[Jesus said] I am the true vine, and my Father is the
vinegrower. 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.
(John 15:1-8)
In the 5th week of Easter we
encounter yet another of the famous "I am" statements of Jesus so
prevalent in John's gospel. Before we take a wide-angle view, this is the sort
of reading that can benefit from a slow-motion phrase-by-phrase approach.
Vs 1 I am the true (alethinos)
vine... Greek, like Latin and
English has levels of 'truth.' There is truth, as in, a statement containing no
lies; and there is also truth in the sense of being the one genuine in a sea of
counterfeits. The Greek alethinos carries
the latter 'one genuine' meaning. Whatever else the statement means on Jesus'
lips, he is saying that he is the one genuine "vine" when measured against
all other possibilities.
I suppose the next most pressing
question would be to what is Jesus comparing himself? If he is the true/alethinos vine, what is/are the false
vine(s)? As some of the older commentators point out, the statement occurs
after the last meal when they would've drank from the fruit of the vine. So perhaps Jesus is just using a metaphor based
on nature. This could be a valid statement, though not carrying much
theological weight. Others mention that Israel had always used 'vine imagery'
as part of its national identity. Coinage minted during the Maccabean era
(Israel's last gasp at independence), for instance, had a vine on it. In this
sense Jesus could be saying he is the true
vine/true Israel. This is a truth that we see most fully expressed in
Matthew's gospel where at every turn Jesus is the 'faithful son.' He is called out of Egypt (Mt 2:15) but he
does not fail his wilderness test, etc.
And as Barclay points out: One of the glories of the Temple was
the great golden vine upon the front of the Holy Place. Many a great man had
counted it an honour to give gold to mould a new bunch of grapes or even a new
grape on to that vine. The vine was part and parcel of Jewish imagery, and the
very symbol of Israel. In short, that huge golden vine was
symbolic of the Temple. Hence, Jesus could be identifying HIMSELF as the true vine/true temple; the true place
where God is present with humanity (Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up, Jn 2:19). This last option is especially interesting to
consider when we take into account the point that John wrote his gospel for a
worshiping community mixed with believing Jews and Gentile converts in a
post-Temple world (the Temple was destroyed in 70AD). While emergent rabbinic Judaism was
scrambling to try to re-define the religion around the synagogue and Torah, the
community of Jesus was trying to re-define the religion around worship of HIM.
He is the true/alethinos vine in comparison to all others.
Vss
2-3, the pruning of the Father. The
word translated as 'prune' is katharos. It's
where we get our word catharsis (a
purifying release) from. Hence, the KJV version of the text reads: every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth. The picture that
Jesus is painting is very organic. Branches (believers) attached to the Vine
(Jesus) are a good thing; being so attached causes a joyous outcome of fruit
production which, in turn, enlists the loving attention of the Father/gardener
to prune/purge the branches (believers) so as to be able to produce more. It is
a sad thing to me that this is so easily thought of in negative terms: pruning
= pain, bearing fruit = hard work. Think of how good it feels and how
energizing it is when the student takes off a heavy backpack; think of how much
better you feel and how much more energy you have if/when you drop that 10 or
20 pounds you've been struggling to lose. Within the metaphor, being pruned is
a happy/freeing/energizing/liberating experience for the fruit-bearing branch.
Vs
5 apart from me you can do nothing. In
approaching this statement, we have to remember the context. Jesus is not
saying that atheists are incapable of doing anything.
They can tie their shoes, they can get groceries, they can do great works
of civic good. In the Greek the verb form of dunamis is used. As I've often pointed out, this is where we get
our word 'dynamite.' The point Jesus is making is that the self-contained POWER
to make things happen in terms of fruit-bearing is not something that we come
by naturally; we need to be attached to him.
In
closing, there are a lot of other remarks I could make.... but as these Sundays
of Easter are about exploring the meaning of the baptized life at ground level,
it's worth pointing out that this Sunday's emphasis is all about fruit-bearing;
and staying 'plugged in' to the creative source of power that enables
fruit-bearing. This is the circle-logic that we see so often in John's gospel.
If you're bearing fruit, you must be
abiding in Him. If you're not abiding in him, then whatever you think
that stuff is that you're bearing, it ain't
fruit. On the other hand, if you're abiding
in him, there WILL be fruit; there
is no such thing as a fruitless-abiding-in-Jesus believer. In my Air Force
days, now and then I'd encounter a page in a technical manual that would
contain only the words: this page left
intentionally blank. The page was only a place-holder. John completely
rules out the possibility of being a place-holder, intentionally blank,
Christian.
Cheers,
T.M.
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