" I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. 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. You are pruned by means of the word I have spoken to you. 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. 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
Why does Jesus refer to Himself as the true vine?
In Canada, we do not have a lot of experience with grape vines, vineyards, and the art of growing grapes. But in Israel, everyone is familiar with the agriculture of growing grapes. This is true today as well as in New and Old Testament times. In fact, we can find many references in these ancient scriptures that speak of vines, pruning and grapes. Isaiah spoke of the people of Israel as being the vineyard of the Lord. Jeremiah said that God had planted Israel as His choice vine. And when Israel as a nation went through a time of disintegration, it was described by the prophets as a degenerate and wild vine yielding sour grapes.
When Jesus began to use the imagery of the vine, He was drawing on imagery that His listeners could immediately understand. They would know that in order for a vine to produce an abundance of grapes, a skilled vine dresser would have to remove all those branches that were not fruit-bearing so that the growth of the plant would be concentrated on the healthy branches that would bare good fruit. Jesus, very skillfully, takes what is familiar as imagery for His spiritual teaching.
In his teaching, God is symbolically the vine dresser and Jesus Himself is the vine representing Israel at its best. Why? Because He has been properly prepared by the Father. As a result of this preparing or pruning, the fruits of God's Kingdom are made possible and visible through Him. Jesus is the True Vine, the "I AM" of the Father.
His instructions to the disciples and to us: "You are pruned by means of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you." Along with Jesus, we also are the vine, and often a vine in need pruning as Jesus Himself was pruned. How are we pruned? By means of His word, the Gospel. We follow the Master who has gone before us and prepared a way for us. If we remain connected to the True Vine, Christ, we also become part of that vine, the "I Am" of the Father. We become agents of Christ to reveal to the world the splendor of God's Kingdom in the here and now. But cut off from the True Vine, the I AM of the Father, we can do nothing.
In order to become the "I Am" of the Father, what are the dead or defective branches that need to be pruned. First we have to be pruned of the excess noise in our lives so that we may learn to listen. Everything else is described in the Gospels. Read the temptations Jesus experienced while in the dessert often referred to as the world, the flesh, and the evil one. They are fleshed out in the parable stories of the person who built his house on sand, the Good Samaritan, the man who used his life to build new barns to hold more and more possessions, Lazarus and the rich man, and many others.
What are the signs or the fruit of remaining connected to the True Vine? St. Paul makes this clear in his letter to the Galatians: "Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control." These are the qualities we exhibit as we remain connected to the vine. As expressed in Ephesians, "We become God's work of art, created in Christ Jesus, to live the good live, as from the beginning, He intended us to live it."
The fruit of the Spirit bears witness to who we are before God, and gives glory to God who is all around us, with us, in us; a part of our everyday experience.
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