I Am the True Vine, John 15: 1-8

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that dies he prunes so that it bears more fruit” (Jn. 15: 1-2). This powerful metaphor reveals that God is the source and the power in and through which we live, move, and have our being. Jesus is the vine sown and tended by the Father and we are the branches that grow from the vine that is Jesus. Those who believe in him live in him and he lives in them, without him we have no supernatural life within us.

The good fruit that the Vine Grower and the Vine desires is made known in the ways that we live our daily lives serving others and their bodily and spiritual needs. Think here of the words of Matthew 25: 34-46: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me…whenever you did this for one of these least of my brothers and sisters, you did for me ” (vs. 34-36, 40). These are called the corporal works of mercy. In doing these things out of our love for Jesus and belief in his word, we show that we are the fruitful branches that have been pruned by the realities of our suffering and who respond to the suffering of others by willingly, joyfully and compassionately serving those who suffer in the world around us. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit…” (v. 5).

On the other hand, if we come to believe that we alone are the unconditioned power, that we are sovereign in and of ourselves, free from any other power; if we become forgetful of our need for God; if we become willingly indifferent of God as if God were of no relevance to us, we become separated from the source of life. “Apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned” (vs. 5-6). The purpose of the branches is to bear the fruit of the vine in the world. Anyone who has ever grown a fruit tree knows that for the tree to bear more and better fruit, it must be pruned regularly. The branches that are dead, that no longer receive the life-giving sap from the vine, are cut away, and burned in the fire, thus allowing those branches that remain connected to become more fruitful.

How are we “pruned”? How do we remain attached to the vine that is Jesus? We do this by steadily immersing ourselves in the liturgy of the Church, by actively and willingly cultivating a personal communion with God through regular prayer. It means reading the Scriptures, absorbing their meaning and purpose, taking in the true nourishment that is there for us to drink. It means regularly practicing the skill of self-examination to recognize and to confess our daily failures to be the good fruit of the Vine and our need for the life-giving grace of his forgiveness. The humble recognition that God is God and we are not, helps us to remain in him and he in us. It is to see and to give our deepest thanks to God for his generous graces at work in us in our daily lives. This is how we remain in him and he in us. If we do these things, God’s infinite graces flow in and through us and we begin to bear both spiritual and natural fruit that manifests itself in the ways that we love others as Jesus loves us.

“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. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete” (v. 10-11). This, then, is the ultimate message of this passage; by remaining true to Jesus, the Vine; by willingly and actively submitting to the will of God, who is love beyond the speaking of it, our lives will be filled with the love of God through which all things live, and move, and have their being. If we practice these things; if we humbly and willingly submit to the wisdom of serving God by serving others, we will become God’s good fruit in this world. In this our joy will ultimately be complete when he says to us, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (v. 34).