I AM the True Vine

I AM the true vine.

“I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener”.  When Jesus said this to his disciples, he was using everyday life as an example to  help illuminate a teaching.  At the time of Jesus, three crops were produced in abundance; wheat, olive oil and grapes.  What Jesus was about to tell his disciples was groundbreaking, in order for the disciples to understand, he used everyday life to aid his disciples understanding.

 Jesus knew his days were few, the first 8 verses in John 15 was a keynote address, he reminded the eleven of the essential truths, warned them of what was coming and encouraged them to stay strong in their faith.  Ironically, turning water into wine marked his first miracle, this teaching marked the end.

The first five words of this reading; “I am the true vine”, should almost be in capital letters and bold face for their importance.  With these words, Jesus is emphasizing his equality with God.  He is saying this in the same manner that God used when the Father revealed himself to Moses -“I AM”.

“True Vine” is found in numerous passages of the Old Testament. Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Hosea all mention this vine imagery. Here though, the “vine” represented the people of Israel and not a single individual. When the prophets spoke of vine or vineyards, they were telling the people of Israel of the imminent judgement God would bring upon his disobedient people.  John’s Gospel speaks to Jesus not just as the vine, but more importantly as the true vine.  By saying that, Jesus is comparing himself to Israel, which had become unfaithful and in turn had incurred the judgement of God.  Jesus remains faithful and fulfills Israel’s calling to be the vine of God. The first two words “I am”, magnify the importance of this.

Jesus tells us that God the Father is the loving vinedresser. A vinedresser is more than just a farmer. He is a specialist and knows all there is to know about grapes. How they grow, what they need and when they need it.  He has worked his vineyards for decades, knowing them intimately.  Some will be more productive than others and only the vinedresser knows best how to care for them.  In our reading there is only one vine God is to tend and that is Jesus.  For the vinedresser the main part of his work is tending the branches.

The next verse (15:2) “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit”, has always disturbed me. It seemed like a final judgement. But knowing how a vinedresser cares for his grapes and questioning the translation of “takes away”  changes the understanding of this sentence.  The Greek word for takes away, is “aerei”, this word  can be translated in either of two ways.  Takes away or lifts up.  So, which is the correct translation, takes away or lifts up.  Let’s ask a vinedresser.  Grapevines if left unattended will grow along the ground eventually sending little roots into the soil. Fruit will not be produced.  When a vinedresser sees this, he lifts the branch up off the ground and supports it with a trellis or lattice. This way the branch will get its nutrients from the vine’s root system which are deep and not the soil. The result, the branch yields many clusters of grapes.

With this knowledge in mind we realize what God does with unproductive branches.  He doesn’t cut them off and dispose of them. God keeps them and nurtures the unfruitful branches till they do produce fruit.

While Jesus was speaking, the eleven disciples (Judas had left) may have been wondering to themselves if they were fruitful or unfruitful branches.  Their teacher answered this question with this verse; “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you”. Going back to what the vinedresser does, we realize that only fruit bearing branches are cleaned.  The disciples as Jesus has just stated are also clean and will soon produce abundant fruit (as described in Acts).  

This is all well and good for the disciples but what about you and I.  Am I a fruitful or unfruitful branch?  If we are going madly off in all directions that may be an indication that God is lifting us up.  So that we receive life giving nourishment from the vine and not the earth.  On the other hand, we may have found a ministry that we are good at and things just seem to go right. This points to a fruitful branch.   Wether we are a fruitful or unfruitful branch is an ongoing process.  This process requires cleansing from God, and will only be achieved by living in the Word and applying the Word.  Ephesians 5 tells God cleanses us “with the washing of water of the Word”. The key here is to getting as much of His Word into our lives and hearts as possible. 

Simple knowledge of the Word though is not enough.  Listen to what Jesus says next; “Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing”. The word “abide” seems rather important here, it is mentioned 4 times in this verse.  Abide comes from the Greek word meno, which means “abide, remain, live, stay and dwell”. Get the idea? We need to abide, remain, live, stay and dwell in Jesus. 

The Gospel of John is the Gospel of belief.  This Gospel not only tells us to believe in Jesus for eternal life, but also an abundant life. We receive that and continue to receive that in one way. Faith.

It would be easy if all we had to do to abide in Jesus was to believe in him. We have to walk the walk.  We must love one another, be the hands and feet of Jesus, do Gods will and be strong in faith.  We also must realize that none of us can produce any fruit on our own effort. No matter how hard we try.  Not one of us  has and no one ever will.  Only the vine produces fruit. Only Jesus produces the fruit of our lives.  Our role in this is to live in Jesus. Remember, abide, remain, live, stay and dwell.  Jesus will do the rest.

Abiding in Jesus produces the fruit in our lives but not abiding has a result also. Jesus tells us what happens in the next verse; “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned”.  Some of us have thought that the mention of fire here meant being cast to Hell.  Not so.  Whenever fire is mentioned throughout the Bible it usually refers to a judgement.  Wether in this life or afterward. 

Producing fruit or not producing fruit doesn’t come into play here. What is important though is abiding in Christ. The vinedresser-God, blesses us with tender care so that  as branches of Christ we produce fruit.  When we do not abide or live in Christ, we wither up spiritually. No longer able to produce any fruit. When this does happen in our lives we need to renew our fellowship with God, Jesus and our church.  We return to the Vine. Jesus.

Oftentimes when reading a verse in the Bible we come away confused or come away with an entirely different understanding then was intended. Often one word can change the meaning of the passage.This verse is no exception. “And they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned”. Throughout this reading, Jesus refers to himself with “I” or “me”, he refers to God as “he” and he refers to his disciples and other Christians as “you”. So who is “they”?  It is not God, it is not Jesus. “They” is the world. When we do not abide in Jesus the only alternative is “they”, the world. And the fruit of the world is never as good as the fruit of the true vine.

Alternatively, when we abide in Christ, we flourish, we grow, we are productive.  In this passage Jesus was talking to his disciples. He saw them and they saw him. Jesus was physically present. Jesus is not physically present to us as he was to the disciples, but his words are. The words he spoke to the disciples abide in all of us. They enable us to flourish and grow. Anything we ask God it shall be done for us.  The vinedresser knows everything there is to know about his grapes.  He wants the absolute best for them. God is that way with us.  When the grapes flourish the vinedresser is well pleased. When you and I flourish, when we bear much fruit, God is glorified.