ESOCS Devotional 20 April 2024 – I am the Vine
MEMORY VERSE: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.”John 15:1
TEXT: JOHN 15:1-17
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “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. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
9 “As the Father loved Me, I also 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 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 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 remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.
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John’s Gospel is full of rich nuggets of truth that teach us about our Father, Jesus, salvation, eternal life, and the Holy Spirit. This lesson helps us explore the dynamic relationship between a disciple and his Lord. Jesus’ teaching on the vine and the branches isn’t like most of the parables in the Synoptic Gospels, which are usually stories with one or more spiritual points. Here, as in Jesus’ discourse on the Good Shepherd (John 10:1-18), we see an extended metaphor. Jesus draws our attention to a fruitful vine and then provides two primary applications for us to learn from — pruning the branches and abiding in the vine.
Jesus introduces the metaphor: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener” (15:1). The vine was one of the quintessential plants of Israel representing national peace and prosperity – “Every man under his vine and fig tree.” Moreover, the vineyard is often used to identify Israel herself, referred to by the prophets as “my vineyard” (Isaiah 3:14). In the Song of the Vineyard (Isaiah 5:1-7), the vineyard is the “house of Israel” that yields only the bad fruit of injustice and oppression. But in the Day of the Messiah, this vineyard will flourish: “In that day Sing about a fruitful vineyard: I, the LORD, watch over it; I water it continually. I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it.” (Isaiah 27:2-3).
The Psalms, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Micah all use the figure of Israel as the Lord’s vineyard. Jesus Himself carried on this identification of Israel, as God’s vineyard in His Parable of the Tenants (Matthew 21:33-44; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19) and Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16).
So, for Jesus to say, “I am the true vine” (in the seventh and last of Jesus’ “I AM” sayings”), we see an announcement that, as the Messiah, He now becomes the true Israel, the true locus for God’s people. When you think about it, it is an astounding revelation! “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener” (15:1). The nation is epitomized in the nation’s true King, Jesus. If Jesus is the true vine, then His Father is the vinedresser, the one who tenderly cares for the vine, cutting and pruning so that it produces the maximum amount of fruit possible. Until He prunes you, you are likely to grow wild out of vision. Politely as we leave this, we want to ask, who is your prune master?
- Have you submitted yourself to the Vine Dresser to prune you? If not, you need to do it very quickly.
- O Father, work inside me to become what you really want me to be.
Further Reading: 1 Samuel 5:1-7; Lamentations 3:40-51; Romans 5:12-19
ESOCS Devotional 20 April 2024
