Jesus Image of Himself as the True Vine. John 15; 1-11 Essay

Jesus Image of Himself as the True Vine. John 15; 1-11 - Essay Example The sap in the vine gives power to the branch so that it may bring forth fruit and thus, detaching the branch would mean the end of the fruit bearing ability of the branch. He explains further that every fruit bearing branch is pruned so as to enhance its fruit bearing potential. The Gospel of John according to John Donahue’s commentary does not narrate the stories of Jesus in parable form like the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke for the reader to decipher meaning, which makes it different from them in this respect. Though the Gospel is symbolic, yet it is simple and in many instances, Jesus explains the spiritual lesson like in this instance. Jesus wanted to bring the Spiritual message across to the disciples about the importance of abiding, stressing the same in 5 where He says, â€Å"for without me you can do nothing†, and it would also be worthy to note that the word abide is repeated seven times between verses 1 to 12. Just as a detached vine cannot bring forth f ruit and is not worthy for any purpose pertaining to fruit bearing other than to be thrown into the fire, thus also was Jesus teaching His disciples that their fruit bearing potential depended on their abiding in Him at all times (Michaels, 1998). The parable also is a continuation of His last words and instruction which He had started in John 14, before he was crucified, rose up again and was taken up to heaven and thus has very great significance in the continuation of the ministry He had started and which was to continue without Him being physically present with His disciples (Nissen& Pedersen, 1999). Just as the fruit bearing ability exists in the vine and not the branches, Jesus wanted to drive the point home in verses 5 to 7 that their victory pertaining to the bringing forth of fruit lay by the disciples’ abiding or remaining in Him. In other words, it implies that He was going to produce His fruit in them, since they were now the body of Christ. Jesus talks about His abiding in the love of the Father in verse 10, and challenges His disciples also to abide in His love. He desires to establish a relationship with His disciples, which is based on abiding, just as is the case of His relationship with the Father (Moloney& Sacra, 1998). Jesus has done this by obeying the commandments of the Father and would like the same repeated in His relationship with His disciples, in other word, fruit bearing was to be enhanced as the disciples maintained their relationship with Jesus. The Father would be glorified as Jesus said in verse 8 when the disciples bore much fruit, and this would signify that they were Jesus’ disciples. Since there was poor to bring forth fruit in Jesus, it meant that just as a branch automatically brings forth fruit as long as it is on the right tree, multiplication was going to be automatic and also was the production of other fruit was required of the disciples. Concerning the notion of cutting of branches that did not bear fr uit as narrated in verse 2, this is more of a warning to the disciples that their failure to abide in Christ would make them unfruitful and thus make them liable to be removed by God. Jesus was speaking these words to eleven of His closest disciples because at this time, Judas had already left the group to prepare to betray Jesus. Jesus reminds the disciples that they are to abide in Him at all times and not only when it was convenient for them (Michaels, 1998). The verse also speaks another type of cutting that would enhance