Parable of the Vine and the Branches

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit…I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” (John 15: 1-2, 5, 7-8, NKJV) [Read John 15:1-9]

Just as the parable of the Good Shepherd was about Jesus, this parable of the Vine and the branches is about Jesus Himself. Christ identified Himself to His disciples as the true vine—the sole source of spiritual life and soul sanctity. This parable followed Christ’s instituting the Lord’s Supper. The imagery of the fruit of the vine was fresh in the disciples’ minds. As students of Old Testament writings, the disciples would have been familiar with Psalm 80:14-15: “Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, the root Your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for Yourself.” This referred to the vine, the people, the Lord brought out of Egypt and nourished, planting them in the land of Israel. The song of the vineyard is found in Isaiah 5:1-7. In this vineyard the vines did not always yield to their potential because they did not follow the vinedresser as they should. Yet read the delight the Lord has in His vineyard and His identity with it: “The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of His delight” (Isaiah 5:7). Christians are the new Israel.

Jesus wanted His disciples (and us) to understand that He is the true vine, the link that nurtures and sustains our life with God. To reject Him is to ignore the vital line that supplies nurture to the Christian’s life. Without the vine, the branches are useless. Unless we abide in Jesus, our lives do not produce as Christians. He expects us to bear fruit. Someone has aptly said: “The fruit of a Christian is another Christian.” We have an obligation to tell others of the love of Christ and how they can be linked up to the True Vine; moreover, we should want to witness. To bear fruit, we must allow the Father to prune out anything that is non-fruit bearing in our lives—bad habits, worldly pleasures, neglect of prayer and Bible study, failure to grow in grace. We are judged if we do not bear fruit. If we bear fruit, we will have our prayers answered. And when we bear fruit as Christians, we glorify the Father. Abiding in Jesus is the key in Vineyard expansion. We don’t have to worry about the results in evangelism and spiritual growth. These will come if we are abiding in Him.

The greatest gift of all expressed in the Vine and the Branches is that we are recipients of His divine nature. If we abide in Him, He abides in us!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Sunday, September 12, 2010