Wednesday, November 11 –
It’s
mid-week in our reading thru the New Testament.
Today we continue in John’s Gospel, reading John 15:1 – 25. After you finish your reading, please come
back and we’ll take a second look.
Jesus has left the Upper Room (14:31), and they begin to walk toward the Garden
of Gethsemane. Walking out of Jerusalem’s
small streets they had to walk past the Temple to get the path outside. I believe Jesus took them past the
Temple. Why? Because of the conversation that now follows.
“I
am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me
that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit
he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of
the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can
you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever
abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me
you can do nothing” (15:1-5).
Jesus uses
this imagery as a follow-up to the conversation in the Upper Room. He had told them he was going away, but he
was not abandoning them (“I will not leave you as orphans” 14:18). Instead, the Father would send them the Spirit
– “another helper like Jesus”. As
Jesus passed the Temple, they all would have seen the entrance to the Holy Place. As they walked, Jesus spoke to them of
something that was visible – the twin columns that stood at the entrance to the
Holy Place. Those two columns were draped in Vines – alluding to the Old Testament’s description of Israel as “God’s
vineyard”.
Jesus
is “the true Vine and the Father is the Vineyard owner” (Vinedresser in ESV,
and Gardener in NIV). When Jesus refers to being the “true vine”, he is
speaking of two things. First, the “true”
part of it refers to Jesus taking the place of the Temple – the Jewish
religious system. Second, the “Vine” part
of it refers to the rootstock that forms the support system for the vines to grow
and produce. He uses the last of his “I
AM” (ego eimi) statements to make the point. He is the main source of all that the disciples
– and the church that will later come from him - will need. The primary issue is that they, even us, need
Jesus – not only for salvation but for our life ahead. The branches bear fruit, or the Vineyard
owner (vinedresser, gardener) prunes the branch to get it to grow. It is in “abiding” – i.e., staying connected
to the Vine, Jesus, that keeps life flowing, and to be apart from him means
nothing good will happen.
This
is not about earning salvation, or even keeping our salvation (vs 3, “you
are already clean”). The imagery is
about how God is at work in Jesus and how this is meant to keep on producing His
life in us also. When the vine is firmly
connected, life flows from the root to the branches. The verse that follows is not difficult to
understand if one remembers this is for believers, not unbelievers.
“I
am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is
that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone
does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the
branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned” (15:5-6).
The Vineyard owner
doesn’t indiscriminately cut off branches and throw them out when they don’t
produce. He cuts off the dead part and
winds the part that is still connected to the main vine that growth might reappear. That which is cut off is unnecessary and will
not lead to growth. Pruning can sometimes
look like you’ve killed the tree or the vine.
Pruning back 75% of the branches is not unusual. As believers, God has placed us in the vine,
and we must abide in Christ – stay connected to him – that growth might
occur. Two more reasons why follow:
“If
you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will
be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit
and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I
loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide
in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that
your joy may be full” (15:7-11).
First,
it is His word that he wants to abide in us.
When his words remain in us, our prayers are centered around His desires
and not our own. Secondly, it is for God’s
glory that we live out our lives connected to Christ Jesus. We are changed by the love of God for us, and
it is that love, coming from Jesus, that makes it possible to lovingly obey
Christ’s commandments. All of these are
like spokes of a wheel where Jesus is the hub – obedience, loving, keeping
commandments, living for God’s glory, and experiencing his Joy – they are all
connected in symmetry. Christian Joy is a
confidence and contentment in God’s grace flowing in and through our very being
at all times, and in all circumstances. The focus shifts from Jesus in relation
to them/us, to the disciples/us, becoming a community instead of just spiritual
individuals.
“This
is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater
love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I
call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but
I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made
known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you
that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that
whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These
things I command you, so that you will love one another” (15:12-17).
He
makes it clear, we are not mere servants, but friends. Jesus is our friend, and since he is a friend
of all believers, how we treat other believers makes all the difference in the world. Our relationship with Christ is a reciprocal
one – he chose us, and we are appointed by him to go into a world to bear His
fruit. The foundation of all of this is “love”. Christ’s love is sacrificial love – “greater
love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends”. Obeying Christ, living as a friend, loving those
who God has put into his family alongside us – this is the way his
commandments are lived out in faithfulness.
The
conversation moves as they walk along. In front of the Temple, they saw the symbolic
picture of God as the Vineyard owner, and Israel was the Vineyard. Yet, the Jewish religion rejected
Jesus – the True Vine – and as Jesus instructs, he reminds them that they must
hang on to his words, and love each other – be a community of friends who live
and work together for the good of God.
Yet, be aware, just as the Jews (and Gentiles) rejected Jesus, so also
the Jews and Romans will reject them.
“If
the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If
you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are
not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates
you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than
his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept
my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to
you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I
had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but
now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father
also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they
would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my
Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled:
‘They hated me without a cause.’” (15:18-25).
“The
world” is not the
planet, but the person who does not know God, nor desire to, and thus cannot
understand either why Jesus came, or what their need is. The world represents humanity’s sinful,
fallen nature. Jesus came to redeem the
world for those who would receive him (John 3:16-17; 12:47), but was rejected
by the world (3:18; 12:48). Christ Jesus
became our Shepherd, who knows us by name and called us to himself (John 10:14). Before Christ comes into a person’s life to
be both Savior and Lord, there is a vast distance in knowing who God is, and also,
who we are. The world contains the
allusions of spirituality, but without the substance – the way, truth, life is only
in Jesus. The world system includes religion
– a belief that one needs to earn their way to heaven, or that everyone is ok
and there are many ways to heaven. If
you don’t think this is is true, walk on a college campus, step into a factory,
or boardroom, talk to your neighbors, or listen to a politician – it will
become clear.
Therefore,
what do we do? Hate the world that hates
us? Absolutely not! We are called to be Christ’s servants and
obey his commandments. Our lives are
different because of who we are serving.
We are called to love those who do not know and show them (if you have
to with words) the Joy of knowing Christ Jesus.
In the end, Jesus reminds us we cannot do this in the energy of our own
flesh – it’s impossible. The connecting, abiding in Jesus, is necessary to love
with the hope that those who do not know will see Christ in us. How do
we do it? We return to the promise of the
Holy Spirit to lead our way:
“But
when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of
truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And
you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning” (15:26-27).
In the
face of being misunderstood even disliked for being committed to Jesus, the
Spirit comes alongside to remind us that our witness is not in vain. Many a new believer has come to Christ from
their hatred of Christianity. We “abide”
in staying connected to Christ Jesus, as Lord.
We pray, speak, and worship, always for the glory of God, and in loving
obedience to Christ Jesus, and we watch as the Holy Spirit makes it real.
Peace
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