Part 22a – John 15

We finished chapter 14 by saying that the completeness of God is interested in the insignificance of me who will come and make his home in us. Let’s begin to unpack chapter 15 and see how this corporate unity of the completeness of God works out in life. 

The first thing to remember about this chapter is that it is a continuation of chapter 14 and so is therefore part of the same discourse that Jesus is giving to his disciples. 

Whilst he is saying to his disciples in John 14:30 “I do not have much time to talk to you” he reassures them that he and the father know what they are doing and in John 15:1 he says “I am the vine and my father is the gardener” immediately taking his disciples into a place of security where the gardener is in control and his disciples, along with us, the reader in the 21st century, can rest assured that God knows what he is doing. 

Jesus then says in John 15:2 that the gardener prunes the vine by removing the dead branches and cutting back those that do produce fruit in order that the vine will produce more fruit. 

It is the gardeners job to ensure that the vine produces fruit, the job of the gardener is never ending, he is required to prune, weed, water, care for and monitor the plants within the garden to ensure that the place is kept in a manner that pleases and provides a place of solace and encouragement for the owner and onlookers. 

Pruning of a vine is a necessary part of vineyard husbandry and is required in order for the vine to produce a good quality and quantity of grape and also to ensure that adequate young shoots are being encouraged for next season’s growth. Vines only produce fruit from shoots that are one year old and so require removal once fruiting has finished. 

So what Jesus is saying is that we all need pruning continually in order for us to produce fruit and for us to be prepared for fruiting year on year. 

What we observe about a vine is that a vine has a stock and branches but essentially they appear to be indistinguishable from each other, so when Jesus says in John 15:5  “I am the vine and you are the branches” what he is saying is I am the vine, you are the vine, I am the branch you are the branch. Essentially Jesus and I are one and the gardener does not distinguish between them, he selects the unhealthy branches and the branches that have already fruited he cuts off from the vine so that the vine will continue to be fruitful year on year. 

This pruning process is a continual process that is applied to our lives to make us fit for purpose, the purpose of producing fruit for the vinedresser who Jesus tells us in John 15:1 is his Father.

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