John 15:1-6 The True Vine

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vineyard keeper. Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me. (John 15:1-6) In John 15:1, Jesus says, I am the true vine, and My Father is the vineyard keeper. I believe that Jesus had several meanings in mind when he made this statement, and in order for us to understand it fully, it will be helpful to look at the history and culture of the people of Israel, especially when it comes to grape vines. First, we need to understand that when he uses this word picture, he means a particular kind of vine in fact, a grape vine. Throughout the Old testament, particularly, among the books of the prophets, the grape vine is used as a symbol for the people of Israel. Ezekiel (17; 19:10-14), Jeremiah (2:21), Hosea (10:1), and the Psalms (Psalm 80) among others all offer word-pictures that describe the people of Israel as a grape-vine that God planted, but one that has not fulfilled its purpose. Isaiah, in chapter 5:1-7, sings a song of the Vineyard. The little story is summed up like this: The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel; and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress. (Isaiah 5:7) The point of it is, God wanted his people (the grapevine) to bring forth fruit like justice and righteousness, but with Israel, it never happened. However, Jesus, in John 15:1, is claiming to fulfill the original purpose of the people of Israel: to bring forth true fruit like justice and righteousness. He is the true vine, and from him come these fruits.Romans 3:9-26, shows us that justice and righteousness come through Jesus Christ. But now, apart from the law, Gods righteousness has been revealed attested by the Law and the Prophets that is, Gods righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe, since there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His

righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. He presented Him to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus. Basically, in this passage, Paul says that because we are all unfair, and unrighteous, God would have to be also unfair and unrighteous if he left us unpunished. But Jesus took the punishment for us, allowing us to borrow (so to speak) His righteousness, even as He took our sins on Him. Jesus death allowed justice to prevail as well: all of our sins have been justly punished payment has been made in full. True righteous and justice only come through Jesus. In that respect, He is the fulfillment of the prophecies about the Vine. He means for us to understand that, when He says, I am the true Vine. Spiritually speaking, Jesus first disciples would have regarded themselves as belonging to Gods people Israel. All of the promises of the Old Testament applied to them because they were in Israel that is, they were Jewish people. If Israel was the vine, then they were in the vine. Now, Jesus is saying, I am vine. The important thing, spiritually, is no longer to be included in Israel but rather to be included in Jesus. As we have seen before, this happens only by making a leap of faith putting our trust in Jesus.When Jesus says, I am the true vine, He means for us to understand something else also: First that there are others who will claim to have the same kind of significance as Himself, and second, that these others are false vines. Earlier, in Chapter 14:6, He said I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Peace, joy, fulfillment, eternal life and the other blessings promised by the Bible come only through connection to Jesus, the true vine. Connection to another vine (religion, philosophy, or person) does us harm, not good. Only in connection with Jesus are the promises of God fulfilled. So Jesus is saying, not only is He the Vine, but He is the one true Vine. Jesus expands this picture to include God the Father, and also to include us. He says to his disciples (those who have put their trust in him) I am the vine, you are the branches. And he also says my Father is the gardener. Through all this, Jesus is giving us a metaphor of our relationship with Him. We will spend the next several weeks unpacking the meaning of Jesus words in this chapter. For now, I want to point out these general applications: If Jesus is the vine, and those who trust him are the branches that grow out of the vine, and the Father is the vine-tender, then we who trust Jesus are surrounded by Gods life and care. This means something quite astounding:

Our spiritual life, our zoe life1 comes entirely from the Lord, and not only the beginning of it, but also the ongoing results of it, are His responsibility. A branch doesnt tend itself the gardener does that. A branch doesnt produce fruit apart from the main trunk. Yes, the branch must absorb sunlight, but even this is a passive activity. It is the vine which provides the life to produce fruit. It is the gardener who makes sure the branches get enough sunlight. I dont mean by this that Christians should be passive and apathetic but I do mean that our ongoing life with Jesus is as completely based upon grace as our salvation was. You see, sometimes we get the idea that we are saved by grace, but now we live the Christian life based upon our own effort. But this picture of Vinebranches-gardener shows us that even our ongoing life, our production for Jesus, comes from Him, and out of his grace, rather than our own great striving. The vine and the gardener are ultimately responsible to provide the branch what it needs for health, growth and fruitfulness. The branch does not need to take care of itself. The fruitfulness of the branch comes not from its own separate efforts, but simply as the branch submits to, and responds to the care of the gardener and the nourishment of the vine. Our main job, as branches is to receive, submit to, and welcome in faith, what God wants to do in us and through us. Grape branches do not exist apart from a grape vine. If they once were a part of the vine, they cease to live when removed. In the same way, Christians do not exist apart from Christ. If we are not in him, the true vine, we cannot claim to have anything to do with producing His fruit. Everything we do in connection with him is his fruit, even if it seems like meaningless labor. On the other hand nothing we do apart him even if it seems like something great and loving counts as fruit from the One True Vine. The character of the vine is imparted to the branches. To put it another way, the branch of a grape vine does not produce pears it produces grapes, because it has the properties and characteristics of the vine in which it grows. In the same way, over time, Jesus imparts his character to us. The fruit we produce comes ultimately from him, and so it reflects something of who He is.Finally, the purpose of the branch is to be an extension of the vine to fulfill the vines purpose of bearing fruit. The branch exists for the vine, not vice versa.All of this is tremendously comforting to me. I dont have to produce my fruit (it would probably be sour and foul-smelling anyway) I simply need to allow Jesus the Vine and the Father, the gardener to work on me and through me. I can relax a little bit. At the same time, relaxing does not mean I am free to pursue my own agenda it means I submit to the life

and purpose of Jesus, the Vine. My main job is simply to remain (old time translations said abide) in Jesus. We will be talking more in the coming weeks about what that means.