The True Vine
John 15: 1-17
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."
(John 15:1-2)
Jesus often used images and stories to teach important lessons to His disciples. He used examples from nature, agriculture, social situations and political life to help His hearers better visualize and comprehend His teachings. In the above passage He refers to Himself as the Vine and to His followers as the branches. The image of the vineyard would have been familiar to the people gathering around Jesus. Tending vineyards may have been the occupation of many of them. We, too, can understand that if a branch is not connected to the trunk of the tree, it will not survive.
Though this fact of nature makes sense to us, often we think we can survive without fellowship with Him or with one another. God created us to be a community of people, to be families, to be in friendships with each other. And we desperately need the Vine to help us survive and grow. Without Him we cannot bear fruit and will simply wither away. Let's grow in Him, our true Vine and righteous Branch (see Jeremiah 33:15).
INSIGHT
Stay connected to the life-giving Vine, planted in the fertile soil of the Word, watered by the Holy Spirit, growing as God desires.
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Isaiah 29-30
Psalm 85
Acts 7
John 15: 1-17
The Vine and the Branches
1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
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