Reading through the Gospels #185
THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES
John 15:1-17
Having previously partially made notes on these verses, I am studying again to add to them. (June 2026)
15:1 Jesus is in the upper room during Passover with His disciples talking to them during the last supper. What jumps out to me in verse one is the word "true." Something that is "true" is the one and only authentic of that thing. Jesus is speaking these words, and He says He is the "true vine." He is the real deal. All others are false, which is the opposite of true. His Father (God the Father in the Trinity) is the vinedresser. People are the branches that are attached to the vine. A vinedresser is a like a gardener who takes care of his garden. A gardener can cultivate new plant varieties, or start new plants by seed, or by splitting plants at the root, or by cuttings that begin new roots. A gardener creates. Our God the Father is the Creator of all creation, which is represented as the vinedresser who cares for and creates the entire plant.
John 15:2 I made this garden analogy in April 2006. It focuses on God pruning. First, every branch that does not bear fruit would be a dead branch and it is cut off, just as unbelievers are cut off from God for eternity. Second, every branch that does bear fruit would be alive branches, just as believers are alive with God for eternity, and they are pruned so they can bear more fruit. To bear more fruit is a reference to the "Fruits of the Spirit" in Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." The "Fruit of the Spirit" are those godly character traits that the Holy Spirit cultivates in heart of a believer. The Holy Spirit works in us to make us feel guilty of our sin, to curb and correct us away from our sin, and towards producing more fruits. It is a life-long process called sanctification.
15:3 In these verses we read the word “clean” which makes me ponder the previous word for “purgeth” or “prune” in verse 2. Strong's Greek G2508 is the verb (kathairō), which means "to cleanse." In verse 3, the Greek Word for “clean” is G2513 (katharos) which is similar and means “clean” or “pure.” We are cleaned of our sins through the sanctification process, but only Jesus can make us clean forever and ever through the cross. During our life we work at being better and bearing more fruit, but we will always fail and therefore need Jesus. Jesus has already washed away all of our sins through the Word that Jesus spoke. The Word is God (John 1:1).
15:4-5 I abide (live there) in Jesus and He abides in me (my heart). God is the source of life, not only earthly life but eternal life. God also sustains me and preserves me in all that He creates here on earth. I cannot preserve myself. I confess that I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Apart from God in his creation I can do nothing, so God gets all the credit for anything that is done through me. Apart from Christ I can bear no fruit. See fruits of the Spirit in Galatians. One way to abide in Christ is through prayer. (dated January 14, 2022)
“Abide in me, and I in you.” I love that not only to I abide in Jesus, but He abides in me! The Holy Spirit is in me. Solomon 6:3, “I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine.” We are connected to Jesus forever and ever. Now that is a strong connection! As a person who loves wine and wineries and their fabulous views, I have walked in vineyards many time. I think of how the grapes cannot be created unless the vine is branches that they grow on are connected to the vine and then the vine is connected to the roots which get nourishment from the soil. If any of it is not connected, no grapes appear! Without God, I can do nothing. We have to stay connected. To stay connected to God, I read and study the Bible, pray, and attend worship, and hang out with other Christians.
CATECHISM: The Apostles’ Creed, Third Article, Part 1 (Holy Spirit) – What are good works in God’s Sight. A. they flow from faith in Christ as children of God.
The Apostles' Creed, Third Article, Part 2 (Holy Spirit) - What are some of the privileges and responsibilities of members of the church. A. We should regularly receive the Word and Sacraments within the community of believers. (aka abiding).
15:1-8 I made this graphic some years ago on the parable of the vine and the branches, verses 1-8, but I did not write any study notes, leaving my thoughts all on the graphic. The notes are as follows: A single vine supports many branches. Jesus is the vine | source of life, who supports Christian disciples. God is the gardener, who plants, cultivates, feeds, and cares for the branches. Every | all people pruned regardless. Do not bear fruit: takes away. Do bear fruit: prune to be more fruitful. Cutting off vs. Cutting back. Worthless branches | superficial like Judas. Infect the rest of the vine. Forgiveness | foretelling of the Good News. Already clean, for those times I do not bear fruit; do not worry. Relationship | Living. I abid in Jesus. He abides in Me. Apart from Christ | Unfruitful. I do not like it when people throw me away. Abide in Christ. won't be thrown away. Separated eternally | fire. Promise of God. Abide in me | Ask, it will be done. Not about ME. PERIOD. About Father to glorify Him. Give God credit for being the source.
15:6-8 Jesus repeats Himself as He explains the parable that anyone who does not bear fruit is thrown away like a branch and withers. Just as I have done many times in my own garden, the dead branches are easy to burn, so they are gathered up and burned in a fire until they are ashes and next-to-nothing. This correlates to a soul burning in hell for unbelievers. I am drawn to the words “thrown away” because I have repeatedly throughout my lifetime felt that people I have invested in heavily have not returned the same but rather thrown me away. They take from me and then when they have no use for me anymore, they toss the relationship away. It hurts a lot every time it happens. Here Jesus is promising to toss away any relationship that does not live in Him. To “live in Him” all I have to do is believe in Him! And I do! Therefore, it is actually a promise from God that He will never throw me away! How about that!
