Jesus: The True Vine

Sometimes, my toddler makes dinner for us. He pours water from his sippy cup into a little bowl, mixes in a few wooden toy vegetables, and shakes his play salt shaker over it all, allowing the meal to simmer on his toy kitchen stove for a minute. After blowing imaginary steam off the freshly prepared meal, we laugh and pretend to eat, oooing and ahhing over how delicious it is! Other times, my toddler cooks a real dinner with me. I measure out an ingredient and let him pour it into the bowl. I wrap my hand around his little fingers holding the spatula and guide his hand in stirring.

I can’t help but think how often I spiritually resemble my toddler attempting to cook dinner on his own. “Ok God, you want some patience and self-control? Let me make that happen for you!” “You want me to love my husband in the same way you’ve loved me? Let me get working on that!” In the same way my toddler lacks all the capabilities and resources necessary to cook dinner on his own, the reality is, we are completely unable to live out our spiritual lives in obedience to God on our own. This is why Jesus tells us in John 15:5, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

Before these words, Jesus has just announced to his disciples at their Passover celebration that he is going to leave them to accomplish his saving work. Jesus is headed to the cross. It is within this context that Jesus makes his statement: I am the true vine, my Father is the vinedresser, and you are the branches. Jesus tells his followers to “abide” in him, the vine, that they might bear fruit. As Jesus completes his work in the next hours, he is going to become the source of all life and fruitfulness for his people.

As followers of Christ today, we have this assurance: our spiritual growth - our ability to obey God’s commands and become more like Jesus - is not a burden laid on our own shoulders but an assured gift in Christ. “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you,” Jesus says in John 15:3. In the instance of being joined to Christ, those who believe in him are made completely clean, or completely pruned, to follow the vine metaphor. Spiritual growth is simply becoming what we already are before God - there is nothing left to earn. Jesus reiterates that bearing spiritual fruit is initiated and empowered by him, not us, in verse 16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.” Our spiritual fruitfulness has already been appointed by God.

Yet, while spiritual fruitfulness is dependent upon the power of Christ, we do not remain inactive. We are given the command to abide - to stay close to and connected to Jesus. In the same way, my toddler must be with me to cook dinner, so we cultivate a nearness to Jesus that draws from his power. Practically, what does it look like to abide in Jesus- to stay close to and connected to him?

I’ve come to think of abiding in Jesus with the metaphor of breathing: breathe in God’s Word, breathe out prayer. When we read, hear, or meditate on God’s words given to us in Scripture, we don’t engage with them just to learn something about God but to fellowship with God. And the way learning is transformed into fellowship is by talking to God about his words! Let’s take this John passage for an example of what this practice might look like:

John 15:2 says, “Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” To pray these words back to God might look like - “God, I’m experiencing some hard circumstances that are really pushing and testing me right now. But you say in your Word that you prune me so that I’ll bear more fruit. Help me to see my trials as evidence of your love, as a means of your sanctifying me so that I might grow to be more like Christ. Give me a willing heart that submits to your hand.”

Or let’s take John 15:10-12. Jesus says, “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. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another” To pray these words back to God could look like - “God, I’m really struggling to love my friend right now because of the way she’s treated me. But your Word reminds me that obeying your command to love her will only bring me into a deeper experience of your love and joy, the greatest rewards I could imagine. Give me the power to love her as you’ve loved me, not begrudgingly or with resentment but for the joy of deeper fellowship with you.”

Receiving and praying God’s words keeps us connected to Jesus. It directs us in what to ask for - in what to depend on - in which promises to stake our hope in as we live out our faith with Jesus. As followers of Christ, we are not called to try as hard as we can and ask God for help with the rest. No, we are given one role: abide - stay close to Jesus by taking in his words and talking to him.

I think about the frequent times my toddler attempts to take a spoon or spatula from my hand and stir on his own. A mess almost always erupts everywhere. “Let me guide your hand,” I tell him, wrapping my fingers around his. This is the gentle call of Christ: Let me wrap my hands around yours as they work. Let me guide and empower all your efforts. Rest in me. Trust in me. Let our movements become as one.

RESPOND: Take a moment now to surrender your self-effort, and rest in the power of Christ. Ask God to train you in the way of abiding in him through the gift of his Word.