seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 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.
5 “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. 6 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. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 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. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 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. 16 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. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
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Here's the link to the commentary I read.
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away: The branches that are taken away were never properly abiding in the vine, demonstrated by the fact that they did not bear fruit.
There is an alternative understanding of this passage that bears some consideration. James Montgomery Boice (among others) believes that the ancient Greek verb airo, translated, takes away is more accurately translated lifts up. The idea is that the Father lifts up unproductive vines off of the ground (as was common in the ancient practices of vineyard care). Those caring for ancient grape vines made sure to lift them up off the ground that they might get more sun and bear fruit better.
“The verb translated ‘cut off’ (aireo) means literally ‘to lift up’ or ‘to take away’; the second, ‘trims clean’ (kathaireo), a compound of the first, means ‘to cleanse’ or ‘to purify.’” (Tenney)
You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you: The work of pruning, of cleansing, had already begun in the eleven disciples Jesus spoke to. They had heard and received much of His teaching and were in some sense already clean because of the word.
“The means by which pruning or cleaning is done is by the Word of God. It condemns sin; it inspires holiness; it promotes growth. As Jesus applied the words God gave him to the lives of the disciples, they underwent a pruning process that removed evil from them and conditioned them for further service.” (Tenney)
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine: It is impossible for the branch to bear grapes if it isn’t connected to the vine. The disciple can’t do true good for God and His kingdom if they do not consciously connect with and abide in Jesus.
I am the vine, you are the branches: Jesus perhaps spoke so perhaps because they were so accustomed to thinking of Israel as the vine and thought mainly in terms of their connection to Israel. They now had to think of Jesus as the vine, and emphasize their connection to Him.
They gather them and throw them into the fire: The lifeless branch bears no fruit and even its wood is good for nothing but burning. This reference to burning and fire raises the association of punishment in the life to come and warns of the great consequences of failing to abide.
As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you: Jesus deliberately loved His disciples according to the way God the Father loved Him. We know that Jesus loved His disciples by teaching them, protecting them, guiding them, sacrificially serving them, and using His power and authority to do these things. In some way, the Father also did all those things for Jesus and Jesus did them for the disciples after that pattern.
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love: Again, Jesus connected true discipleship with obedience to His command and honoring His word. Jesus fulfilled this in regard to His Father; the disciple must fulfill it in regard to Jesus.
That you love one another as I have loved you: As Jesus spoke these words to the disciples as they stood in the upper room, having risen from the table, we sense the emphasis created by repetition. Jesus really cared that His disciples love one another, and that they do so according to the measure and quality of His love for them.
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends: Jesus described the measure and quality of His love for them, to use as a pattern for the way they should love each other. His love is complete and of surpassing greatness, laying down its life.
I have called you friends: Jesus descried the measure and quality of His love for them as a love that treats servants as friends. In the relationship between a disciple and his rabbi of that time, it wasn’t expected to be a friendship. Yet Jesus the rabbi called His disciples, His servants friends.
You are My friends if you do whatever I command you: They were friends because they were obedient (though not perfectly so). Friendship with Jesus can’t be disconnected from obedience to His commands.
You did not choose Me, but I chose you: Jesus just spoke of great privilege for the disciples — friendship with the Master, answered prayer, bearing much fruit, knowing things from the Father. The disciples should rightly treasure these without becoming proud as if they had earned them. They were all rooted in the fact that Jesus chose them, not that they chose Him.
That you love one another: Again, Jesus commanded love among the disciples. When He departed from them they must not disband or turn against each other, and Jesus prepared them to stay together and love one another.
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There's a "tree" in my front yard. Well, right now it's an eight-inch stump about 4 inches wide. When we moved in, our next-door neighbor, Patti, [who passed away a couple years ago], told us she had been hand watering it for some time. The irrigation in this community sucks. The only place the irrigation or sprinkler system works is at the dog park! Anyway, she made us promise to water the tree. We have been watering it ever since. We knew that the drip line is the best place for the tree to get water, so instead of running the water right around the trunk, we used the drip line. We even gave it some food. I think I saw about 20 leaves on it when it was at its best. At the end, before they cut it down, it had 2 leaves hanging on it. They were still on it when it went into the truck to go to the recycler. The stump is driving the new neighbor next door crazy. She is OCD. I mean she has about 1,000 little porcelain Mickey Mouse things and she dusts them once a week. When she's outside with her dogs, she plucks seeds from the rocks. To her, our stump is currently bugging her. She wants to cover it up or pluck it out. She scowls every time she looks at it.
We know it's going to be a while before the weather is right to pull out the stump, correct the irrigation, and plant the new tree. She thinks we are waiting to see if the tree regenerates itself. Some trees out here in Arizona will regenerate themselves if any of the stump is left. So, she keeps looking for a sprout. There won't be a sprout but as long as she thinks there's one chance for a sprout... she doesn't yank on it.
Jesus used the Vine and the Branch as a metaphor. Jesus is the vine that keeps the branches healthy so the branches can do their thing and produce fruit. There are branches, called suckers, that will suck the life right out of a bush, without producing even a hint of fruit. If Jesus kept the suckers away, then the branches would produce beautiful fruit.
Up until that point, Jesus had been keeping the suckers away. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and other non-believers all wanted Jesus dead. The Disciples were only being hunted for information. Now, Jesus was going to have to be gone a while. There would be no one to keep the vine in good shape so the branches could produce the fruit. So, the branches would have to fend for themselves "for a while".
That tree stump in my front yard is as useless as a vine that has been strangled by the suckers. It can't get water to the fruit bearing branches because the suckers are taking all the nutrition while they are killing the vine.
It's the same with the church. The pew warmers are stealing all the kindness and love out of the church and turning it into a lie.
Jesus told the Disciples to Love One Another. If they shared the water, they could produce the fruit. If they help each other by shading each other, they would not wither in the heat. He was going to be gone, so they had to depend on each other for a while.
I am reading from Daniel, through the Gospel and letters written by the Apostle John and Revelation. I'm looking for "End Times" stuff. Jesus has to leave to return. This is right before Jesus left. He'll only be gone for a while. He'll be back. That's when He'll trim out the suckers.
This conversation happened, according to the commentary, right after the Last Supper Jesus would share with His Disciples, here on earth for a while. It was before He stepped out the door to go to the garden to be arrested.
I wonder... if Jesus were here now... would He have said....
"Y'all take care of each other, hear?!"
