We’ve been pinching the rogue shoots off our 12-year-old grape vine in Spring, decluttering the bunches of grapes during the growing season, and hard pruning our vine’s branches each autumn, to foster better growth in the coming season.

John 15:1-8 “Jesus the True Vine”

Rev. Justine Tremewan’s Sermon 10am Lifestreams Service on Sunday May 02, 2021

Aotearoa-NZ has a climate that is conducive to grape growing. Those of us who live in the South Island only need to drive through the Nelson, Marlborough, North Canterbury, Wanaka, Cromwell, or Queenstown districts to know what I’m talking about… and those of us who have home gardens often nurture our own grape vines with the expectation of enjoying their fruit in due course. We’ve been pinching the rogue shoots off our 12-year-old grape vine in Spring, decluttering the bunches of grapes during the growing season, and hard pruning our vine’s branches each autumn, to foster better growth in the coming season. It’s such a joy when the vine’s branches produce much fruit. This season we have been able to share bowls of big juicy black grapes with family, friends, and a new neighbour… which brings us to this morning’s gospel passage.

John 15:1-8 which is all about Jesus who is the “true vine” (Jn. 15:1) belongs to the wider literary section of John 12-17, Jesus’ farewell address to his first disciples just prior to his death, for our sakes (Jn. 12-17). Within this section Jesus promises that past and present disciples will not be left alone or abandoned. Rather, we who are followers of Jesus can be confident of our Lord’s continuing presence with us in the world, for the writer of John’s Gospel understands life and salvation not as some distant or ‘heavenly’ hope, but as the promise of an abundant life ‘here and now’ through the Spirit of the resurrected and living Lord.

As you listened to the reading of our Gospel passage today you may have noticed that it begins with an “I AM” saying… in fact, it contains the final “I AM” sayings in the Gospel (vs. 1 , 5). Jesus said: “I am the true vine” (Jn. 15:1a), and his words remind us of God’s burning-bush-call to Moses to lead God’s people out of Egypt. We learn from Exodus 3:14 that God said to Moses: “I AM who I AM”… and interestingly, there are seven “I AM” statements in Isaiah (Isa. 41:4; 43:10, 13, 25; 46:4; 48:12 and Isa. 52:12)… and seven “I AM” sayings in John’s Gospel (seven being the number of completeness, or perfection). They are descriptions of Jesus… (1) The Bread of life (6:35); (2) The Light of the world (8:12; 9:5); (3) The Gate (10:7); (4) The Good Shepherd (10:11,14); (5) The Resurrection and life (11:25); (6) The way, the truth, and the life (14:6), and (7) The true vine (15:1).

Within Jewish tradition, the vine was a picture of Israel. God brought Israel, the vine, out of Egypt, and planted her in the promised land (Ps. 80:8-18). Psalm 80:8-9 says:

You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land (Ps. 80:8-9, NRSV).

Isaiah 27:2-3 also speaks of this vineyard that the Lord watched over: On that day: A pleasant vineyard, sing about it! I, the Lord, am its keeper; every moment I water it. I guard it night and day so that no one can harm it… (Isa. 27:2-3, NRSV).

Even so Isaiah, speaking on God’s behalf, said that the vineyard of Israel eventually bore wild grapes instead of proper ones… and I read from “The Song of the Vineyard”, that is, Isaiah 5:1-2, Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes (Isa. 5:1-2, NRSV).

Other prophets, like Ezekiel, painted a similar picture.

One needs to know the Hebrew Scriptures to understand the radicalness of what Jesus said about being the “true vine” (Jn. 15:1). That Jesus is the true vine has to do with his relationship to the Father and what it reveals about the Father’s love. All that the Father is and does is now seen in this Jesus who is both the “Word become flesh” and the one whom God raised from the dead. Everything that the Father does, including his work of pruning and cleansing the branches, is tempered, and understood through the ‘word’ that Jesus is and has spoken to his disciples (Jn. 15:3). Jesus’ followers are members of God’s true people if they/we belong to him and remain ‘in’ him. The picture of the ‘vine’ isn’t just a clever illustration from horticulture, or gardening. It’s about who Jesus is, and who we his people really are, and what’s now going to happen to us as a result.

