The Vine and the Branches
1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.
The World Hates the Disciples
18"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. 23He who hates me hates my Father as well. 24If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason.'
26"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
Interesting points of Discussion:
- [See v.5] 'I am the vine; we are the branches'- Jesus should be the center of our lives because without him we are weak and lacking; many people today claim that living life to the fullest on their own is the way to go but Jesus seems to be saying that we actually won't be living life to the fullest unless we live it in him
- Making Jesus the center of our lives requires us to obey God's commands [see v.10]
- [See v.6] 'like a branch that is thrown away and withers'- when you don't allow Jesus to be the center of your life, you will struggle to grow spiritually and to fulfill God's will for your life
- We did not choose Jesus but he chose us [see v.16] to give us a destiny and a purpose- to work toward bearing 'fruit that will last', that is, eternal goals, with the final destination being Heaven
- And if we do accept this offer by remaining in God's will for us, we may ask and receive "anything"- wow, it sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?
- Jesus seems to be saying that being hated by the world isn't a bad thing because it means that he has chosen us [see v.19]
- [See v.2] 'every branch that does bear fruit he prunes'- God takes us through a maturation process in which He cuts off whatever is unnecessary or "infecting" the tree so that we will become even more fruitful; in another words, He "cleans" up our lives by refining us
- [See v.8] 'showing yourselves to be my disciples'- bearing the fruits of the Holy Spirit- peace, love, joy, attitude of praise, humbleness, is what glorifies God; being a believer in God is not about words or thoughts but ultimately your actions which are a result of those fruits produced
- The Holy Spirit is our helper sent by God who is the 'Spirit of truth' [see v.26], the truth about the Father and the Son, so that we may better understand who Jesus is and what he did
- [See v.13] 'he lay down his life for his friends'- just as Jesus laid down his life for us we should love each other and put our necks on the line for each other; this sacrificial love is shown by listening and paying attention to those who need God's word, giving, encouraging, teaching, etc.
