producing fruits: 5th sunday easter B

What fruit do you bear?  What fruit can you give or offer to your community and to the world?

May isa anay ka altar boy nga naglantaw kag nagbantay sa pari samtang ang pari nagapamanday.  Nasiplatan sang pari nga ang bata hagi tulok sa iya.  Toto ano ang ginalantaw mo samtang nagapamanday ako, may kinahanglan ka? Wala padre a, sabat sang altar boy. Ti ngaa gintulok mo ako? Nagsiling ang bata, luyag ko lang mabati-an padre kon ano ang ihambal mo pananglitan maigo sang martilyo ang imo kamalagko.

Many times we will find out what we are made of by what comes out of our mouths in different circumstances whether good or bad.  These are what we call fruits.  They are the end results of something there in us, good or bad, that produces such reactions.

Fruits are not something that the branches produce.  There is a difference between producing the fruit and bearing the fruit.  To produce means to cause it to exist, while to bear something means to just merely hold it, to carry it, to support it.  The phrase used by Jesus in the gospel is not produces fruit but bears fruit because here, bearing fruit is just the end result of something.  It is the end result of the branch abiding on the vine, it is the end result of abiding in Jesus, it is the end result of remaining close to Jesus.  

And so it is not through the effort of the branch that the fruits are produced. No.  It is the vine that produces fruit.  The branch only bears the fruit, it only holds the fruits and it could only bear the fruit when it is attached to the vine.  Jesus produces the fruit, he produces the fruit through us who bear it.

There are certain things therefore that we need to think through:

First, Sang bata pa ako nga pari luyag ko hap-an ang tanan, nagahuro-huro pa sa serbisyo, kadto diri, kadto didto, himo sii, himo sina.  Then a dear old priest told us this:  Kon unahon mo gani ang serbisyo, indi ka na gid na makapangamuyo kag makapakig-angot kay Jesus, pero kon unahon mo anay tulok kay Jesus you will soon find out that you serve well, wisely and acceptably.

Service is the fruit of our abiding in Jesus.  It is Jesus the vine who serves, and he serves through us, for we are branches to the vine.

My work as rector in the seminary is one of the most tiring and least rewarding work.  Most tiring because you take care of so many seminarians and you produce only 2 or 3 priests a year.  The return of investment is very minimal.  It is also the least rewarding work because you cannot see the results of your work immediately.  If indeed there are good results, you get to see them probably ten years from now. But it can only become most tiring and less rewarding if I take it to myself that I am the vine and not just the branch.  But as the gospel states Jesus is the vine and I am just a branch, we are just branches of the vine.  We allow Jesus to work in us and through us

It becomes therefore clear that those who abide in Jesus is the most competent to serve, and he is also the most confident, for this is how it is to render effective service. He is the vine, I am the branch.  Probably this can be a good food for thought for those of you who work hard everyday, those of us who go through also a lot of frustrations in our work and task, those of us who work silently perhaps unappreciated by people around us. Remember we are the branches, Jesus is the vine.

And second, because of these thoughts we can also say that a person who abides in Jesus and takes time daily to nourish this relationship with Jesus can never make his service prominent.  We are not indispensable, we are not the sine qua non in anybody’s life.  The world will still be there without us.  We do what we can, we offer our services while we can.  No fanfare, nothing to call attention to ourselves, but silently working,  and caring, and loving, and enjoying whatever we are doing.  Again Jesus is the vine and we are the branches – Jesus produces the fruits and by attaching ourselves to him we make ourselves available to him at all times, to bear that fruits, fruits that will last.