April 28, 2024
Fifth Sunday of Easter, April 28, 2024 - Acts 9:26-31; 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8
I was channel surfing the other day at dialysis and, on Turner Classics, I came across a movie called Angel Baby. It starred Burt Reynolds, in his very first movie, and Joan Blondell. Who? Joan Blondell, in one of her last movies. The story’s basically about a traveling revival troupe that are frauds. And they are run by a very powerful young woman, who is the manager. And they have a very young preacher. At one particular revival, he actually cures someone unexpectedly. Because the trick is, you have plants in the audience. And you only call them up. And you heal something that they’re not really sick from. And he is so enamored of this young woman, whom he causes to speak again, that he falls in love with her, even though he’s married to the manager of this revival troupe. And there the seed of the destruction of everybody is planted.
This young woman is now chosen to go out and run her own revival group. And it’s not working well, until they put some plants in her audience without telling her. She is such an innocent. She thinks she’s really curing people. Into one meeting comes the wife. And she tells everybody, in a loud voice, that this young girl is a fraud. And everybody gets all upset. And one of the people who was supposed to be healed, a guy in a wheelchair, just gets up and runs away. And, in the panic, people start tripping over the folding chairs, and the tent begins to sway and collapses on the congregation. A number of people are injured. And this young woman, Angel Baby, goes wandering off in a daze, gets on a bus, and just rides and rides and rides. Gets off in some tiny little town, where people recognize her and keep running after her, asking for a cure. She keeps saying, “No, no, no. I don’t cure anybody.” And finally, this one family accosts her - a little boy needs a cure. And she can’t avoid them. The little boy goes running toward her, and she picks him up in her arms like a mother would cradle a child, and she says to him very softly, “Do you believe in Jesus?”
This is a very interesting thing. Although this is a Christian revival story, all the frauds throughout the movie only preach about God and Gods’ justice. This is the very first time anyone speaks the name of Jesus. The little boy nods his head. And she prays aloud to Jesus to heal the boy. And a genuine miracle occurs. The little boy is healed.
I was struck by the movie because I realized that, when I pray, Catholic priest that I am, I almost always pray, “Dear God.” I rarely, if ever, pray, “Dear Jesus.” That’s strange. I like to bet a lot of you do the same thing. “Please God, (fill in the blank).” “Dear God, thank you for…” Isn’t that strange that we, who are supposed to be the most Christ-like Christians in the world, often do not think of him when we pray?
One of the things that Jesus says in today’s Gospel is, “You have born much fruit in becoming my disciples.” It’s very interesting that Jesus uses the word disciples. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, after he picks out the twelve guys, he always calls them apostles. In John’s gospel, Jesus never uses the word apostle, which has a connotation of leadership. He only uses the word disciple because, in the original language in which the gospel was written, disciple means a learner, a student. And, in the great Jewish tradition, rabbis gather disciples to themselves and they might or they might not teach on a given day. Everybody would sit around waiting for the great one to speak. And, after he is finished speaking, the students’ work for the rest of the day was to provide for the needs of their rabbi. That’s what Jesus calls us. He call us lifelong learners.
The next thing to notice is that, after Jesus says the second time, “I am the vine and you are the branches,” he says, “Remain in me as I do in you because, apart from me, you can do nothing.” That doesn't seem true, does It? We’ve all done something - raised children, had a job, had a career, all sorts of things. Even our children in grammar school and high school have done something - won a game on their team, passed a very difficult exam, made friends. We’ve all done something. It doesn’t seem right for Jesus to say that “without me you can do nothing.” Not only that, but people around the world who don't believe in Jesus do something. Sometimes very great somethings, without reference to Jesus.
So, what does Jesus mean by that? For us Catholics, remaining in Jesus means some very basic things. It means, first of all, the sacraments. Our lifeline to Jesus is the Eucharist. And, when we have sinned, Confession. And, when we are ill, the Anointing of the Sick. And, when we have a great life change or career change, there are sacraments. All of those things link us to Jesus so that he can remain in him and he in us.
Jesus taught in all the gospels. But, if you boil down his moral teaching, really, it’s very simple. Be just. Be fair. Be truthful. Be kind. Be generous. That’s what it amounts to. But more often than he used words, Jesus taught by his example. And that’s what he invites us to do. Remaining in Jesus means doing the things that we do in the way in which Jesus would do them. Because the difference between just doing stuff well and doing stuff well as Jesus would do it and in a sacramental life, is that the things that we do that have earthly value then have heavenly value.
In the movie, Angel Baby is a complete innocent. She believes she was cured. She does what she does out of love for Jesus. We should all be like Angel Baby.