Though it always hurts, we must be ready for the Father’s pruning knife. God is glorified when we bear good quality fruit, and lots of it. For that to happen, there will be extra growth that needs cutting away, like our pruning of those rogue runners in the Spring. That, too, is an intimate process. The vinedresser is never closer to the vine, taking more thought over its long-term health and productivity, than when he has the knife in his hand… and the promise of “abiding” in Jesus is not for its own sake, nor an end in itself. Jesus imagines and promises a dynamic and changing life for the disciple community. The vine’s branches that have withered and died are removed. Branches are pruned and cleansed.

The promise of God’s abiding presence in Jesus has been anticipated already in Jesus’ words in John 14:1-6, a passage that’s frequently used at funerals, which often disguises its intent of giving assurance for life in the present. Jesus speaks of “dwelling places” (the Greek word mone is from the same root as meno, abide) in the Father’s house prepared for those who believe. But use of “dwelling places” in John 14:23, together with Jesus’ promise to “come again” and “take” disciples to himself, makes clear that this image is not primarily about our going to ‘heaven’. Rather, it confirms Jesus’ promise to come and be with his followers after his resurrection:

Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them (Jn. 14:23, NRSV).

In the imagery of the vine and branches, this “dwelling place” or “home” is now developed in the beautiful imagery of the intimate relationship of the Father, Jesus, and Jesus’ followers. Just as the “you” in the passage is always plural, so the intimate relationship of “abiding” bind together Father, Son, and the community of believers in a way that challenges our culture that would often prefer to imagine or even to keep God at a distance. Because the Father has raised Jesus from the dead, this ‘Word of God’ who has become “flesh” among us (Jn. 1:1,14), has an abiding and lasting presence as he continues to dwell among us.

So, if we’re to “bear much fruit” (Jn. 15:5), we must “abide” in Jesus (Jn. 15:5-6). We’ve just discussed the meaning of “abide”… so now let’s look at what it may mean to “bear much fruit” (Jn. 15:5). If we go back to the beginning of Jesus’ farewell discourse (Jn. 13) we find that at the Last Supper Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment:

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (Jn. 13:34-35, NRSV).

And, in the passage that follows our Gospel passage for today, John 15:9-14, Jesus also speaks of love – sacrificial love (Jn. 15:9-14).

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… This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you (Jn. 15:9-14, NRSV).

So, we’re to “love” (Jn. 13:24-25; 15:9-13) other disciples and in fact all people… and we know from Galatians 5:22-23 that “love” is one fruit of the Spirit:

… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23, NRSV).

… and the qualities of “love” are explained in 1 Corinthians 13:

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends… (1 Cor. 13:4-8a, NRSV).

So, if we “abide” or remain in Jesus we’ll bear the fruit of “love” and all the other fruit of the Spirit… that’s if we walk in the power of the Spirit and NOT in the power of our own flesh! But conversely if we don’t remain in Jesus we will be:

… thrown away like a branch that withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned (Jn. 15:6, NRSV).

The choice is ours! The urgent question then is this: How do we “abide” or “remain” in him? What does it look like in practice? Well, we’re invited to continue as people of prayer and worship in our own intimate, private lives… and we’re invited to remain in the community-of-faith that knows, loves, and celebrates Jesus as its Lord. There’s no such thing as a solitary Christian. We can’t go it alone!

At the close of today’s passage there is an extraordinary promise about prayer, for Jesus said: If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you (Jn. 15:7, NRSV).

If we have had our hearts and minds renewed by the presence of God’s Spirit (Rom. 12:1-2) then this promise of Scripture, which is conditional upon our “abiding,” is here for us to claim when we pray. You see, God wants to have an intimate relationship with us. God wants to guide and direct our lives, every aspect of our lives, and God does this as we yield our lives to him/God and learn to walk in the power of the Spirit, that we may display the fruit of the Spirit, including “love.” We do this when we choose to live a balanced Christian life: worshipping; studying God’s word; enjoying friendship with other Christians; and serving both in our community-of-faith and in the world. Then, when we pray we are more likely to do so ‘in the Spirit’ and therefore God is pleased to answer our prayers. In this way God is glorified, in this way we bear much fruit, in this way we become a blessing to the world, and in this way God’s kingdom comes “on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt. 6:10b) – Amen!

Rev. Justine Tremewan - 02.05.21