Jesus said, “Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing…. As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.” —John 15:4–5, 9
In this homily, Father Richard speaks of Jesus’s desire for us to remain connected:
I want you to be honest: Would you rather have a friend who is always right or one who is in right relationship with you? I think I know the answer: We’d rather have someone who’s in right relationship with us. In fact, someone who’s right all the time can be pretty obnoxious. Would we rather have a friend who’s always correct or a friend to whom we’re always connected? Of course, we’d rather have the second.
So why did we in the West seemingly change the rules for God? Many of us grew up thinking God wanted us to be right, to be correct, even to be perfect. This passage in John’s Gospel is saying that God wants people who are in right relationship, which means that we are open, and that we can listen to others with understanding and compassion. It means that we can admit when we’re wrong, which is almost every day for most of us. It certainly is for me.
Yet we keep condemning ourselves and others for not being perfect, for not being right, or for not being correct. This parable, one of the most beautiful in all the Gospels, tells us what God desires—simply that we remain connected, a branch on the vine, which is the love of God.
Everybody seems to be trying to prove that they are right. We have almost a collective incapacity to admit failure, to ever admit that we are wrong, which makes us liars most of the time. Jesus is calling forth a very different kind of human being.
Jesus says people who live a vulnerable life of connection and relationship will bear much fruit. These are the people we trust, like, and admire, so why are so many of us afraid to be the very thing that we admire the most? How foolish human beings are! But again, Jesus has told us the way: He is the vine; we are the branches. None of us can be or need to be correct, but we can always be connected.
Reference:
Adapted from Richard Rohr, “Being Connected over Being Correct,” homily, April 28, 2018.
Image credit and inspiration: Shivam Mistry, untitled (detail), 2020, photo, India, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. In a great and ever evolving mystery, the Divine pours into us as we empty ourselves.
Story from Our Community:
With my morning coffee in hand, I went to my covered patio to read my morning meditations. It was raining a soft gentle rain and as I sat there looking out into the rain at the green grass, the flowers and the trees, I knew for certain that God was right there and I welcomed Him and thanked Him for one more day of life.
— Kaye B.
