Connected

“I Am the True Vine”

John 15:1-8

I have wonderful memories from Kessab. When I was a child my parents used to send me to Kessab for the summer. Our home was a simple country home. In our garden, there was a vine. One of my favorite times was to climb on the tree next to that vine. Then on that tree, I used to look at the vine branches. They fascinated me. My imagination went wild. Sometimes I saw these branches as snakes crawling towards me. Sometimes I saw them as a net, weaved to each other like a carpet. I used to draw them. Moreover, I waited for month of August to reap the grapes.

Today’s passage talks about Jesus being the vine: “I am the true Vine.”

Please notice that since Easter I have been preaching different sermons related to the great “I AM” sayings of Jesus.

-On Easter morning we saw he was the resurrection. “I AM the Resurrection and the Life.” (John 11:25)

-On the way of Emmaus, he ended up in the house of the disciples having supper. There he took the bread, blessed it, and gave it to the disciples. “I AM the Bread of the Life.” (John 6:35)

-Last Sunday we were talking about Jesus being the shepherd and the gate. “I AM the Good Shepherd.” (John 10:11).

-Jesus is not just a good shepherd; he is also the one who lays his life for the sheep. He is the gate. “I AM the Gate for the sheep.” (John 10:7)

In fact, the “I AM” comes from the Old Testament. God revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush. When Moses was on the mountain, he asked God, “Who are you?” God said, “I AM who I AM.” God is the I AM. Here Jesus is giving more meanings to the expression by adding to the “I AM” new words, like the vine, the bread, the shepherd, the gate, the resurrection, the light, the truth and the life. All these I AM’s present an important truth. There is an intimate, day-to-day, personal relationship between God and us.

In all the “I AM” sayings, God is the center of the picture. In today’s imagery of the vine, Jesus is saying that He is the Vine and we are the branches. As long as we are connected to the Vine, we can survive and be fruitful. As long as we connected to Christ, our lives can be healthy and full of vitality. We should always remind each other that we are not the bread, the light, the door, the shepherd, the life, the way, the vine. We are only the WITNESSES to the GREAT I AM. I repeat, God is the center, Christ is the center. We are the branches; we are the reflection of the main light; we can be new shepherds if THE Good Shepherd is our shepherd. We are the extension of the main branch. I am stressing this point to make sure we as church members become careful in knowing where we stand in our Christian faith.

Let us examine today’s picture:

1. Jesus is the Vine, the trunk out of the ground.

2. God is the gardener, who takes care of vineyard and specially prunes the branches to bear more fruit.

3. We are the branches. Some do not have fruits, some do and can have more.

There are two important facts in this picture: Pruning and Abiding. Both are important for a healthy vineyard.

Pruning

“He 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.” (2)

No one enjoys pruning. My friends in Ainjar who had vineyards, taught me that there is time to prune branches. Vineyards have a tendency to grow fast and develop a lot of branches and leaves. You might think it is healthy, but in fact the vine will be week and the shade from large leaves will not allow the sun to come in. The gardener will enter the field and prune the vineyard. It must be done.

God prunes the branches. This is an important process in our Christian life called sanctification. We all are invited to live a life of holiness and purity. If we want to stay connected, we need to be cleansed and pruned. We have no choice.

We will continue in English.