Sunday May 10 John 15:1-8

Greetings, our text this week is from John. Jesus is in the upper room with his disciples having a meal and giving them final teachings about how the world will perceive them. They will become the New Israel after his death. He is comforting them and telling them he won’t leave them alone, but will send them help in the form of the Holy Spirit. In these verses he is describing how they are to be in unity with him as they go out into the world. After this, on that same evening, he is arrested and will be crucified the next morning.

V1 Jesus gives his seventh “I am” statement in this verse. He says he is the vine and his father is the vine grower. In the Old Testament Israel is referred to as God’s vine or God’s vineyard. God has nurtured it with great care. In Hosea 10:1, Isaiah 5: 1-7 and Ezekiel 17:5-10 the vineyard produced only bitter fruit. Jesus now says he is the vine, the new Israel. The vine also represented divine wisdom in Sirach 24:17-18. The rabbis taught that the first thing God created was wisdom; He then consulted Torah on how to create everything else. Their focus of study was Torah, but the prophets were telling them their interpretation was wrong. In Proverbs 8:22 wisdom becomes a person. Wisdom, not Torah is to be their focus and wisdom is now a life, in Jesus. The Rabbis studied and upheld the words of God (Torah) but missed the relationship with God. They excluded many people, by their law keeping, instead of gathering all people into a relationship with God.

V2 His Father will remove every branch attached to him that doesn’t produce fruit. By pruning the vine, new fruit bearing vines are allowed to grow. In the Old Testament God threatened to uproot the unproductive vine. Jesus, the New Israel, will not be uprooted but God will remove the unproductive branches.

V3 They have been cleansed (pruned) by the words Jesus has told them. Their obedience reflects a salvation that God has brought about.

V4 We are to be attached to Jesus. If we are attached we are to read, hear, ponder and heed Jesus’ words in all that we do. Attending church once a week and then thinking we have fulfilled our obligation to God, and Jesus, is not what this means. We need to carry the teachings of Jesus into the community the rest of the week. We don’t do this verbally by preaching to all that we meet, as that can be offensive to some, but rather by living out his teachings with others. Demonstrating love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness as we walk daily through life is to be abiding in Jesus.

V5 We are linked to a vine and therefore whatever fruit we produce is not our doing but Jesus’ doing through us.

V6 Whoever is not attached to him and bearing fruit will be cut off and discarded, the pruning process. These are challenging words. Our fruit is not to be determined by worldly opinion but by the teaching of Jesus.

V7 “What ever we wish” is not the things we desire; but to do the things Jesus desires through us. If we, Jesus and I, are in unity I will ask him for what he wants me to do, not what I want.

V8 By bearing much fruit; we become disciples, point to God and in that fruit He is glorified. We may not have worldly approval but will have God’s approval, which is what ultimately matters.

This teaching is difficult to many as it requires a change in the way we live. It is hard to not become angry with people when we perceive they have offended us or confronted us.
We love to keep rules as the rabbis did and point out everyone’s infractions to them. We think we can change people by pointing out their wrong doing but don’t enter into a relationship with them. We then walk away feeling good as we have shown each person their own faults so they can work on them. If you have ever pulled a wild grapevine out of a tree you know how difficult to impossible it can be. There have been times that I have yanked and tugged on the vine only to pull a small piece of it down. I have even swung on the vine in an attempt to get it down. At our house we have wild grapevine growing everywhere. That is the symbolism as to how we are to be in loving community with each other. The tree is different then the grapevine but the vine still grows and entangles the tree in relationship, it doesn’t preach to the tree to become a grapevine. If left to its own devices the grapevine will eventually encompass the tree and all that can be seen is grapevine, they are in unity without either one becoming the other.