The Ambition of a Great Harvest (John 15:1-17)
1. The Vine, Its Branches, and Its Fruit
1.1 The True Vine (vv. 1–3)
Jesus says that he is the "true vine", or "the true stock" (the base of the vine), and his very intentional use of this image has two main reasons.
The first is that this is an image used by several Old Testament prophets to speak of Israel, God's chosen people. On the whole, the texts that present Israel as God's vine are rather critical: they are pictures meant to show that God cared for his people and yet the people did not produce fruit that pleased him.
When Jesus says that he is the "true" vine, he is saying that the true Israel will now be those who are attached to him, as branches of the vine. And he is also saying that this vine will produce the right kind of fruit.
The other reason Jesus uses the image of the vine is that it lets him communicate the dynamic between him, us, and God the Father. Jesus says he is the vine; we are the branches. So we really are part of the vine when we are attached to him! That is precisely the difference between the vine and the branches.
A vine without a branch can still grow a new branch to produce fruit. Whereas a branch without the vine… is of no use at all. A branch that is not attached to the vine produces no fruit and serves no purpose. In the same way, a branch that produces no fruit must not be kept on the vine: every branch that bears no fruit is cut off by the gardener.
Here we see the role of the Father: the gardener. The one who cares for the vine, who supplies the vine with what it needs, the one who also removes the branches that bear no fruit. The one who also tends and prunes the branches that do bear fruit. Yes, even the branches that bear fruit must be pruned, tended, so that they bear even more fruit.
1.2 The True Fruit
What fruit are we talking about here? In the Old Testament, we hear of the fruit of righteousness. Obedience to God, obedience to his commandments. The opposite would be injustice, violence, sin. Here, in this text, Jesus also mentions obedience to the commandments, and he sums them up in a single commandment: love. That does not mean he abolishes every kind of commandment or instruction, but he establishes that they all flow from this one: to abide in the love of God and to love our neighbors.
But Jesus does not give a narrow definition of "bearing fruit" here. We can say it is everything done, by his disciples, in full communion with Christ and his work. Everything done in communion with the love of Christ, everything done in communion with the mission of Christ. Love for God and neighbor, respect for the teachings of Jesus, a faithful witness to his gospel, a joy full of gratitude. All of this is the fruit borne by a branch attached to its vine.
1.3 "Abide": The Thread Running Through the Passage
But only by a branch that abides in the vine. That verb, "abide," is the most frequent word in this passage: it appears more than ten times. It is the thread that ties together the whole meaning of this text:
"Abide in me, and I in you." (v. 4)
"Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." (v. 5)
"If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers." (v. 6)
"If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." (v. 7)
"Abide in my love." (v. 9)
"If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love." (v. 10)
"These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you." (v. 11)
"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide." (v. 16)
Notice that this repetition is intentional. This word, this verb, ties the different ideas of the text together into a single dynamic. When we abide in Jesus, he abides in us. We abide in Jesus when his words abide in us. When we abide in Jesus, we abide in his love. When we abide in Jesus, his joy abides in us. When we abide in Jesus, we bear fruit, and that fruit abides. It is not just something temporary.
When Jesus tells his disciples to abide in him, it is more than a simple exhortation to "stay on the right path." It is a call to be constantly aware of our union with him, of our attachment to the vine. When we know that we "abide" in Jesus, this gives us both a confidence in his love for us (because we abide in his love) and also humility, because we remain aware that without Jesus we can do nothing that will truly last. As he says in verse 5: "apart from me you can do nothing."
2. God's Ambition for Us
2.1 Humility and Ambition: "Up or Out" (v. 2)
And here again we see the tension between humility and ambition that Jason mentioned last week. Humility, because without Jesus we can do nothing. But the program is highly ambitious: in verse 2 we read that every branch that bears fruit is pruned, cleansed, so that it bears even more fruit, much fruit. We are in an "up or out" dynamic: either a branch bears no fruit, and then it is removed, or it bears fruit, and God works on it so that it bears more and more fruit.
There is no third option, no third way where a branch sits there bearing a little fruit, now and then, and is simply left alone like that. No. Abiding in Jesus always produces a transformation, a transformation that continues throughout our Christian life.
2.2 Sanctification: Distinct From, but Inseparable From, Justification
We are indeed talking about what we call sanctification. Sometimes when we speak of the gospel, when we speak of salvation, we tend to speak first of justification: through the death and resurrection of Jesus we are declared righteous before God, declared perfect, without any condemnation.
But here we are talking about sanctification: believers, through the work of the Holy Spirit in us, grow progressively in their obedience, their love, their righteousness. They become - little by little, and sometimes with quite striking progress - what Jesus has already declared them to be. Through sanctification, we bear more and more fruit.
