John 15.1-10 (NRSV)
Jesus the True Vine
15‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the
vine-grower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no
fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more
fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word
that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me as I
abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides
in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them
bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers;
such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you
wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and
become my disciples. 9As the Father has
loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have
kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
In
many different places in the Old Testament, Israel is referred to a the vine or
the vineyard, especially in the teachings of the prophets – Isaiah 5:1-7,
Jeremiah 2:21, Ezekiel 15 and 19, Hosea 10:1, Psalm 80:8 – to cite some of the
examples provided by Barclay. The vine had, by the time of Jesus, become the
symbol of the nation of Israel: It was an emblem on the coins of the Macabees;
one of the glories of the new Temple was the great golden vine upon the front
of the Holy Place and many a wealthy person counted it an honour to give gold
to mould a new bunch of grapes or even just a grape! By time of Jesus, ‘… the
vine was part and parcel of Jewish imagery, the very symbol of Israel.’
When
one explores the use of the vine in the imagery of the prophets, Barclay
reminds us that it is always used in association with ‘degeneration’: Isaiah
makes the point that the vineyard has run wild; Jeremiah complains that the
nation has turned into degenerate and has become a wild vine.
Jesus
calls himself the ‘… true vine …’ For many of the Jews, this would have been
outrageous, a mere man claiming to be God! It is as if Jesus was saying:
You think that because you belong to the nation
of Israel you are a branch of the true vine of God … But the nation has become
degenerate and the prophets had tried to point this out. The fact that you are
a Jew does not in itself make you into a child of God, the only thing that can
save you is to have an intimate relationship with me, for I am the true vine of
God and you must be branches joined to me.
Either
Jesus was the most arrogant person ever to have lived, or he was who he claimed
to be – the Messiah of God - and everything about him points to the latter.
Barclay concludes:
“Jesus
was laying down that it was not Jewish blood but faith in him was the way to
God’s salvation. No external qualification can set a man right with God; only
the friendship of Jesus can do that.”
The writers of
the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) were like Rembrandt, giving as
true a picture as they could of the life and ministry of Jesus; John is like
Picasso, an impressionist, because dealing with all this plunges us into the
depths of mystery which cannot be spoken of in any other way other than analogy
/ metaphor / allegory. Indeed, Jesus often taught in this way, so it is
difficult for me to see how anyone can take all Scripture literally.
In this case we
have Jesus employing a metaphor that the people he was speaking to would easily
have recognised. Vines were part of their lives. They required a great deal of
work and preparation if they were to be fruitful; but if all this was in place,
they would provide a rich harvest. The preparation included the soil as well as
the plants, and there was no place for hurrying things along; a new plant could
not be harvested for at least three years.
Part of this
process involved pruning – getting rid of anything that was not going to
produce. This was a radical process that resulted in a large amount of dead
wood. This was useless and could only be burnt on a bonfire – it was not even
permissible to be used as wood for any other purpose – and definitely not for
use in the Temple.
People can be
like this: some are fruit-bearing and others are useless because they are
fruitless. Barclay reminds us that there were three groups that Jesus was
referring to:
Firstly, he was
thinking of some of the Jews of his day. They were indeed branches of God’s
vine. But, prophet after prophet had drawn their attention to their
fruitlessness, but they had refused to listen in fact they had refused to
accept many of them.
Secondly, he was
thinking of some Christians, those whose Christianity consists of profession
without practice – words without deeds – or as Barclay puts it “… all leaves
without fruit …”
Thirdly, he was
thinking of Christians who leave the faith (apostates); those who hear the
message and accept it but then turn away.
But even the
fruitful branches need pruning, which can be painful, but we ought to rejoice,
because it means that we are being made into the people God’s wants us to be
“Uselessness
invites disaster.” God invites us to be useful for him and for each other. But
not in the way the world thinks. I have known of bedridden people who have been
useful for their Lord, and one particular person springs to mind. Her name was
Cath Asterley and she is now in a care home with dementia. She has longed to be
with the Lord in glory since I last saw her in 2000 when she was already house
bound. But she was fervent in prayer, with a telephone next to her for contact
with others. And she blessed many, many people. Her whole life was so soaked in
prayer that I am convinced that even though her brain was eventually gone, her
mind was with the Lord and her prayers continued and blessing abounded as a
result. This reminds me of the time when I used to take Holy Communion to
people in a care home for people with dementia. When I arrived, my congregation
was gathered, none of them knew whether they were male or female, human or
animal even. But they joined in – word perfect – with the words of the Lord’s
Prayer and followed the words “This is my body given for you” with a resounding
“Amen!” They blessed me each time and encouraged me no end.
How do we know
if we are abiding in our Lord: when we
keep his commandments, when we live in love for God and we show this by the way
we treat one another with love. This is very practical and is explained in 1
Corinthians 13 and it is useful that we are reminded of the standard. Perhaps
some of us are in need of some pruning – I know I certainly am – as I so often
fall at the first hurdle! Floyd Filson expands on this thought:
The Father intelligently uses discipline to make possible greater
fruitfulness for his service. (vs2) The teaching of Jesus has cleansed or
pruned the disciples so that they may be steadily fruitful (vs 3). By their own
will and action they must abide in him (vs 4). ... If the disciples do abide in
him by steady, grateful faith and by faithful doing of his will, they will
No comments:
Post a Comment