JESUS ON THE ONENESS OF THE UNIVERSE
JESUS ON THE ONENESS OF THE UNIVERSE
“I am the real vine and my Father is the gardener. He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bears more fruit.”
-15 John 1-2
What Jesus meant by these words is that He is in complete union with Father (the Gardener), just like a stem with the tree. If we consider tree as a single system, any branch that is connected to the tree is ‘one’ with the tree. Whenever a branch doesn’t bear fruit, the Gardener comes and cuts it off or “breaks it off”, so that other branches can get better nourishment and bear more fruit. Here Jesus is implicitly saying that the branch doesn’t have a “Will” on its own. It is the Gardener’s “Will” whether to break off a branch or not. Definitely the Gardener will cut branches that do not bear fruits one day or the other. If we go deeper into this tenet, the logic of natural selection is explained clearly. According to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, the fittest survives. The fittest is the one who bears more fruit.
It is not upon the fittest whether to survive. It is the Gardener who decides who should survive. If the Gardener deems that some branch is not growing according to the “Divine Will”, He cuts it off without any mercy. This is for protecting the balance of the tree.
Again in 15 John 2, Jesus gives an insight into suffering that people go through in their life and the reason for this in very clear words. Jesus says, “He (Father) prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so it will be clean and bear more fruit”. For those who are in search of the eternal Truth, suffering is a test of their faith. Suffering is a method of pruning the branches that does bear fruit, so that the soul is purified enough to receive the supreme and eternal Truth.
Jesus speaks of the need for remaining in oneness with the Universe in 15 John 4 -“Remain united to me and I will remain united to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if remains in the vine. In the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me”. The first line is a call to remain in oneness with the Universe. The need for remaining one with the Universe is expressed by parable of branch and vine. These lines clearly explain that we can bear fruits if and only if we remain in sync with the functioning of the Universe. Let us proceed to consider what Jesus really meant by the word “fruit”. A fruit of a tree is edible to birds, animals and humans alike. So what Jesus meant implicitly is the need for an unselfish love towards all beings on earth.
Jesus expounds on the way to oneness in 15 John 10 – “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love”. Jesus directly says through these words that he abides completely in his Father’s love and that obeying his commands is the direct way to experience the Father’s love.
Finally Jesus tells the reason why people should experience oneness (15 John 11) – “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” .Only if we are functioning in conjunction with the Universe will our joy be complete and it is for that joy to be experienced by one and all in all its glory that Jesus came into our midst.
~JOBY MATHEW
