The Vinedresser

John 15

JOHN 15:01-27

1“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10“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.11“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

12“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 14“You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. 17“This I command you, that you love one another.

18“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20“Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21“But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. 22“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23“He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24“If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. 25“But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.’

26“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, 27and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

JOHN 15:01-11

He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit

If you’ve ever been down a row of grapes in a vineyard after an expert vinedresser has pruned it, you might think that he/she killed all the plants. What’s left on the vine seems insignificant and what’s laying on the ground looks random and even destructive. Nature is abundant and focuses on building the largest vine, not necessarily the best grapes. An experienced vintner knows that a large plant wastes resources that will undermine the flavor of the wine and eventually, the health of the vine.

Jesus tells us that God is an expert vinedresser. Regardless of the size of your church (or mega-church), God is less interested in growing big plants than quality grapes. God is not into big for big’s sake. God is into quality and depth. The robustness of the vine, the unique taste of the grape; all the things a true vintner looks for in a good fruit variety. During his life, Jesus had thousands of followers, but they left when they found out he wasn’t going to miraculously and continuously feed them, and as soon as he sought a return commitment from them.

Jesus goes as far as to describe quality grapes; “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”

A quality vine is one that is a conduit of the roots’ nutrients. It gains its strength from the roots and passes them on while producing a quality fruit from which all benefit.

Abide means to stay with, but also to endure with. With just hours left to their earthly time together, Jesus was saying that, “You will not be pruned and cast out if you endure with me.”

Throughout this study, you will find the words abide with, stay with and walk with. These should be key words in the Christian vocabulary. We are a “with people” we abide with, we stay with, and we walk with. In addition, this chapter highlights the twin modalities of Christianity: Invitation and Relationship.

John, ever careful with his words, chooses the term Kathairō for prune. It also means to cleanse or to purify.

There are three different actions taken by a vintner when pruning:

1. Cut and cast aside

Jewish law was very intolerant of the vines that were cut and cast aside. They had to be burned immediately. They could not be allowed to infect other vines. They weren’t even allowed to leave the field and be burned for fuel in villager’s homes. In a country that burned animal dung for fuel, that was a big sacrifice.

2. Cut and graft

On rare occasions, some vines could lead to new varieties, these were treasured and immediately grafted on to other plants.

3. Leave attached to the vine

Vines that produced the hardiest fruit were left to grow; only now could they flourish as there were no wasted nutrients going to worthless branches. All the nutrients were being channeled to the ripest and tastiest fruit.

How faithful am I about carrying the ripest nutrients to others? How committed am I to growing deep, quality relationships that spring from my roots and pass freely to the rest of the vine?

· Takes away, airō, [142], raise, pull away, lift up, remove

· Prunes, Kathairō, [2508], cleanse, prune, from Katharos, [2513], to clean, to make pure

· Abide, Menō, [3306], stay, remain, endure

“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. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”

All vines are pruned, most are discarded and burned, a few rare vines are grafted for new varieties, and the best are left to receive and pass on nutrients to the rest of the plant. The ones that are kept “abide (endure)” in Christ.

Here Jesus tells us that to endure in him means to endure in love. This doesn’t refer to a mushy, romantic type of love, but the often difficult, honest love that won’t give up on another person’s dignity. In recovery circles, this would be contrasting the enabling-type of love that promotes addiction in another person and the painful type of love that refuses to follow the addicted person on their path to self-destruction.

Jesus will go on to describe this kind of love in the next few verses (12-17).

To endure in Jesus is to endure in love, even (or especially) when it’s painful.

· Love, agape, [26], from Agapaō, [25], unconditional regard, to love without conditions, to seek someone’s unconditional dignity

JOHN 15:12-17

“…just as I have loved you”

This is the meta-commandment of the Bible. The commandment ABOVE all others that are revealed by the Old Testament and expanded on in the writings of the New Testament Letters.

Those who profess Christ must use this commandment to weigh their thoughts and actions: “Does this choice I am making point others to a love like Jesus had for us? A life of love that would die for the least of these?”

