The Vine and the Branches

How can we become better Christians? How should we live? What is the purpose of life? How can we find the truth? How can we find peace with ourselves? How can we understand and grapple with problems in our lives? Do our lives have a meaning and what is that meaning?

As students you will have to learn how to solve problems, how to handle appropriate scientific methods to get scientific truth. You learn to solve practical problems, to make advances in scientific knowledge. However, particular questions as I just mentioned before are not addressed at all at our universities. These questions may still be essential for our well being, and indirectly also for our success in life, and our success with our studies.

In the Gospel of John Jesus calls himself the true vine. Here is again a new beginning of God with humankind. Jesus is not the trunk or the roots, but the whole plant. We are the branches and closely connected to Jesus. We can only live if we are connected to him. There is also a promise: we will bear fruit, much fruit, and in that way it proves that you are followers of Christ.
God wants us to bear fruit, that is to be meaningful to others who are in need, to carry one another’s burden, to act if you see injustice.

We can do all this because we are in Christ. We remain in unity with Christ through prayer. This is a two way process: we pray to God and we find our prayers are answered; we listen to God’s word and live by it. In union with Christ we have a great dignity, we can overcome difficulties in life, we can produce fruits.

This is a way of life which runs counter to the current mood. We want to enjoy life. We want our freedom as individuals. We want to develop ourselves.

To what are we connected? What is for us the most important thing in life? To be loved by our partner, to have a big bank account, to drive a nice car and to have a large house to impress people, to be successful as a student, to be popular? Jesus tells us that all that is of no importance unless what you do you do connected to Him.