On top of that, Jesus promises that if I abide in Him, I can ask of Him anything I wish and it will be done for me. Now some folks misuse this verse in what we call “prosperity gospel.” Just being a believer and praying to God our requests does not guarantee we will get whatever we want. I could pray for a million dollars. How much do I really believe that it will be done? If I am truly abiding in Christ, I would not ask anything that is unfruitful. My requests are going to be aligned with God’s character in the fruits of the Spirit and, of course, He would grant those requests. He loves me and wants to give me the things I want just like any father would. But a father would not give me things that are unaligned, misaligned, crooked, skewed, or conflicting with the Will of God that all are saved or His desire for goodness in the world as I bear fruit.
My sanctification process to bear more fruit is a witness to Jesus. Jesus is glorified when I bear fruit. When I do good and people know I am a Christian, they see it and Jesus gets all the glory. Jesus is glorified when I pray requests that are in alignment with Him and others see that He answers the prayers. Answered prayers are a great witness to Jesus! Prayers answered with a ‘no’ or even with a, ‘go this way instead’ are not going to sway someone to believe in Jesus. Positively answered prayers are a persuasive witness to faith! The lesson here is that my staying in alignment while living out my life is an easy way to be a witness for Christ.
15:9-10 We love because He first loved us! 1 John 4:19 is one of my favorite verses and this John 15:9 reminds me of that. Here Jesus says He loves us because God the Father first loved Him. Jesus tells us to abide in His love. And if we abide in His love, we can spread His love to others! We love because He first loved us! Then Jesus makes it easy for us, sort of, in that He tells us how to abide in Him. Abiding in Jesus is keeping His commandments. That is easy, except it is not because we are sinners and cannot keep all of the law. Sigh. Which is why we need Jesus! So if we believe in Jesus, he washes away our sins and we have zero strikes against us and are thereby abiding in Him! Now that is even easier! Jesus reminds us that He has kept all of God’s commandments as He is the only man to ever keep them all. Jesus is 100% God and 100% man.
15:11 “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” This is our JOY challenge verse for June 20, 2026.
When I read that Jesus has spoken to me, I think about John 1:1 “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Word is SO important as I see it as being one and the same with God. The Word has power. Things happen when The Word is shared with others. There is power when we tell others about the parable of the vine and the branches and how we are to abide in Him and how love first comes from Him so we can share it with others. The Word is the means of grace and how others come to have faith.
Why does Jesus tell us all of these things? So that GOD’S JOY may be in me and that MY JOY may be full. There are two possessives of JOY here, one belonging to Jesus and one belonging to me. Staying connected to Jesus is where the living JOY is!
Jesus does not give me a long list of to-do’s and ways I can find JOY. Nope. Jesus offers me His JOY. It is free! The free gift of faith connects me to Jesus and I just need to stay there and live in that free life-flowing JOY. The branch is attached to the vine and life flows through the vine to the branch. It is free and life-flowing! The branch's only job is to just sit there, bask in the Son, look lovely, and let the infinite resources of the roots turn it into a fruit factory.
Jesus speaks to us about JOY on the night before his crucifixion. If I were to know I would die or leave my loved ones soon, I am sure I would have a list of things I wanted to make sure they knew. They would listen to my words more closely at that time and savor them forever. Or at least that is the hope. And one of the most important things to Jesus as he prepares to leave is of JOY.
Jesus does not tell His disciples, or us, to go out and manufacture their own JOY. I know I often equate the little things that I do that make myself happy as a self-gift of joy. However, that is my incomplete joy. It is joy that is missing that puzzle piece that fell onto the floor and seems lost that it will ever be complete. Life without that complete JOY can feel like staring at a nearly finished puzzle with one giant empty hole right in the middle of the sunset. It is almost beautiful, but my eye cannot stop looking at the spot missing a piece, focusing on how incomplete and disappointing the sunset is rather than being content.
My Mom has been doing a lot of puzzles in her later years, and I like to do them too but have no time, so I continue my thought process with the puzzle analogy. I imagine Jesus walking up to my chaotic life-puzzle, reaching into his pocket, and pulling out the exact original piece that has been missing since day one. He snaps it into place. Complete JOY! That’s it! Now I have used contact paper to hold together puzzles when my boys were young. We would put them together as a family and then hang them on the walls in their bedrooms. But Jesus does not use any kind of tape or adhesive to keep His life-puzzle together. Nope. I imagine that as soon as that missing original piece is placed, and the picture is finished, it is instantly one whole solid piece without cracks. It is now held together for eternity.
