I AM: the Vine

In my opinion, this passage is one of the most beautiful passages in the bible. The image is again one of oneness with Christ. It is a picture of the vine being the root from which the branches draw their nourishment and life. This happens naturally as the branches abide in and live connected to the vine. In that abiding comes the fruit we desire – the character and love which marks us as followers of Jesus.

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” 

I love that the branches do not strive to press out the fruit. There is not the anxiousness of trying to produce the fruit on their own. Can you imagine a branch trying to squeeeeeze out grapes! Ridiculous! It is simply in living in the vine, in the connection and obedience to Christ that the fruit grows naturally. It is grace and the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

So how do we do it? What does this abiding look like? Do we just live our lives deciding we are Christians and the fruit effortlessly grows? Is there nothing that we have to do? No, not exactly. I believe scripture says we need to be rooted in the love of Christ first and foremost. We need to fully trust that he loves us and rest and live in that love that the Creator has for each of us personally. Paul prays for the church:

that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Eph 3:17-19

Did you catch the reference to the vine? He prays that we be rooted in love, so that we may be filled with the fullness of God. So the key is love. Jesus says that the same love that God the Father has for Jesus the Son, he also has for us! For US! Even though we sin and have junk going on in our hearts that maybe no one else sees. He loves us!

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. 

So this is where the rubber hits the road in the christians life. If we say we love Jesus, if we believe in his sacrifice and understand his deep love for us, then we act on this belief by obeying the commands of God. What he desires for us becomes important to us. It is not about control, it is about trusting that God’s wisdom and goodness surpasses ours and surrendering ourselves to him by obeying him and following his ways. “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Again, obedience isn’t about God trying to control us – we have freedom of choice -but he knows better than anyone what will give us complete joy.

So what is this command that will give us joy and will be our act of obedience as we grow in Christ?

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” My first reaction is one of relief because I WANT to do that! Then I find that loving others is so easy to want to do, but so hard to practice! Hard because I am so often selfish or prideful and it gets in the way of loving others well. However, this command is ultimately the outward proof that shows others that we belong to Christ. Not that any of us does it perfectly, but we are called to love one another. Starting with our families, which may be hard enough! But extending to our coworkers, our friends, our neighbors and communities, all the way to our enemies (who might be in our families, our friends, our neighbors or in our communities!).

Jesus is the vine, we are the branches, and we can do nothing apart from him. He has given us a mission which cannot be done apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in us. So while abiding and loving others should not be a white knuckling act to develop the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control), these qualities should naturally grow in us as we abide in Christ, listen to the Holy Spirit within us, and try to live in obedience to Jesus with the full assurance of his grace and mercy. And that is what is so beautiful!