How Do You Know That You Are Saved? 5th Sunday of Easter

Back in the nineties, when I was serving as an urban pastor/missionary in West Michigan, I did a lot of door-to-door and contact evangelism.  I was trained to talk with people and hone in on their assurance of salvation: the key question was, “If you died tonight, are you sure you would go to heaven?”  This would often lead to a follow-up where I would share some Scriptures with them that seemed to show that you could know with certainty that you were saved provided you “believed” in Jesus. 

There were many problems with my approach, but my concern about being confident in one’s salvation was not entirely misplaced.  We should all be concerned about our salvation: it’s the most important question in life.  Jesus said, “What does it profit a man that he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?”  You can fail at everything in life, but if you succeed in gaining eternal life, your failures ultimately don’t matter.  Conversely, you can succeed at everything in life, but if you fail to gain eternal life, all your successes ultimately don’t matter. 

So there is no question about which we should be more concerned than whether we will be saved, and gain eternal life.  And we should take every precaution and make every effort to be as confident as possible about that reality.  Any other approach would be foolish from an eternal perspective. 

The Readings for the Fifth Sunday of Easter in various ways revolve around the question of knowing who is a true disciple of Jesus, and who is not. 

1. The First Reading is Acts 9:26-31:

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples,
but they were all afraid of him,
not believing that he was a disciple.
Then Barnabas took charge of him and brought him to the apostles,
and he reported to them how he had seen the Lord,
and that he had spoken to him,
and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.
He moved about freely with them in Jerusalem,
and spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord.
He also spoke and debated with the Hellenists,
but they tried to kill him.
And when the brothers learned of this,
they took him down to Caesarea
and sent him on his way to Tarsus.

The church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace.
It was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord,
and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit it grew in numbers.

Here the Christians in Jerusalem are afraid of Saul, because they do not know whether he is truly a disciple, or an infiltrator waiting to betray them to the authorities.  It takes the testimony of Barnabas, a disciple whom all trusted, to convince the Jerusalem church that Paul is sincere.  Barnabas witnesses that the Paul has had a direct experience of the Lord, and that he was willing to put himself at risk by speaking “boldly in the name of the Lord.”   

This “boldness” (parresia) refers to a willingness to speak the truth even when it is unpopular or may not be received well.  There cannot be any “boldness” (parresia) when you are speaking a message that can’t possibly offend. One is not “bold” to proclaim things that one knows will be welcomed and appreciated.  So when the Jerusalem church hears that Paul spoke “boldly”, they receive him as a true disciple.  Because one of the marks of a true disciple is the willingness to face persecution and rejection for the sake of the Gospel.  “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:10).  Weak, insipid, and “politically correct” speech intended not to communicate God’s truth but to win acclaim or acceptance from other people: this can never be the Gospel.  That does not mean we go out of our way to offend.  The truth must be spoken with love, because anything done without love is a sin.  At the same time, true love can never lie nor cover up the truth.  So when the Jerusalem church learns that Paul was willing to face persecution by being “bold”, they realize he truly has become a Christian and they welcome him into their midst.  Sadly, though, his boldness continues to incite persecution, and they must send him away in order to save his life.

P. The Responsorial Psalm is Ps 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32:

R. (26a) I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people.
I will fulfill my vows before those who fear the LORD.
The lowly shall eat their fill;
they who seek the LORD shall praise him:
"May your hearts live forever!"
R. I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people.
All the ends of the earth
shall remember and turn to the LORD;
all the families of the nations
shall bow down before him.
R. I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people.
To him alone shall bow down
all who sleep in the earth;
before him shall bend
all who go down into the dust.
R. I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people.
And to him my soul shall live;
my descendants shall serve him.
Let the coming generation be told of the LORD
that they may proclaim to a people yet to be born
the justice he has shown.
R. I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people.

Psalm 22 is one of the most complete todah or thanksgiving psalms in the Psalter, and it is the one that Jesus quotes from the cross.  Psalm 22 has two basic parts: vv. 1-21 are a lament and vv. 22-31 are a thanksgiving proper.  Interestingly, for this Lord’s Day we read only from the second half, the proper thanksgiving portion of this Psalm.  That is because we are still in the Easter Season.  The lament portion of this Psalm was chanted on Passion Sunday, paired with the account of the crucifixion when Christ cries out the first line of this Psalm from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”  But even on the cross Jesus knew how the Psalm ended, and now in the Easter Season we continue to bask in the glow of the Resurection, giving thanks for all the good that God accomplished through the evil of the death of his Son.  

 “The lowly shall eat their fill”: this refers to the poor of the earth who are not too proud to accept the Good News of Jesus, and find their satisfaction in Eucharist, while the wealthy and the elite sneer at those who believe “myths” and comfort themselves with the “crutch” of religion.   

“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord”: this speaks of the growth of the Church, which we see going on in Acts. In fact, Paul himself will be largely responsible for the Gospel going to the ends of the earth, for at the end of Acts he will preach in Rome, the capital of the empire, where everyone visited from distant provinces and returned home to share what they had learned in the great city.    

“To him alone shall bow down all who sleep on earth”: this refers to the dead acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord.  He is the only one who can give eternal life to the dying, so he is the only God worth worshiping. 

“Let the coming generation be told of the LORD, that they may proclaim to a people yet to be born”: the Gospel is transmitted from generation to generation.  In Acts, we see one generation, that of the Apostles, passing it on to the next generation, including younger men like Timothy, Titus, and Luke.  They in turn passed it on to others, and so on to today.  We must now proclaim it to our children, both physical and spiritual, so the Good News will never die out.

