NOTES for Joh 15:1-8
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. |
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. |
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. |
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. |
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. |
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. |
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. |
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. |
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Today's reading lets us see the foundation of what is, properly speaking, called Christianity. Jesus tells His disciples: I am the vine, and My Father is the vinedresser (v. 1). The image of the vineyard was already a symbol of the messianic Kingdom among the ancient prophets. And by calling Himself the vine, Jesus bears witness to Himself as the spiritual core of this Kingdom. This is not about some new religion of the Kingdom founded by Jesus. The vine is not a teaching and not a religion, but Jesus Himself. He is the One who brought the Kingdom into the world, and if it can exist, it is only because He will continue to remain its center and support. Jesus carries in Himself the fullness of God, and therefore also the fullness of the Kingdom, which is inseparable from His Person. In philosophical language, this is an ontological unity; it cannot be destroyed. And the Father truly is the vinedresser, for it is His power that gives life to the Kingdom, and Jesus reveals His fullness to the world (John 14:8-11).
Christianity, then, is life in the Kingdom, life inseparable from the life of Jesus Himself, who compares His disciples to the branches of the vine (vv. 4-5). This, properly speaking, is Christianity in the Gospel sense of the word: living one life with Christ in His Kingdom. As we can see, one can speak of Christianity only when the life of Christ's followers is as inseparable from the life of the Savior as the life of the Savior Himself is inseparable from the life of the Father. The unity of the Kingdom is determined not by a shared teaching, religion, or morality, but by a shared life.
And life depends on the sincerity and trust of the relationship between Jesus and those who seek the Kingdom. That is why, as we can see, those entering it need the cleansing by the word that Jesus mentions when He tells the disciples about the Kingdom (v. 3). To be a Christian means, properly speaking, to live the life of the Kingdom. All the other elements of Christian tradition are needed only for this "cleansing by the word"; they are only the means needed so that the words Jesus once spoke may sound again and again, becoming a guide for new generations seeking the Kingdom.
There can be no other Christianity by definition: Jesus Himself points to Himself with complete clarity as the only foundation of the Kingdom, and therefore of the Church. Any alternative is, in the Savior's language, the alternative of a "withered branch," doomed to destruction (vv. 4-6).
And this is no surprise: in the untransformed world that lies in evil, there is nothing that can give life to the person seeking the Kingdom. The world is vast, but there is only one Source of life in it. Whether to accept Him or reject Him is something each person decides.
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