For the first three Sundays of Eastertide (Year B), Gospel
readings are about how the disciples reacted to the Resurrection (John 20:1-9:
Discovery of empty tomb; John 20:19-31: Doubting Thomas had to his finger into
the wound mark of the risen Jesus to believe; Luke 24:35-48: Risen Jesus ate
fish to prove that he was not a ghost). Then, there is a shift in
the Sunday Gospel reading for the rest of the Eastertide on the 4th
Sunday, which is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday.
The Gospel readings for the 4th Sunday and the 5th
Sunday describe on how Jesus relates himself not only to us but also to the
Father. In other words, these two Sundays Gospel narratives remind us how we
are related to Christ, the Son, and the Father in heaven, and to each other,
through metaphors.
First, through the shepherd metaphor on the 4th
Sunday of Easter (Good Shepherd Sunday), John 10:11-18, Jesus relates himself
to us in a shepherd-sheep relation, commissioned by the Father.
It is not an ordinary shepherd-sheep relation. In fact,
Jesus is not just a shepherd but the Good Shepherd, who lays his own life to
save his sheep – to save us, as we are his sheep.
Why does Jesus sacrifices his own life for his sheep?
Because he love them – because he love us – so much! And, he has already laid
his life on the Cross to save us, on Good Friday! It was Father’s will that
Jesus faithfully acted. Father’s will on us is salvific. The Father entrusts
the Son, Jesus the Christ, His sheep, as his sheep, by giving them to him. In
other words, the Father, who has created us, entrusts the Son, to take care of
us and save us.
Following this Good Shepherd metaphor on the 4th
Sunday, Jesus further elaborates on his relationship with us and the Father in the
Gospel narrative for the 5th Sunday through a vine metaphor (John
15:9-17).
As Jesus is the Good Shepherd to us, who are his obedient
sheep, Jesus is the true vine, and we are the branches securely attached to
him. This is how Jesus and we are related. Then, Jesus metaphorically describes
how he and we are related to the Father by describing Him as the vine grower.
The Father in heaven
is the one who commissions and entrusts the Good Shepherd, Jesus, to care for
us, in the 4th Sunday’s Gospel reading. Now, the Father is the vine
grower, who maintains His vineyard and its true vine, Jesus, to whom we are
securely attached not only to stay alive but to bear much fruit.
This secure attachment of the branches to the true vine
metaphorically represent our psychospiritual secure attachment to Jesus. Granqvist
et al. (2012)* compare our healthy secure attachment, as the branches, to the
true vine, Jesus, to John Bowlby’s (1969)** internal working model. In other
words, the quality of our relationship with Christ, our true vine, while we are
his branches, can be juxtaposed to the internal working model of attachment
theories of Bowlby and his student, Mary Ainsworth (1991)***.
This secure attachment to Jesus, as the branches are
attached to their vine, is our sure way to the Father (John 14:6) and where the
Father dwells – the Kingdom.
The branches receive all necessary water and nutrients to
stay alive and to bear fruit. For us, it is the Holy Spirit, and its gifts
(Isaiah 11:2; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11). To these gifts we receive, namely, grace
from God, we are called to bear much fruit. And it is the fruit of love, as the
6th Sunday’s Gospel reading (John 15:9-17) tells that our secure
attachment to our true vine, Christ, means to remain in his love.
So, we now ask ourselves: How can we bear fruit of love as
the branches of the true vine, grown by the Father in heaven, using His grace, the
gifts of the Holy Spirit, we received through the true vine?
The Kingdom of God comes on earth, as it is in heaven, when
it is the time for harvesting the abundant fruits we bear.
The old vineyards (i.e. Isaiah 5; Matthew 21:33-46) were not
fruitful and thus destroyed by God. To replace such old bad vineyard, the
Father elected the Son, as the true vine, in His vineyard, as we are the
branches of this true vine. And, this metaphor echoes the new pasture where Good
Shepherd tends his sheep in John 10, as commissioned by the Father, who
provides him with the sheep, us.
What Jesus means by “remaining his love” is to remain
securely attached to the true vine (5th Sunday Gospel) and to remain
in the herd of the Good Shepherd (4th Sunday Gospel).
********
*Granqvist, P., Milulincer, M., Gewirtz, V., & Shaver,
P.R. (2012). Experimental findings on God as an attachment figure – Normative processes
and moderating effects of internal working models. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103, 804-818
** Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment
and loss, Vol. 1: Attachment. New York: Basic Books
***Ainsworth, M.D.S., & Bowlby, J. (1991). An
ethological approach to personality development. American Psychologist, 46, 331-341
No comments:
Post a Comment