2. The Second Reading is 1 Jn 3:18-24:

Children, let us love not in word or speech
but in deed and truth.
Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth
and reassure our hearts before him
in whatever our hearts condemn,
for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God
and receive from him whatever we ask,
because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
And his commandment is this:
we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another just as he commanded us.
Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them,
and the way we know that he remains in us
is from the Spirit he gave us.

John raises the question of how we may know that we “belong to the truth” and may “reassure our hearts” before God when we have pangs of conscience.  The way to assurance is “to love not in word or speech but in deed and truth” says John.  “This is how we shall know that we belong to the truth,” the Apostle says. 

Assurance of salvation does not come from introspection and soul-searching, although examination of conscience is an important part of the Christian life.  Rather, when we put our faith into action by performing deeds of love, then we know we are actually living in Christ and he in us.  That is because love is the fundamental commandment of God.  “His commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.”  Notice this instruction to “believe in the name” and “love one another” is not considered two commands, but one: “His commandment is this,” the Apostle says.  So much more was meant in the ancient world by “believing in the name of Jesus” than merely assenting with one’s intellect to the proposition that Jesus was divine.  “Believing in the name of Jesus” meant a wholesale entrustment of oneself to Jesus as Lord of one’s life, and it made no sense to imagine a scenario where one “believed in the name of Jesus” but didn’t obey him.  How could one believe Jesus was divine but not do what he said?  Is that not absurd?  Can one acknowledge Jesus as God but not obey?  Would not the failure of obedience really be an indication that one didn’t actually believe he was God and Lord? 

So, obedience is the proof of faith: “Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he gave us.”  And we know that we have the Spirit when we act in love, because as Paul says, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” (Rom 5:5).  

G. The Gospel is John 15:1-8:

Jesus said to his disciples:
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.
You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.
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,
because without me you can do nothing.
Anyone who does not remain in me
will be thrown out like a branch and wither;
people will gather them and throw them into a fire
and they will be burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.
By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

At this point in the liturgical calendar, we turn to the Last Supper Discourse (John 14-17) for our Gospel texts, because this is the one unit of the Gospels that teaches the most about the Holy Spirit, whose presence we are preparing to renew at Pentecost (May 20).  This Sunday’s Gospel is a mini-unit we could call the “true vine” discourse.  The vine imagery relates to wine, and in fact there are strong parallels between this discourse in John 15 and the bread of life discourse in John 6.  Both are filled with the motif of “remaining” in Jesus.  We can regard these two discourses as a complementary pair, one which primarily engages the image of “bread” and the other which primarily engages the image of the “vine,” the source of wine.  These are the two Eucharistic species, bread and wine, and so these two discourses are also based on the Eucharist.  It is particularly through participation in the Eucharist that we “remain” in Jesus, though not to the exclusion of prayer and the other sacraments. 

Using the metaphor of a vine and a vine-dresser, Jesus makes several striking points about the life of discipleship:

“He (the father) takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit”

Here, “fruit” refers to spiritual fruit, which would be growth in holiness, virtues, and good works.  It is impossible to grow in holiness without also producing good works, because holiness does not take root in us without changing our behavior.  Jesus is saying that those who are in Christ but refuse to grow in holiness, virtue, and good works will be removed from Christ.  This is a frightening thought, but similar to one articulated by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but [rather] he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not cast out demons in your name ? … And I will declare to them, “I never knew you …” (Matt 7:21).  Therefore, the danger of falling into lukewarmness and spiritual sterility is real and it is dangerous: we must guard against it for the sake of our salvation.

“And every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.”

Pruning is a cutting process, and it can only be painful for the tree.  Jesus is saying that those who are disciples will experience a kind of disciplinary process from the Father so that they will grow in holiness.  This disciplinary process can be painful.  Branches are cut off, branches that the tree expended effort to grow.  Sometimes those who serve the Church actively see this happen.  Ministries, projects, or pastoral efforts that were fostered with much effort are suddenly cut off for various reasons, and we can question, “Lord, why did this happen?”  This can lead to discouragement, but we must view it as a pruning process and seek to bear fruit in other areas.  F.X. Nguyen van Thuan experienced this when he was imprisoned in solitary confinement for 13 years after having been the Archbishop of Saigon.  It seemed like all his pastoral projects were “cut off,” but God grew a garden of holiness in his soul that continues to bless many through his books and writings.

Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do nothing.
How true this is!  Only what Christ does in us will last; things done through human will and human desires will fade.  Here John articulates what Paul expresses as, “It is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”  For this reason, it makes no sense to cut ourselves off from the sources of communion like prayer, the sacraments, adoration, etc. and expect our lives still to have any kind of eternal significance.  One of the most powerful passages of Pope Francis recent apostolic exhortation on holiness was about this need to “remain in Jesus”:

So let me ask you: Are there moments when you place yourself quietly in the Lord’s presence, when you calmly spend time with him, when you bask in his gaze? Do you let his fire inflame your heart? Unless you let him warm you more and more with his love and tenderness, you will not catch fire. How will you then be able to set the hearts of others on fire by your words and witness? (§151)

"If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you."

This is because, if we remain in Jesus and his words remain in us, we will desire what he desires, and our will will be united to his, such that “whatever we want” will only be his will, and his will will invariably be done.  We enter into a total abandonment to divine providence. 

So how do we know if we are saved?  We can, at least, have confidence that we are in Christ and he in us, when we see tangible signs of the Holy Spirit working in our lives, signs such as those mentioned in our Readings: willingness to be “bold” for Christ, love in “deed and truth” for our brothers and sisters in Christ, and the bearing of “good fruit” (holiness, virtue, good works) for the glory of the Father.