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Opening Prayer
Coming to read your Word today, Father, I am grateful that you speak to me through it, using it to encourage me, change me, and give me vision for your purposes in and through me.
Read JOHN 15:1–25
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
The Vine and the Branches
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also 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 you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This 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. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I 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. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This 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. 19 If 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. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’
Reflect
Take as much time as you can to look carefully at a tree or plant, noticing how the branches or leaves attach to the trunk or stalk. You could go outside, look out a window, or find a houseplant.‘Vine’ and ‘vineyard’ are used to describe and represent Israel in the Old Testament (e.g., Psalm 80). Jesus is a new revelation and fulfillment of this image: the ‘true vine’ (v. 1). This organic picture, both metaphor and symbol, helps me understand what it means to ‘remain in’ Jesus (see also 14:23). To ‘abide’ means to stay attached so you can keep growing and bear fruit. Jesus is the source of life-giving love.
Although Jesus is speaking to his disciples, the words are for us too (see 17:20–26). Jesus is God abiding with us; we are entering into their eternal relationship. We will join with Jesus to bring glory to God as we bring requests in prayer (v. 16). Loving one another is both his command (vv. 10, 12, 17) and the result of being loved by him (vv. 9, 12), but isn’t a guarantee of being loved by the world (v. 18).
There will be people and systems that oppose you. Remain in my love: keep receiving my love; keep listening to me and communicating with me; be obedient to my words; keep loving each other; stay loyal and faithful; keep me as your source of life.
Apply
To help you visualize what ‘fruit’ looks like, read Galatians 5:22–25. How do these verses speak into your life? How much of your prayer life consists of asking Jesus for more evidence of fruit in and through you?
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, I ask that your fruit expressed in my life be a testimony that bears eternal fruit in the lives of others.
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