“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 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. 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. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. (John 15:1-8, NRSV)
I read this passage again this year, and this time I was struck by the word abide…
“Abide in me as I abide in you.” Is how verse 4 starts. And in the Greek we have the word μενω 7 times in verses 4 – 7. (3 times in verse 4, once in 5 and 6 and 2 times in 7) It is used once in every verse. Yes you will tell me if you look at it, the word abide is in there 8 times. Yes in the English translations we have the word appears 8 times for it to make more sense. But actually this first part of verse 4 only has the word once. A better translation of “Abide in me as I abide in you.” is “Abide in me as I am in you.”
And that is the point here.
We are to abide in Jesus.
We are to stay in Jesus.
We are to trust in Jesus.
We are to depend on Jesus.
You see Jesus is telling His disciples that they are all intertwined and support each other, but they are only dependent on Him. The image of the vine is a beautiful one, and we can assume Jesus was walking with His disciples through a vineyard as He was telling them this.
You see a mature vine with branches is a wonderful living thing. The branches are all intertwined and they support each other, however the branches are not dependent on the other branches for survival, for that they need to vine. And the branches don’t decide who is not producing fruit and get cut away, or who need a snip here or there to help them produce more fruit, that is the gardener or the vine dresser.
And the thing we have to remember is even when we abide in the vine, we still get pruned. We still get cut back, because uncontrolled growth is not good and the vine dresser knows what is best for the branches.
So stay, remain, live in Christ as He is in you! And don’t worry about the other branches, just support them in their life in the vine, and rest in His grace.
aSacredRebel 