Jesus said: “I am the true vine, abide in me.”

I AM the true vine is the last of the I AM sayings.  In the Old Testament there are many times when the ‘vine’ is used to symbolise Israel and the first readers of his gospel would have understood this.  More importantly they would have known that when Jesus said I AM the true vine, he was saying that he was one with Yahweh, who revealed himself to Moses with the mysterious assertion: ‘I am whom I am.’  This was one of many sources of friction between devout Jews and Jesus: to them he was committing blasphemy by calling himself I AM.  In this case Jesus mentions that his Father is the gardener, showing that they are working together.

The disciples are about to face a very steep learning curve and Jesus is helping to equip them for the future.  It goes without saying that the words that he is speaking to them are also for us, in a different time and place but with the same need of God.

Generally the ‘I AM’ sayings incorporate an image which would have been familiar to the readers – the good shepherd, bread of life, light of the world etc.  And so it is with ‘the true vine’.  Coming as it does just after the celebration of the Last Supper ‘I AM the true vine’ can also be seen to symbolise the wine of the Eucharist.

Learning a bit more about the cultivation of vines can help us to understand more about this symbol.  I confess myself to be rather ignorant about such things and so had to do a bit of research, the results of which I am happy to share with you!  I am sorry to those of you who are familiar with such things but I hope you can be patient while I do a quick summary.  So here are some tips on how to grow a healthy vine.

First of all the vine needs to be firmly rooted in appropriate soil and watered and fed.  In due season it will grow: in winter it may appear to be dead, as the sap courses through it slowly, but it is still alive.   In the spring comes the new growth and in the summer the flowers.  Finally the fruit comes and for this to be of use it must be picked, not left to wither and die on the vine.

Vines grow slowly – it will normally be three years before any fruit could be gathered from them, but in the meantime they will require careful tending and this is a natural image for the care with which God tends His people.  It also reminds us that we need to support and nurture new Christians as they move along their faith journey.

The Acts reading that we heard tells us about someone at the very beginning of their Christian journey – an  Ethiopian eunuch who had been to Jerusalem to learn more about Christianity.  He left Jerusalem none the wiser.  Philip had received a message from God telling him to seek the Ethiopian out.  Gaza is 50 miles from Jerusalem so it is pretty remarkable that Philip found him – 50 miles is a long way and if one is on foot one needs a pretty good idea where to head for.

I don’t know whether you have ever asked God for directions when you’re a bit lost. I have done so once or twice.  The problem I have is truly trusting Him to tell me and then following His instructions.  Well Philip had no problem there.  He found the Ethiopian who was reading the prophet Isaiah and not making much sense of it.  Without someone to guide him, the holy book remained an intriguing puzzle; with Philip's help, it became a source of life.  Once the Ethiopian understood the message about Jesus he wanted to show outwardly that he was changed.  So when they came across some water, he asked Philip to baptise him.

This story serves to remind us that God works in unexpected ways: it would have been reasonable to assume that the Ethiopian had learned all he needed to in Jerusalem which was full of religious people.  However God appointed Philip to explain his faith to this person who was desperately seeking God.  God can call us into unexpected situations but He can only do this if we are open to Him and listening, if we are abiding in him.

Baptism is still the way that we show that we have embraced the Christian faith and it is at this point that we are figuratively grafted into the true vine that is Jesus.  He is the stem of the vine and we are  the shoots.  We are utterly dependent on him in the way that the shoots are totally dependent on the stem of the vine for physical support as well as food and water.  But although this is true once we are grafted in we only have to ‘abide in him’, that is to dwelling with him, a ‘being with’ rather than ‘doing for’.  As we worship and learn more about our faith so we grow and produce flowers and fruit.  If we are well established within the vine we produce fruit that will last.

There is another important part of cultivation of the vine that I have not yet mentioned – this is pruning.  The passage tells us that branches that are not fruitful must be removed. This is because they put a strain on the rest of the vine.  Also if dead wood is removed and the live wood just beyond it is cut into it becomes more fruitful.

The word in Greek for ‘pruning’ is the same as the one that is used for ‘cleansing’ which is probably a more useful word in this context.  Jesus cleanses us to make us more fruitful.  What that means is that those parts of us which are hindering our spiritual growth need to be removed.  As we continue to abide in the vine, so we bear fruit because he uses us as a channel.  The ultimate sign of that growth is the sharing of Christ’s love with others.  As we grow and bear fruit we learn to rely on him more and ourselves less, and so we are able to help others as well.  If we choose to separate ourselves from the stem we become dead wood and this is removed and destroyed.

Baptism is one of the ways that we are cleansed when we first become Christians but it is through repentance and forgiveness that we remain as branches feeding on Christ.  And part of our spiritual food is partaking of the wine in the Eucharist which is a reminder that Jesus is the true vine.  If we are truly abiding in Christ we will draw others to God and they too will achieve their full potential.

In John’s first epistle it says this:

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. ¹⁷Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world. ¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

If we abide in Christ, like Philip we will find the way that God has planned for us. Sometimes we may be pushed out of our comfort zone but God knows of what we are capable and if we abide in him, we may be amazed by what we can achieve.