“Love like I loved,” how many world leaders would say that? “Did you see how I’ve lived? Live like that.” Once again, we are reminded that the primary tools of Christianity must always be Invitational and Relational.

“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain…”

Chosen and appointed.

This statement defines the committed Christian. We are chosen and appointed to love like Christ loved. There should be no pride in this statement as it was obviously not a decision or choice we made, but one made by Jesus. There should also be no judgment as we don’t know why Jesus would choose one person and not another. And if God does the choosing, then what does that say about judgment or hell? You cannot judge someone who has not been called.

The life of a follower must be one of humility and love, service and seeking, invitation and relationship. We are chosen and appointed to model his love to the entire world. To do that with judgment or exclusivity would be the pinnacle of hubris.

If we examine the lives of the Apostles, we see that few of them actually made the choice to follow Jesus. He sought them out and they sought out others beginning with their relatives. He abided with them, he stayed with them, and he walked with them. The apostles weren’t picked because they were especially gifted, brilliant, or talented in any way, they simply were present when Christ called. In fact (I’m sure this would be a disappointment to the apostle’s parents) they were picked for their normality. They were just like everyone else… Jesus’ life shows us that we can help unremarkable people attain remarkable feats when we invite them into relationship and abide in love with them, stay with them and walk with them.

Initially, John and James were disciples of John the Baptist who sent them away to follow the true lamb of God. Then they immediately left Jesus to go to their own family. The majority of Christ’s apostles came from those early relationships, family member telling family member, asking brother’s and friends to come discover Jesus for themselves.

As apostles grew to disciples, people followed to hear the words of Jesus and follow his path (live and travel with him). As disciples grew to followers, people began to follow Jesus for his miracles and the food he provided. This was the “big plant vs. choice vine” time of Christ’s ministry.

His followers grew immensely but when Jesus confronted their intentions, many walked away (when he said he wouldn’t continue to feed them [John 6:26]).

This was the pruning Jesus is speaking about in the opening of the chapter. As he moved closer to Jerusalem, his purpose became clearer and more resolute. He desired followers that would be able to endure the hardships he knew were ahead and he gave people fair warning that it was going to be difficult.

The path Jesus chose is not easier today. If we are on a path that is popular and easy, it probably is not the path of Jesus. Similarly, we are not on his path just because people find us belligerent. The path of Christ is not oppositional for the sake of being obstinate. It does not mean we say things just to irritate people.

The path of Jesus (his vine) is one of enduring compassion. Think of where you do NOT want to go and that is probably where you are being called. Later in this chapter (and in Matthew 10:22) Jesus tells us people will hate us because we follow him:

Being hated isn’t something to strive for, it is not a goal or end in itself. It is just something that occurs. It happens when you advocate for the least of these. It should not surprise us.

· Choose, eklegō, [1537 and 3004], to choose, make a selection

· Appointed, tithēmi, [5087], to place, to lay, to be seated or appointed

“…so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”

I’ve known some Christians who believe that if you just add the phrase, “In Jesus’s Name…” God has to give you whatever you’re praying for. However, there is a catch in the small print here. “In My name” means in my character, under my authority and for my cause.

Let’s look at those three conditions closer:

1. In my character

Is what I’m asking in the character of the Gospel Jesus? The complete abandonment to compassion? The advocacy for the poor?

2. Under my authority

Under my authority was a well-understood term in Christ’s times. Because most people could not read, kings would hire Town-Criers to shout news to his subjects in public gatherings. Whatever these people said was in the King’s authority and they could be punished by death if they altered or added anything to the King’s statements. They could only say what the King had instructed them to say.

How would it impact us if we knew there was a death sentence attached to altering the words of Jesus for our own gain? A clear barometer of our statements and actions “in his authority” is that God does not manipulate, that is the role—even one of the names—of Satan.

3. For my cause

To be part of Jesus’ vine means we live by his cause. The cause of advocating for the least of these. Is that our driving force? Do we wake each day and ask, “How can I be more of service to the vulnerable? What is the most important thing I could do right now to further his cause?”

