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Easter Season · Year B

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Christ Taking Leave of the Apostles, Duccio di Buoninsegna
Christ Taking Leave of the Apostles, Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1308-1311Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena (from the Maestà)
The last conversation, the eleven crowded against one wall of a narrow room and Christ speaking to them standing.Remain in my love. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. I have called you friends.Duccio di BuoninsegnaDuccio, who painted the farewell discourse as a room full of men listening rather than an event.Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena (from the Maestà)The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena.Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena (from the Maestà)

Overview & Insights

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” (John 15:5)

Just as it is possible to imagine a stage of the tradition when the only farewell discourse was 13:31–35, so it is possible to imagine a stage when the discourse extended to 14:31 but no further. There is a smooth transition from that verse’s summons to “leave” to the statement in 18:1 that Jesus “left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley.” At the end of chapter 14, the reader expects the group to leave and the discourse to end. Instead, the discourse continues, as Jesus seems to make a new beginning.

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Take it further: John 15:9-17

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What does Jesus mean by the vine and branches?

Jesus is the true vine and his disciples the branches; apart from him they can do nothing, but those who abide in him and in his word bear much fruit, to the Father's glory.

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