I Am The True Vine

A Homily Prepared For Sunday April 28, 2024

The Collect

Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Gospel

John 15:1–8

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

Commentary on Today’s Gospel Selection;

“It must occur to all who read these discourses preserved by John how simple the text looks, and yet how transcendent is the thought when it is even dimly understood. John is sailing sky-high: are we? It is the strongest food in the Bible.” (Trench)

When in a hurry, at lunch time when we grab a “fast food” product and gobble it down, quickly cramming each bite into our mouths so that we can temporarily satiate our hunger and get back to work, school or whatever our passion happens to be that day. In doing this, we never take the time to thoroughly chew or masticate the food much less actually savor the complex tastes and flavors or even the bouquet of the item.

Far too often we give the Holy Word of God the same treatment, as we hurry through our reading so as to move on to other pursuits, or we hurry to find proof texts to justify our theological positions without thoroughly reading the chapter, or multiple chapters to avail ourselves of the contextual meaning.

It might be said that Mark presents his Gospel in such a factual manner that it can be read quickly, as it does tend to move quickly from scent to scene presenting the story of Christ. Matthew and Luke present the story in such a way as to give the reader cause to reflect and look for meaningful nuance. Their work is like a garden of roses, that compels the passer by to stop and savor the beauty and the aroma of the bloom. But John’s work, transcends all of the others, it presents the facts, but in a poetic manner, a three dimensional presentation that tickles all the senses, if only the reader thoroughly chews or masticates the meal taking time to appreciate it; if only the reader slows down and studies it diligently, so as to develop a deeper appreciation of the prose of John the Apostle of Christ.

It is widely accepted that the I Am The True Vine, discourse and that of the one in the following chapter were given by Christ following the Last Supper and were not teachings from some other point in his ministry, added here for effect. This discourse is pertinent to the farewell address of Jesus to his closest friends and disciples, in that he seeks to give his disciples guidance that will “keep them on the path” even though they naturally will be tempted to return to old ways.

They would be tempted to leave him, and return once again to their old religious traditions based on Mosaic law; and therefore he tells them how necessary it was that they should by faith adhere to him and abide in him.

Sometime after graduation day, it might have been later on that summer or years later, many of us were surprised by harsh reality when we realized high school relationships—friendships that were thought to last forever—quickly ended and were subsequently forgotten, as we and our classmates dispersed into the world after our high school days were over,

Here, the disciples experienced a graduation of sorts and were to learn a similar lesson in reality as that we did, their teacher was abruptly gone and had sent them into the world. Jesus had impressed upon them, throughout his teachings, to love one another, and to keep up that communion with each other, when he was gone which had hitherto been their comfort. Jesus knew all too well of the hardships and torment they would face in their ministries and therefore he prepared them to bear the shock of the world’s ill will.

One can establish four talking points in this discourse; Fruit (v. 1-8). 2. Love (v. 9-17). 3. Hatred (v. 18-25). The Comforter (v. 26, 27). Today’s study examines the first, the fruits of the Spirit, which his disciples were to bring forth.

Jesus begins this discourse with an “I am” (Greek: ego eimi) declaration. “I am” Ego eimi can be understood as coded language that refers back to Moses’ encounter with God many centuries earlier. On that occasion, when Moses asked God’s name, God replied,“You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you’”

(Exodus 3:14). In that verse,“I AM” is “ego eimi” in the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament). Also, in Isaiah 40-55, God uses this phrase,“I am,” over and over to refer to himself. In other words, ego eimi can be construed as God’s name. When Jesus applies Ego Eimi to himself, he is subtly identifying himself with God—as God.

Using the similitude of a working vinyard in which the keeper—dresser of vines—or as Jesus states, the husbandman, dresses or cleanses the vine removing all vines that do not produce fruit, he states that the disciples are like branches that have been cleaned—as the vine dresser cleans grape vines—through the Holy Word of God he has spoken, or taught to them.

