Abide in Me, and I in you

 

Vine and branches harvest, 4th century Byzantine mosaic; Mausoleum of Santa Costanza, Rome, Italy

 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  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.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  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.  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.  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.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.  

"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  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.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

 

- John 15:1–11 

 

Currently we are reading Christ's Farewell Discourse which He gave at the Last Supper.  Yesterday, we read that He said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.  A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also.  At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."  Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.  He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.  These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.'  If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.  And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.  I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.  But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do.  Arise, let us go from here." 

 

 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  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.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  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.  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.  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.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."  My study Bible tells us that the vine is a symbol of Israel (Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21).  In contrast to disobedient and unfruitful Israel, it says, our Lord calls Himself the true vine, which together with the branches constitutes a new and fruitful people of God:  the Church.   At the Divine Liturgy, the bishop prays that the Lord will visit and confirm the vineyard, the local body of Christ, which was planted with His own right hand (Psalm 80:15-16).  To abide in this vine, it adds, is to abide in Christ and Christ's Church.  The figure of the vine and the branches shows, first, that our union with Christ is intimate and real.  Second, that life flows from the vine to the branches -- to abide in Christ is dynamic and vitalizing.  Finally, the fruit which we bear is both good works and mission (John 15:16; 17:18). 

 

 "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  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.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."  My study Bible reflects that one cannot love God and disobey God's commandments.  It states that to love God is to obey Him (John 14:15).  

Some of us might be put off by Jesus' insistence (now seen several times, and in various forms, in the Farewell Discourse) that to love Him is to keep His commandments.  We might consider this in light of political thought and democratic values, or autocratic parenting that demands absolute obedience.  But then we would be forgetting that God is love, and that what it means to follow Christ's commands is to abide in that love.  That is, to abide in His love, which is the source and understanding of what love is and does.  Therefore by so doing, we learn ourselves what love is, and how to love in turn.  ("We love because He first loved us" - 1 John 4:19.)  In today's reading, Jesus emphasizes the need to abide in Him.  This is the only way we can truly bear fruit, the kind of good fruit that Christ seeks.  Jesus says, "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  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."  He gives Himself, once again, as the example.  He keeps the Father's commandments, and abides in the Father's love.  So we are to do the same with Christ.   He gives us the image of the vine and branches for this; as branches, we must bear good fruit, and there is only one way to do that -- by abiding in the vine.  Note that He also says, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  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."  Those branches which fail to bear the spiritual fruit desired will be pruned away, removed from the vine.  And even those that bear fruit will also be pruned in and of themselves, so that they produce more.  This gives us an image even of how Christ's commandments shape our lives, as we grow in discipleship, learning His "way," and discard or cast off those things we come to understand as hindrance, stumbling block, the "wrong way."  This is a dynamic image of love, in which there is give and take; we are given His commandments made in love, and in turn we show love by learning from Him, abiding in Him and His commandments, living His life that He shows to us and offers us.  So we also become bearers of fruit, and we are in turn "pruned" in order to more abundantly bear that fruit.  This is a dynamic, powerful, loving relationship -- and He describes what it means to "abide in Him" in ways that make it clear that this is growth and a process that doesn't end, but also extends to the world and keeps growing, both internally through God's love and work, and externally through whatever fruits are produced and made to grow even more abundantly (see Matthew 5:16).  So, we have a dynamic lifetime ahead of us, couched in Christ's love, and through that love, His teachings for us, His guidance, His leading.  Let us bear the fruit He seeks, and abide in His love, learning His commandments more fully day by day.  He gives this word, He says,"that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."