As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love

Christ the true vine; 13th century.  Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece

 "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 

 

We are currently reading through Christ's words to the apostles at the Last Supper, in what is called the Farewell Discourse.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus said to them, "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 comments 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.  In the divine liturgy of the Orthodox Church, the bishop prays that the Lord will visit and confirm the vineyard, the local body of Christ, is planted with His own right hand (Psalm 80:15-16).  To abide in this vine is to abide in Christ and His Church.  My study Bible comments that 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.  In other words, abiding in Christ is dynamic and vitalizing.  Finally, the fruit 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 notes here that one cannot love God and disobey His commandments.  To love God, as Jesus taught in yesterday's reading, is to obey God (John 14:15).  

Jesus teaches us something more about love in today's reading.  He says,  "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love."   He seems to say to us, to tell us through these words, that love comes from somewhere.  Love has a Source, and that Source is God.  As long as we know that we are created by a loving Father, then we know that there is love, and that love is part of who we are because it comes from the ultimate Source of all things.  Jesus teaches 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."   We express and live our love for Christ by keeping His commandments, and in this way we become like Him -- for He has kept the Father's commandments and so abides in the Father's love.  He is inviting us into this depth of communion, which is a communion of love.  We may stop to think, in our modern context, that to follow the commandments of an authority figure, even a parent, doesn't necessarily translate into love.  We can, after all, receive abusive or wrong commandments in our lives, from those whose wills are unhealthy, unhealed, suffering, and all the ways in which our imperfect world expresses its imperfection.  But Christ is not speaking of worldly commandments and worldly authority; He is speaking and offering the opposite.  He's offering us the life of what is necessary for us, and that which is in so many ways missing in our world.  He is offering communion in and with the Source of all love, even as we are in a world distant and separate from that communion, with the "ruler of this world" an opponent to Christ.  He follows with, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."  He's offering us joy even when we have sorrow, even when we are disappointed and afraid, even abandoned by the people and things we are fond of in life.  For this joy remains in us when all else may fail.  For what Christ is offering is to abide in Him, and He in us, within the strength and Source of the Father's love, rooted in a place so deep within us we might not even know it's there.  This is the way Christ offers us love and communion, and all we have to do is love Him by following the commandments which are His words of life for us.  These commandments are for us, and they are the words of eternal life for us.  They are the words that share His love with us, and share with us His joy.  Let us take in all that we are offered, and take Him up on His offer, so that we may abide in His love, and joy may abide in us.