Corpus Christi Blog

Being a Disciple is remaining in Him

05-03-2015HomiliesFr. Chad King

Are you a disciple?  Am I a disciple? That is the question each and every one of us must answer in our lives.   Are you a disciple?  Raise your hand if you would say you are.  So what are you a disciple of…. Or rather who or what do you follow?  Most would say a disciple of Jesus is someone who follows him.  After all, when we think of who the disciples were while Jesus was on earth, we think of Peter, John, Matthew, maybe Mary Magdalene, perhaps all the people Jesus healed, and other apostles.  They each had a common trait; they all left what they were doing and followed Jesus.  We can recall the story of the rich young man whom Jesus called to give all he had to the poor and follow Him, but unfortunately he wasn’t ready then to become his disciple. I wonder if he was ever ready to follow our Lord?

I’ll bet most people would define a disciple as someone who believes in and follows Jesus.  And while that is certainly true on some level, our readings today reveal a deeper meaning of a disciple, a true disciple is someone who does much more than just follow Jesus.

Our Gospel has a similar beginning and ending.  It begins: Jesus said to his disciples.  So Jesus is talking to his disciples.  But yet our Gospel concludes: “By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples”.   Jesus is wanting those to whom he is talking to become his disciples, but wait, I thought Jesus already was talking to his disciples?  Sounds a little confusing, doesn’t it?  It seems as if Jesus is saying in the Gospel that they are his disciples, but not fully yet.

Being a disciple is much more than just believing in and following Jesus.  There are many people who say they believe in Jesus, and they might be following him, but following him at a distance.  One cannot not be a true disciple and only follow Jesus from a distance.  It is like if you are in your car following a friend somewhere you don’t know where it is.  You can start out of your neighborhood close, but if you don’t stay close and you let too many cars to get in between then it gets more and more difficult to see them.  If they get real far ahead, you may lose them all together.  If you are following Jesus from a distance, and you let things get in the way of a personal relationship with Him you will lose direction, and sooner or later you will find yourself lost.   In fact, a true disciple knows that they are not the one who is doing the driving in the first place, and not trying to follow on their own power.  God should be the “pilot” or “guide”.  However, we know there are many people in society, perhaps some of you, who are only trying to follow Jesus from a distance.  Who are trying to steer their own car… even without the eternal roadmap.  They think they can live their lives doing whatever they want to do, and go wherever they want to go as long as they believe in Jesus.  Some examples are politicians and supporters who claim to be Catholic, but yet who vote for abortions and Euthanasia.  Married couples who think that they can use contraception, or couples who act as if they are married, but think they can still be true disciples.  Some people think that as long as they come to Mass on Sundays then they are following Jesus, regardless of what they do Monday through Saturday. Or, the individual who doesn’t take the time to build their relationship with God and therefore do not seek God’s roadmap for their lives. Our 2nd reading supports this insight into what a true disciple is.  It tells us that loving and following Jesus is not just in word or speech, but in deed and truth.  It is not just in saying we are following Jesus, but it is evident in our actions.  We need to be walking the walk not just talking the talk. 

Our 2nd reading goes on to say that we are disciples by condemning things that are not of God, obeying his commandments and doing what pleases him.  And those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them.

Our 1st reading ties this understanding of discipleship in with the other two readings.  It tells us that Saul tried to join the disciples, but naturally they were afraid because they knew what Saul did to Stephen and others who were following Jesus.  The disciples knew that Saul’s actions showed he was against Jesus and His followers.  It wasn’t until Barnabas, a disciple of the Lord, told them about Saul’s conversion did they begin to trust him.  He shared about how Jesus spoke to and revealed himself to Saul, and how Saul converted and began to speak out boldly in the name of Jesus.  And it was when Peter and the other apostles heard that Paul was being persecuted for proclaiming Jesus that they began to consider him a disciple too.  The apostles needed proof of conversion, they needed evidence, that is, they needed to see the fruit that Paul had indeed become a disciple.  Being a disciple is more than a person saying they are following Jesus.  Discipleship, should not only be evident to the individual, but should be evident to others.

A disciple is more than just following Jesus, but Jesus says that a disciple is one who bears much fruit.  And Jesus tells us in our Gospel how to bear much fruit.  We have the roadmap, Jesus says, “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”.  Do you remain in God throughout the week in daily personal prayer?  And keep thinking and calling upon throughout the day?  Do you share your love for God with others?

If a branch tries and grow off in its own direction then it detaches itself from the vine and loses the source of the nutrients and dies.  Notice that a disciple who bears fruit is not one who just tries to stay close to the vine, but the branch who is attached to the vine.  And my brothers and sisters, to remain connected to the source of nutrients for our lives, we must detach ourselves from the world and cling to God.  We must give up whatever we are holding onto, we must surrender whatever tempts us to lead ourselves by selecting which direction we want to go instead of following God’s map for our lives.   We must detach from a selfish self-focus and unite ourselves to the vine in order to bear fruit.  If we are not attached to the vine and remain in Jesus, we will die.  Anyone who has not detached themselves of the world and then attached themselves completely to Christ cannot receive His life-giving nutrients.  Notice also that we as branches do not bear fruit on our own, just as we do not bear fruit by what we do, but simply by remaining in the vine and allowing Jesus to bear the fruit through us.

All the disciples, Peter, John, Mary Magdalene, Paul, and so on, did so much more than follow Jesus, since they fully gave of themselves.  John and Mary Magdalene remained with Jesus and His mother all the way through the Cross.  Even Peter who wavered in faith repented with all his heart after he realized he had denied Jesus. Peter’s heartfelt repentance and giving of self then allowed Jesus to forgive him and to re-connect him to the source of life.  And we know, Peter grew and truly became the great disciple God had made him to be.  All of us are called to become His disciple.  But we are told that a disciple is one who does more than just follow Jesus, but one who gives themselves fully to Jesus, who remains in Him and He in them.  So the question remains, are you, am I, a true disciple?  If not yet, what do we need to give up, to detach from, what do we need to do, in order to remain in Him, bear much fruit, and become His disciple? 

BACK TO LIST