· Name, onoma, [3686], authority, character, cause

JOHN 15:18-25

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.”

Who does Jesus mean by the “world.” The term also means, “the order.” So the world would mean the order of the world at that time. To comprehend this with more depth, we need to understand who set the world order at Jesus’ time and ask if it is much different today.

The Religious Elite set the primary order for the people of Jesus’ era and area. They dictated the habits, rituals, and beliefs of nearly every home in Palestine.

Along with the religious elite, there was a political elite who received their power by kowtowing to Rome, they were extremely wealth (e.g., the Herod family) and graft was commonplace.

Finally, Palestine then (as Palestine now) was an occupied country, it was strategically crucial as the gateway to the Mediterranean and all points north and to the Highway of Kings and all points south. If the world is a boxer’s face, Israel has always been its nose.

It was a world order ripe with manipulation of the poor by the religious, the political and the wealthy. So does that world order seem different than the current world order, the Kosmos, of today?

Just as then, we have a religious elite using their power to manipulate political and economic gain. But, just as then, the line between using religion to manipulate and using politics or wealth to dominate is extremely muddled. Those calling for Christian Nationalism now are not too different from those manipulating the kosmos in the time of Jesus.

There can be no such thing as Christian Nationalism—except in the minds of the nationalists. The term, Christianity, used in this label is just a front for masking racist ideas. Such ideas always find their root in chaos, but it is interesting to note that the opposite of cosmos is not chaos, but emptiness [kenos, 2756].

When leaders lack vision or movement towards resolution of important issues, then a vacuum (kenos) arises. Into that vacuum steps authoritarianism. The global nationalism we are witnessing today is in response to a leadership vacuum on issues important to most of the population in many countries. Both Plato and Socrates along with many other philosophers were dubious about the strength of democracies. A July 2017 survey of 5,000 Americans found that a quarter of U.S. adults like the idea of having “a strong leader who does not have to bother with Congress and elections,” while 18 percent say that “having the army rule” would be a good or very good idea. Accounting for overlap, three in 10 Americans embrace at least one of these two authoritarian options.1

1 Trudy Rubin, The Mercury News, https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/04/02/rubin-report-finds-disturbing-figures-3-in-10-americans-would-prefer-a-more-authoritarian-government/

· World, kosmos, [2889], order, adornment, world

· Hates, miseō, [3404], hatred,

JOHN 15:26-27

“When the Helper comes…”

This term, “Helper” is very important in the Christian glossary. It not only illustrates how the Spirit reaches out to us, but also how we must reach out to others. There are two root words to helper, para and kleō. Altogether they mean to walk alongside inviting.

We know Jesus fished with his disciples, but he also walked hundreds of kilometers with them during their three short years. Perhaps—as he faces certain death—Jesus recalls those walks among his finest memories, the dusty trails and roman roads where his disciples and he spent hours in solitude before the throngs came. The most recognized teacher in the world taught by “walking alongside.” Not ahead, not behind, but next to.

To be a leader is to walk beside…

The Holy Spirit invites, not coerces. He does not “trick or force” people into following. She is the Spirit of truth. It is Satan who deceives, he is the manipulator, he uses coercion, manipulation, and power to get his way. Whenever those tools are in our evangelization toolkit, we are serving the wrong master.

There is a wave across many countries—but especially the United States—to force people to comply to so-called Christian values. Just the fact, that these movements use conspiracy theories, lies or the power of the courts to force people to achieve their ends proves they are not centered in the Gospel.

True leaders walk beside, think of John Lewis and Martin Luther King walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, think of Gandhi (not a Christian, but a great leader) walking to the Arabian Sea Coast. Both of them walked straight into violence and they walked beside their followers.

True leaders invite people into relationship.

· Helper, parakletōs, [3875], from parakaleō, [3870], this is a combination of two important Greek words, para (meaning with or beside) and kaleō (meaning to call, invite or give)