The Gospel of John, Chapter 15: Vine and Branches
This chapter consists of aphorisms stated by Jesus. Presumably this is to his beloved disciples, after their special dinner. Jesus has a lot to impart to his disciples before the painful events of the week truly begin.
The most frequent word in this chapter (aside from prepositions and connecting words) is “abide”, which appears 11 times, usually in the phrase “abide in.”
I am the vine
We begin with another “I am” statement:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.” (verse 1) and
“I am the vine, you are the branches.” (verse 5)
You are going to get pruned (cleansed). The point is for the vine to bear more fruit. You’ve got to stay attached to me (Jesus) because, unattached, you can’t do anything. In fact you’ll be thrown into the fire and burned. Stick with me and you will bear fruit.
In the middle of this vine metaphor, we also get a repeat of the “in me” statement of Chapter 14:
“Abide in me as I abide in you.” (verse 4)
This idea is repeated 4 times in slightly different ways in the first 10 verses.
My commandment: love one another
“If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love.”
And what are the commandments? We get a repeat from Chapter 13:34-35:
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”
Jesus says to the disciples, I’m calling you friends instead of servants now because I’ve told you everything that I have heard from God.
“You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit…”
Nobody will like you
The world hated me (Jesus) first, and the world will hate you. The gospel continues the black-and-white dichotomy between those who align with Jesus and those who don’t.
Jesus refers to a mysterious thing he said back in Chapter 13:16, right after he washed the disciples feet:
“Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.”
And here in 15:20 Jesus says:
“Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.”
I had originally surmised that the statement might mean “keep in your own lane; know your place.” But here the meaning of the statement seems to be that Jesus’ disciples can expect to be treated the same way Jesus can be treated. Jesus will be persecuted and so will the disciples.
Testify
When the Spirit of Truth comes from the Father, the Spirit will testify on my (Jesus) behalf. You also should testify.
Metaphors: vine, vinegrower, branches, fruit; servants, master, friends;
Images and themes: stay connected to Jesus, commandment to love one another, the hatred of the “world”
People/Beings: Jesus, disciples, God the Father., “the world”
Places: we have kind of lost the sense of place because this chapter consists of sermons, not events.
3 comments:
For what it's worth, I always figured that this was while they were walking from the room to the garden of Gethsemane.
It's been interesting looking at these chapters through someone else's eyes; thank you for posting these.
I like the notion that the speeches and conversation in these chapters could be what Jesus and the disciples were talking about as they walked.
I like that idea of the conversation taking place as they walked in the garden, too.
Whenever asked to define my faith, it's those two commandments--Love God, love one another. You really cannot go wrong if you try to obey both. Everything boils down to one or the other or both.
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