the missionary to carry the Christian religion beyond the bounds of Judaea, to the Greek countries and beyond. Throughout the history of the Church, men who have had similar missions have sought first the apostolic authority of the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter. So, Paul goes with the support of S. Barnabas to Jerusalem. He needs that support also for, not very long before, he had been persecuting the Christians wherever he could find them. Now this proud Pharisee kneels before Christ’s regents in humility and, with their authority, creates such a stir in the Holy City that the Church is forced to send him off to Roman Caesarea for safety. Let us consider the plight of all converts, with that fire within their hearts, like S. Paul and also like the rabbi I mentioned earlier, and also converts to Catholicism from other Christian communities. They don’t necessarily suffer violence anymore, but they quickly become pariahs among their former communities, cut off and abandoned. They should not be abandoned by us. Let us pray first of all for the conversion of the hearts of our Jewish brothers and sisters, through the intercession of OL and the Apostles, and the Saints of the early Church – Jews all of them.
Our gospel message establishes the picture of the vine of the Church – a Jewish vine – as Christ explains to His Jewish audience that they are branches on that vine.
“I AM the true Vine, and it is My Father Who tends it. The branch that yields no fruit in Me, He cuts away; the branch that does yield fruit, He trims clean, so that it may yield more fruit. You, through the message I have preached to you, are clean already; you have only to live on in Me, and I will live on in you. The branch that does not live on in the vine can yield no fruit of itself; no more can you, if you do not live on in Me. I AM the Vine, you are its branches; if a man lives on in Me, and I in him, then he will yield abundant fruit; separated from Me, you have no power to do anything. If a man does not live on in Me, he can only be like the branch that is cast off and withers away; such a branch is picked up and thrown into the fire, to burn there. As long as you live on in Me, and my words live on in you, you will be able to make what request you will, and have it granted. My Father’s Name has been glorified, if you yield abundant fruit, and prove yourselves My disciples.”
The Gospel of S. John, 15: 1-8 [link]
Paul would later explain in his letters that non-Jewish people such as ourselves are grafted onto that Jewish vine through baptism. And the life that flows through us – the sap of the vine – is the grace of God, through which we are meant to bear fruit, or else we are pruned off and destroyed. This is a strong theme in the Gospel of S. John: that if any of the sons and daughters of men are to have life, they must have it through Christ, and that they must have His life within them. And it should be demonstrable, not just some vague and abstract faith, but a life of charity and devotion – by real and active lives of faith, as S. John also says in the second reading. Misunderstanding and ridicule we will undoubtedly have, but so did He Who went to the Cross for us. But we are bound to evangelise, anyhow, in word and act, and draw as many people as we can to the promises of Christ.
“My little children, let us shew our love by the true test of action, not by taking phrases on our lips. That proves to us that we take our character from the truth, and we shall be able to satisfy our consciences before God; if our consciences condemn us, it is because God is above conscience, and nothing is hidden from Him. Beloved, if conscience does not condemn us, we can appear boldly before God, and He will grant all our requests, since we are keeping His commandments, and living as He would see us live. What He commands is, that we should have faith in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ, and at His command should love one another. When a man keeps his commandments, it means that he is dwelling in God, and God in him. This is our proof that he is really dwelling in us, through the gift of his Spirit.”
First letter of the Apostle S. John, 3: 18-24 [link]
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 