I Am the True Vine: John 15:1-17

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

I AM—the final of the seven great I AM statements in John. Jesus is the vine. God the Father tends the vineyard.

Israel had been called God's vine throughout the Old Testament. But they had become a wild vine, producing sour grapes. Jesus is the true vine—what Israel was meant to be.

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.

Two activities of the gardener: cutting and pruning. Fruitless branches removed entirely. Fruitful branches cut back—painfully—to increase yield.

Pruning hurts. The knife removes good growth to produce better growth. The gardener knows what he's doing.

You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

Clean. Pruned. The word Jesus had spoken had already begun its cutting work in the disciples.

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.

Remain. Abide. Stay connected. The branch cannot produce grapes through effort or determination. Fruit comes from connection to the vine. No connection, no fruit.

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.

Much fruit—the promise of remaining. Nothing—the result of disconnection. The contrast is absolute. Apart from Jesus, religious activity produces nothing.

If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

Severe imagery. Disconnected branches dry out, become kindling, burn. The warning balances the promise.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Two conditions: remaining in Jesus, his words remaining in us. When those align, prayer becomes remarkably effective. We ask what he would ask.

This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Fruit glorifies the Father. Fruit proves discipleship. The evidence of genuine connection is visible production.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

The Father's love for the Son becomes the measure of Jesus' love for us. Remain in that love—don't wander from it, don't doubt it.

If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love.

Obedience and love connect. Keeping commands is not earning love but remaining in it. Jesus models this with the Father.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

Joy—complete joy. This teaching aims at flourishing, not mere duty. Remaining produces joy.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

The command distills to love. Not generic love—love patterned on Jesus' love. As I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.

The measure of greatest love: life laid down. Jesus was about to demonstrate this definitively.

You are my friends if you do what I command.

Friends—not servants, not employees. Friends. The condition: obedience. Friendship with Jesus includes submission.

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

The difference between servant and friend: knowledge. Servants follow orders without understanding. Friends are told the master's plans. Jesus shared everything.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

Chosen and appointed. The initiative was Jesus', not theirs. The purpose: lasting fruit. The resource: answered prayer.

This is my command: Love each other.

The final word circles back: love. Connected to the vine, loved by Jesus, loving one another. Fruit-bearing community.