My joy without Jesus is like a glass half-full of my favorite drink. It is disappointing and does not satisfy thereby leading to a continual longing for my little bits of joy. Continually longing for joy is exhausting! My joy without Jesus is like a leaky bucket as it sometimes feels full and then the feeling drips away until I need more. My joy is like when I fill a bowl with cereal and then add too much milk and try to carry it to the couch. It may feel fully happy, but no matter how hard I try, it spills out and is wasted. My trial of "trying to be happy" expires quickly. I do not need a self-help class to learn how to be happy. Practicing mindfulness and good vibes is not the joy Jesus is speaking about. The JOY Jesus is talking about is in staying connected to the JOY in Jesus which makes my JOY full and complete. There is no more longing for more JOY because the need is satisfied and content.
The full JOY of Jesus is a gift that shifts my identity. A branch connected to the vine does not borrow sap that runs through it with an intention of giving it back later. The sap is the very lifeblood that defines the branch’s existence. It is a permanent transformation of identity. Jesus’s JOY is who I am and not just some temporary feeling. The vine is strong and the branches become strong as well. The branches are not some floppy half-existing feeling half-dead part of the plant. The whole plant is strong. The whole plant is, well, whole! A branch is not stressed out looking at the next tree wishing and wondering if it were better. Nope. The name of the vine is now its name and who it is forever and ever.
And going with the garden analogy I love to observe, when I plant up my garden like a piece of art imagining how it will all come together cohesive in the end, and months later I stand back and find JOY in it, it feels complete, and full, and I am satisfied. It is not complete and full because every leaf is flawless, but because everything is alive and connected to its source of life. In the same way when I am connected to Jesus, I am alive (forever and ever in eternity with Him) because I am connected to the source of life.
15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” This is an often repeated and thought of commandment. It sums up the second tablet of the commandments, with the first being to love God. It sounds like such an easy commandment, but it is far from easy because of our sin. I think about Jesus saying this as he was at the Last Supper about to leave to die on the cross, and how much love Jesus had for me and all humanity to die on the cross for me. Did the disciples get it? I feel aks if after His death and resurrection they must have looked back and reflected on His words and went “ah-ha!” And then, “How am I ever going to be able to love others THAT much?!”
CATECHISM: The Benefit of the Sacrament of the Alter (communion). Why should Christians be encouraged to receive the Sacrament frequently? D. As Chris has given Himself to us so completely with His body and blood, so, too, the Sacrament strengthens us to give ourselves in sacrificial love and service to the neighbor.
15:13 Jesus laid down His life for me, His friend, on the cross and there is no greater love than the ultimate sacrifice. What a friend we have in Jesus!!! Jesus says the second greatest command is to love others and then follows that up with a statement of sacrificial love. The mind first thinks of “taking a bullet” for a friend as in the movies or risking one’s own life to dramatically save someone else from peril. Sure, this extreme sacrificial love is included in this verse, but in what less extreme ways can I sacrifice myself for others. Thinking of “daily” life and the busyness thereof the most important thing to give up (sacrifice) is time. Give up what I’m doing in life and give it to the needs of others. It may be as simple as time in prayer or time listening. Putting others first of my own goals is giving up my life. Walk with your friends on their path for a while instead of your own life path. (dated February 12, 2022)
15:14-15 I have read these verses many times before, but I do not think I take them to heart. I still think of myself as a servant of God moreso than a friend. I serve God as I work to share God’s Word to grow His Kingdom. But here God says I am no longer a servant if I do what is commanded. Of course I cannot keep His commandments! I am a sinner! But He washes away my sins by His sacrifice on the cross and makes me like I keep all of His commandments. Servants do not know what a Master is doing, but a friend is close enough that he knows the plan. I know God’s Will and plan. It is that all be saved from their sins. It is true I do not know all the little details because I am not God or anywhere near His divine nature, but I do know the end goal of the plan because I am His friend. God’s plan was from the beginning and Jesus heard it from God the Father and Creator and now Jesus has told us while He was both man and God walking on this earth. What a friend I have in Jesus!
15:16-17 I think this is a key Lutheran theology verse as Jesus says, “You did not choose me.” We do not make a decision to choose Jesus. My faith is a free gift. If I make any choice at all, it is to reject faith. Jesus says, “I chose you,” because He does choose ALL people because He wants all people to be saved. But here Jesus’s “because” is different as He states He chooses us because He wants us to bear fruit and that our fruit abide. Sometimes I like to print out the fruits of the Spirit at tape them where I see them often because that is a sign that my faith is where it should be when I am and do those things. I need tangible happenings to know I am where I need to be and reflecting on this list helps me. Jesus continues his sentence stating that whatever I ask the Father in His name, He will give to me. He says this in the same power-packed sentence and it should not be taken out of context. Jesus chooses me to bear fruit and abide, and it is only from that bearing fruit and abiding that I can ask God for anything. From that stance of bearing fruit and abiding, I am not going to ask for anything that is not in alignment with God, so naturally He will give it to me.
Jesus repeats His commandment to love one another. All of the fruits of the Spirit are means of loving one another. Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
CATECHISM: The Apostles’ Creed, the Third Article, Part 1 (Holy Spirit) – Do people believe in Jesus because they decide to follow Him of their own free will? No. All who come to faith do so because the Holy Spirit works faith in them. If some do not have faith, it is because they have rejected the Spirit.