The WWJD trend began several years ago. “WWJD?” — What Would Jesus Do? — appeared on T-shirts, bracelets, necklaces, key chains, etc. The ubiquitous question prompts its readers to reflect on our Lord’s example before saying or doing something. The instinct behind this devotional is a good one: to follow Jesus Christ means to imitate Him. Yet there is something missing. Imitation of Christ is not the only part of being Catholic. In fact, it is not even the first part.
“I am the vine, you are the branches,” says the Lord. Discipleship means more than just imitating Christ; it means living in constant union with Him, sharing His life. He desires that His disciples be united to Him as organically as branches to a vine. Just as branches draw life only from the vine, so also are we to draw life from Christ. Many leaders exhort their followers to imitate their lives. Only Christ commands His disciples to participate in His life.
This participation brings both a warning and a reward. First the warning: “Without me you can do nothing.” Unless we share His life, we cannot hope to imitate Him. Union with Christ precedes imitation of Christ. We Americans — with our “can do” mentality and rugged individualist outlook — bristle at the thought that we cannot do something ourselves. But an honest assessment of Christ’s demands and our weakness confirms this truth.
Without the grace that comes from union with Christ, who can hope to fulfill the requirements of discipleship? To love our enemies and pray for our persecutors? To forgive as Christ forgives? To be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect? “Without me you can do nothing.” This summarizes the Church’s teaching on the necessity of grace. Without the grace of Christ we cannot accomplish anything, just as a branch cut off from the vine bears no fruit and soon dies.
Notice how Mother Church, in her wisdom, has traditionally arranged catechisms to teach the Sacraments before morality. That arrangement conveys the point that we need the grace of the Sacraments in order to live morally. By way of the Sacraments — most especially Penance and the Eucharist — we become branches on the vine.
Then comes the reward: “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.” Although the necessity of grace humbles us with a reminder of our own weakness, it also rewards us with great dignity. As Mother Teresa once observed, it is the branches that bear fruit — not the vine. Certainly, branches do not bear fruit on their own, nor their own fruit. It is the sap from the vine that enables them to bear fruit, and it is ultimately the vine’s fruit they bear. Nonetheless, they have the dignity of bearing fruit.
So also our Lord, the true vine, is content to remain hidden and unseen while we, mere branches, bear His fruit. Certainly, we do not bear fruit on our own, nor do we bear our own fruit. It is the sap from the vine — divine grace — that enables us to bear fruit, and it is ultimately Christ’s life we bear. Nonetheless, we have the dignity of being Christians.
“What Would Jesus Do?” is a helpful question as far as it goes. But it fails as a summary of Catholic life. Christ desires participation in His life, not just imitation of it. Christ the true vine wants His life lived, not just copied, by us branches. We must, as St. Francis de Sales says so simply, “Live Jesus.”
