Shikrot Mpwi - Sunday Synopsis with Fr. Justine J. Dyikuk

Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B – April 29, 2018.

Readings: Acts 9:26-31; Ps 21:26-28,30-32; 1 John 3:18-24; 

Gospel – John 15:1-8.

Theme: Be My Disciples!

Introduction

Friends in Christ, on the Fifth Sunday of Easter, we are charged to be disciples of Jesus who are charged to push the frontiers of Church’s mission of evangelisation to the ends of the earth. Our reflection, titled “Be My Disciples” shall fall within the scope of the Easter Season. We shall highlight the liturgical readings with a view to drawing pastoral lessons as a spiritual meal.

Summary of the Readings 

In the first reading (Acts 9:26-31), we are told how Saul, a new convert to the Christian faith preached fearlessly in Jerusalem after Barnabas had introduced him to the Saints and explained how God arrested him at Damascus. The reading indicated how the Hellenists were determined to kill him which made the brothers to take him to Caesarea and then to Tarsus – it also noted how the Churches throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria lived in fear of the Lord and filled with the Holy Spirit, continued to spread the God News.

The second reading (1 John 3:18-24) charges that our love must not be only in words but in action as well – “Only by this can we be certain that we are children of the truth and be able to quieten our conscience in his presence” the text says. It assures that whatever we ask God, “we shall receive, because we keep his commandments and live the kind of life that he wants.” It surmises that “whoever keeps his commandments lives God and God lives in him.”

The message of the gospel (John 15:1-8) invites us to discipleship by being grafted on Christ, the vine. Jesus says: “It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much, and then you will be my disciples.” Jesus reveals himself as the true vine, and his father as the vinedresser. He further discloses that “as a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself but must remain part of the vine, neither can [we] unless [we] remain in [him].”