John 15:4
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
Many people have the notion that the demands of the Old Testament were hard, so God sent Jesus to ratchet everything down a few notches and pretty much declare that you could do whatever you liked as long as you didn’t hurt anybody. In reality, however, Jesus came to point out that it was even harder to obey the Law of Moses than previously thought. Haven’t killed anyone? Great! But have you treated anyone with contempt? If you have, then you have as good as killed them in your heart and you risk the fires of hell (Matthew 5:21-22). In other words, so far from abolishing the Law, Jesus pointed out its full implications and made it clear nobody could really obey it by themselves. That’s the bad news. The good news is that you don’t have to obey it by yourself. As Jesus says in today’s verse, if you are incorporated into him through baptism and faith—-and if you stay put and don’t leave him by committing grave sin and not repenting of it—-then you will indeed bear the fruits of holiness that you could never bear on your own. The trick is abiding and the trick to that is staying with him and his Church when you’d rather not. If you are struggling with abiding in him today, remember that he is remaining with you and has more than enough power, love and mercy to help you with whatever you require to be the person God wants you to be.
