Reflection on Jn 15:4
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
Abide in Me, and I in you
When the Lord opens our spiritual eyes, it is as if the blind begin to see! The first shock to us is when we realize how long we lived under the influence of the spirit of lies. False prophets, heretical theologians, preach supreme heresies wrapped in pious phrases. Masses of people are thus led to destruction. One would cry and shout: Christians, wake up! Don’t believe in lies! Don’t believe the servants of lies! Believe Jesus! Believe His apostles! Do receive the Word of God, and not human philosophies, pseudo psychologies or heretical theologies! Do receive Jesus by sincere repentance! Ukraine, wake up! Russia, wake up! Do receive the spirit of repentance! Jesus wants to save you from the infection of the amoral West (gender ideology, juvenile justice, drugs, AIDS, euthanasia…). He wants to save you from autogenocide! Wake up! Be aware of who you are, being Christians, or who you should be!
Jesus says His words to everyone, and even to you personally: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
Jesus says to both me and you: “If you abide in Me, and I in you…” This is another shock – revelation of truth! You repented and received Jesus as your Saviour and Lord. Yes, Jesus knocked at the door of your heart then. It was true: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Rev 3:20) You opened the door to Him and He came in. If you walk in the truth, which means that you sincerely repent of venial sins, He abides in you at the present moment, and you should abide in Him. Especially in prayer, but also in suffering, you should realize the mystery of baptism, the mystery of being born again in Christ and united to Him crucified and risen. Jesus abides in you. If you do not live your life with Him in earnest but you live your own life, independently of Him, you thus allow Him to be present just passively. He is in you, but you are not with Him, and it is a great pity! Unless you cast out Jesus by your sin or denial, you will be saved but: “The fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is… If anyone’s work is burned (wood, hay or straw instead of gold, silver and precious stones), he himself will be saved, but only as through fire (purgatory).” (1Cor 3:11-15) And the Word of God continues: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” Not only Jesus but also the Holy Spirit and God the Father (cf. 1Jn 2:24; Jn 14:23) – the Triune God – dwells in you!
The evening before His death, Jesus told the apostles several times about the profound mystery of His unity with us and His unity with the Father. (Read once more the testimony of the Apostle John who let these words penetrate deep into his heart and faithfully handed them on to us in chapter 14 of his Gospel.) God in us! This is a shock! And I didn’t know it, or maybe I heard about it but I didn’t take seriously this fundamental truth concerning baptism and new life. If you read the lives of martyrs and saints, about their heroism and wonders which Jesus worked through them, you are lost in admiration. But Jesus wants to work in power also in you and through you!
“We are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building … a royal priesthood…” (1Cor 3:9; 1Pt 2:4). “No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1Cor 3:11) The Apostle rebuked the Christians at Corinth, whom he had begotten through the Gospel, for not launching out into the deep, for not building on the foundation – on Christ. He wrote to them: “You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?” (1Cor 3:3) Jesus sets a condition: “If you abide in Me…” If we are to abide in Christ, we first need to unite to Him. If we are separated from Him by unbelief, self-will, hedonism, criticism or other sins or vanities, we must enter into actual unity with Him anew. That is why we need interior prayer in which we are first purified through repentance and then give ourselves and our problems to Jesus, become united to Him by faith and, as a result of this unity with Him, make steps of faith. An example is the prayer of power acc. Mk 11:23 (see Prayer of unity and power). In this prayer, I realize that Jesus is in me. Jesus said that He is in the Father and the Father in Him, and They will come to him who loves Jesus and make Their home with him (Jn 14:23). Pronouncing the holy name Yehoshua, are you conscious of this unity and God’s almighty power which is taking up spiritual mountains through you? If you believe, the power of God comes out through your breath and your hands. It is not your power! God is working it. Jesus says: “Without Me you can do nothing.” Jesus is in you. He compares this unity to the vine and the branches, and He emphasizes the essential truth several times: Abide in Me!
The depth of unity was expressed not only by Jesus the evening before His death but also by the Holy Spirit through the Apostle John, who returns several times to this essence of faith and unity in his epistle.
Apart from that, a very helpful thing for us to enter into God’s presence is to stop 7 times a day, to make a short act of contrition, confession of love: “Shema, Israel!” and to repeat a particular Bible verse. In many places, the Scripture says about Moses that he “went out” and “entered”. When he entered into the sanctuary to speak with the Lord, a pillar of cloud descended and stood at the entrance. It is the same with you when you enter into the presence of God. May the Holy Spirit reveal to us the depth of this mystery of faith – i.e. the reality that we abide in Jesus and He abides in us, powerless on the cross and almighty at the same time!
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