Abiding in the Vine

Abide in Me, and I in you. –Jn. 15:4

This familiar passage of the vine and the branches appears in Jesus' farewell address to His disciples. The discourse begins in the upper room where Jesus and the disciples are having their last Passover supper together. Jesus gives them a new commandment to love each other and tells them about the Holy Spirit who will come once He is gone. Then, at Jesus' direction, they all get up and leave, heading toward the garden of Gethsemane (14:31). On the way, Jesus continues His farewell by comparing Himself to a grape vine, "I am the true vine..." (15:1ff).

As Jesus extends the metaphor, He uses the word abide 10 times. Literally, to abide means for the branch to stay attached to the vine so that the pulsating, sustaining life of the vine may flow through the branch. Metaphorically then, Jesus is telling his disciples, "Hey, when I'm gone, don't desert me. Stay connected to me so my life will flow through you." But, what would it mean for Jesus' life to flow through somebody? In context, the main entities that flow through the branches are Jesus' words and the Holy Spirit. That's why Jesus says, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you..." (v. 7, emphasis added). Likewise, that's why Jesus says, "[The Spirit of truth] abides with you and will be in you" (14:17, emphases added). So, Jesus' words and the Spirit sustain the branches and ultimately lead them to produce fruit.

What is interesting throughout the passage is that Jesus puts His emphasis on abiding, not on bearing fruit. It is as if He is saying the fruit will come as long as we abide. May we all stay attached to Jesus so His life will pulsate through us. May we cherish Jesus' words and Spirit so that they will sustain us and cause us to bear much fruit!