But here is something important to know: while justification and sanctification are two works of God that we can distinguish, we cannot separate them. We cannot say, "Oh no, I don't want the full menu, I just want justification." Look at the text: the branches that abide in the vine bear fruit. Much fruit.
In verse 16 we also see that sanctification is not an extra, an additional and optional experience of the Christian faith, it is the very reason God chose us. It is God's ambition for us!
"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide."
Why does Jesus want us to bear fruit? Because this is what glorifies his Father (v. 8):
"By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."
God displays his glory through his children who live according to his character, who put his love into practice, who bear witness to his greatness and his salvation.
Have you ever wondered, "Why, after we are saved, does God keep us here instead of bringing us home to himself right away?" This is why: "I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide." That is God's ambition for us, a verse we should know by heart.
2.3 Chosen and Sent to Bear Fruit (vv. 13–16)
God has a plan, an ambition. He chose Abraham to be part of this invitation, we saw that last week. He has chosen us too! It is, in a sense, the same ambition: to bless the whole earth from a people who have a source, the vine Jesus.
And just as Abraham was called a friend of God, because God shared his plan with him and made him part of his ambition, Jesus also calls us his friends, not merely his servants, because he has revealed to us his plan, his mission, his Father's ambition for us. So when he asks us to keep his commandments, it is not as mere executors, but as accomplices in a highly ambitious plan that has been revealed to us in his word, as accomplices in the mission of the vine, which is to bear a great quantity of fruit, so that it may cover the whole earth.
In Jesus, we are called to express a love for one another that reflects the love he showed in laying down his life for us. In him, we are sent, just as Jesus was sent by the Father, to bear witness to his Kingdom everywhere in the world. In him, we have access to all the blessings we need in order to bear fruit.
This, in fact, is what the two verses here about prayer are speaking of. It is not a blank check, as if "if you are in this spiritual state, you have the right to ask whatever you want and God will do it", but rather that God grants us in prayer what we ask "in Jesus' name," in order to accomplish Jesus' mission according to the Father's will.
"In Jesus' name" here is not a formula that gives power to a prayer. Picture the director of a company, who has the right to make requests in the company's name. Or an assistant, who has the right to make requests in his boss's name. But in either case, they cannot make requests that contradict the one they represent. So "whatever you ask in my name," which Jesus mentions here, is at once an authorization to pray in his name, an encouragement to pray in his name, but also a condition for praying in his name.
3. Conclusion
What should we take from all this? And above all, how do we live it out, concretely, this week?
Abide First, Bear Fruit Afterward
Notice that here, fruit is spoken of as a consequence of abiding in Jesus. It is not because we bear fruit that we have been attached to the vine — we could never have done that on our own. But because we abide in the vine, we bear fruit.
That is why Jesus insists on the verb "abide": "abide in me." This is not an invitation to try to produce fruit by sheer willpower. Concretely, it means nourishing our union with Christ: through his word, which must abide in us; through prayer, by which God will give us what we need to bear fruit; and within his church, in love for the whole of God's vine.
Accept Being Pruned, in Order to Bear More Fruit
It is clear in the text that God tends the branches of his vine, that he cleanses them so that they bear even more fruit. Sometimes this pruning is something as simple as a word we read or hear that speaks to us, which the Holy Spirit uses to make us grow in maturity. Sometimes it is not comfortable: a trial, a difficult correction. But let us remember one thing: when God prunes a branch, it is not to punish it, it is precisely because it is already bearing fruit, and because his ambition for us is great. Let us not resist the work God is doing in us.
Fruit Turned Toward Others
The fruit Jesus speaks of is never a private fruit, kept for oneself. Nor is it an inward-looking love within the community, a comfortable cocoon. Yes, it is "love one another," but it is also a sending: "I appointed you that you should go", a witness given to the world, showing by our words and our actions the great Savior to whom we are attached. A church truly attached to the true vine does not turn in on itself; it bears fruit for the whole earth.
A Great Ambition That Includes Us
And this is perhaps the most astonishing thing. When Jesus unfolds his ambition (to cover the earth with fruit, for the glory of the Father), he does not treat us as mere executors who are handed orders without anything being said or explained. To us, he has revealed his plan, his ambition, his kingdom, and his salvation. It is an ambition that includes us not only as co-participants, but also as co-beneficiaries of the plan.
Just as Abraham was blessed in receiving God's ambition, Jesus makes us share in his own. So we are not labor in the service of a project that surpasses us and ignores us: we are invited inside God's ambition, to understand its meaning and to find our place in it, so that our joy may be complete.