Likewise, through careful study of the Word, and prayerful contemplation after referencing the volumes of commentary and opinion that are traditionally accepted as reflective of what Jesus actually meant, we are “cleansed” in the same manner as the disciples were then so long ago. Obviously we do not have the luxury of the disciples, the immense privilege, of being there with him to experience his teachings first hand; therefore we must rely on tradition to explain the contextual meaning of the Holy Word.

Jesus underscores the importance of abiding in him, being true to his teachings, by reminding them that a branch is worthless without the support of the vine; “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” To be able to “abide in him” we have to rely on the traditional teachings and interpretations of his word; if we do not reference the existing commonly held works of man that establish what Jesus meant, we run the risk of abiding, not in Jesus, but in our own mind.

Although there are thousands of denominations under the greater umbrella of the Christian Faith, the majority of these various branches—so to speak—share enough commonalities as to be from the same vine, that proverbial vine being Jesus. Some that have so few such commonalities, it might be argued, might not be branches of/from that common vine. If we as students of the Bible, do not rely on tradition, these commonalities of interpretation, we run the risk of not being just thousands of different branches, but possibly billions, as each reader of the bible—who does not seek out traditional opinions as to the meaning and context of the verses, becomes a unique branch in and of himself. That is why Jesus said; “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” Without careful reading of the Gospel(s) and study of the commentaries and opinions so as to understand what Jesus meant in context, we can not produce fruit, we “can do nothing.”

I hate to constantly beat on this drum, that of the importance of knowing the meaning and context of the entirety of the scriptures, and how that meaning is presented through the volumes of works authored by mankind which share certain commonalities so as to create a more or less uniform interpretation—but with each day as I peruse the Internet, I find glaring indications of Christians posting to the ‘net sayings of Christ in such a way as to justify acts of mankind that are totally contradictory to the Holy Word of God. Often proof texting, or in other words taking a single verse totally out of context to prove a point.

Recently a reader responded to one of my Daily Bible Study posts with a dozen or more single verses from throughout both the Old and New Testaments to prove his point. When I carefully refuted him by quoting a verse(s) and then explaining the historical and cultural implications surrounding that saying of Jesus and how that in context disproved his point, the reader responded by blatantly calling me a liar. I wonder what he would have done had I responded with a couple of dozen verses—within context—in a rebuke of his thesis?

These expositions of Christians taking God’s word out of context, reminds me of the television ad we used to see years ago in which the elderly lady named Beatrice, had overheard her friends talking about posting vacation pictures on their “wall”, so she started literally sticking paper based photographs on the living room wall and then showing her visitors “her wall” when they came over to her home.

Her friends—who knew the “phrase posting pictures to the wall” meant uploading images to the internet and posting the digital photos to their Facebook™ wall, not literally sticking pictures to the living room wall—responded to Beatrice by saying “that’s not how it works, that’s not how any of this works!” Poor ol’ Beatrice, in her naive and innocent misunderstanding of the Internet and its lingo, responded to her friends rebuke; “I unfriend you.”

Likewise posting to the Internet, verses taken totally out of context to prove a point contrary to the Word of God, is “not how it works.” I personally have learned the hard way that when you resort to proof texting, you had better know the context of the verses you quote, otherwise you will be rebuked, by those who do know the full and traditional interpretations of the Word of God.

When you are cleansed in the Word, as Jesus states here, by careful study and prayerful contemplation, reviewing the commentaries and concordances, then testing the ideas that come into your mind as John suggested in his first epistle (I John 4:1) “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Then you can abide in Jesus as in our last verse suggested for this day states; “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” God the Father is glorified, when you know and understand, both the “feel good” verses as well as the verses that expose the harsh realities in store for those who reject or refuse to acknowledge the entirety of God’s Holy Word. You can’t bear much fruit if you don’t preach the Word, the entire Word.

Benediction:

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, and inspired the hand of man to expound on your Holy Word so that we might better understand; Grant us so to hear your inspired words, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.