21: Jesus is the true vine — John 15:1-16:4

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. ² He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.
³ You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so I have 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 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

¹² “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶ You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷ I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you.
²⁰ 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. ²¹ But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him 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 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ It was to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’

²⁶ “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. ²⁷ You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

16    “I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. ² They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is  coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. ³ And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me. ⁴ But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them. NRSV

Get into the Word

1. What image does Jesus use next in describing the disciples? Why do you think he chose this image [see Notes]? Who else is involved in this image? What does Jesus say about the image?

2. How does Jesus describe the relationship between the disciples and himself? What does he tell the disciples to do? What will happen to those who do as Jesus says? To those who do not?

3. What is the relationship of love and Jesus’ commandments? Why does Jesus stress this point? How does this affect the disciples’ relationship with Jesus? With each other? What is the outcome of this relationship for the disciples?

4. What topic does Jesus move to next? Why do you think he brings up this subject? What does he say about the world? About himself? About the disciples?  What does Jesus promise the disciples?

5. Why does Jesus tell the disciples about their future? Why is this important? How do you suppose they felt about this? 

Get Personal

How do you feel about being Jesus’ friend? How does this affect your daily walk with Jesus? How does this affect your testimony about Jesus?

15:1. Vine — vineyards, grapes and wine are common Old Testament images for Israel, as in Isaiah: The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, [5:7].
15:2. Removes . . . prunes — Jesus uses two different words here – those who bear no fruit (because they do not have Christ’s spirit) are removed; but those who do bear fruit (because they do have his spirit) are pruned so they can continue to be fruitful.
15:3. Cleansed by the word — when we accept the Gospel we are cleansed of our sin and purified for our relationship with God through Christ.
15:4. Abide — or “dwell” is about making Christ part of our life and our life part of Christ’s. God’s original purpose is to be part of the life of his creation: Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them, [Exodus 25:8]; and I will make my home among them. I will be their God and they will be my people, [Ezek 37:27].
15:7. Ask for whatever — Jesus repeats his promise about prayer [check 14:13].
15:9. As the Father has loved me — Jesus’s  love for believers is the same complete and total love that the Father has for the Son.
15:12. Love one another as I have loved you — we are to extend that same love to one another. 

15:11-12. Joy . . . love — are part of the “fruit” that we bear when we abide in Jesus.
15:15. You are my friends — in Jesus’ time a rabbi’s disciples often were treated as slaves. At the same time Greek and Roman culture placed considerable emphasis on friendship, including loyalty, equality and intimacy (which Jesus underscores by saying he told the disciples “everything the Father told me”). John’s readers would have been familiar with the meaning of Jesus’ use of “friends.”
15:25. Hated — Jews had already experienced persecution, but Jesus is talking about all non-believers hating the disciples because of his message.
15:27. You also are to testify — the disciples’ primary charge – and ours – is to testify about what Jesus has done. God does not call us to be experts or theologians or apologists; he calls us to be witnesses.
16:2. Put out from the synagogues — this was already happening [check 9:20-23 and 12:42]. When John was writing his Gospel, many Jewish Christians had been expelled from the synagogue and gentile believers were persecuted because they did not worship the Roman emperor.
Offering worship to God — was Jesus picturing Saul of Tarsus?