I Am the Vine

Sixth Wednesday in Lent

March 12, 2008

John 15:1 & 5

[Jesus said,] "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ... I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

As we have talked about these statements of our Lord, we have yet to look at what they are not. When the Lord makes each I Am statement, He does not say that He is like a good shepherd, or that He is like a vine, and so on. When we use like, that way of speaking is called a simile; it is a way of comparing one thing to another.

If one is not familiar with something, giving that person something with which to compare it will prove useful. Let’s say, you’re not familiar with the platypus. So, I tell you that it’s kind of an odd animal in that it is a mammal, but it lays eggs like a bird. And, it has a big bill, kind of like a duck, while it has a tail like a beaver, and feet like an otter.

Notice all of the likes. It takes quite a bit of simile to describe the oddball platypus.

The Lord Jesus never uses the word like. Why is that? Isn’t He comparing Himself to things, which He is like? Exactly the opposite: Jesus is not like anything, but Jesus has created things in this world which are like Him, and help to teach us who He is.

When Jesus calls Himself the Light of the World, we know what light does, and how it benefits us, and so light has properties which are similar to God. Since Jesus is God in the flesh, Jesus tells us that He is Light—that He allows us to see Him, and He is the source of everything that can be seen.

So, we reach today’s I Am saying. Notice, again, that when Jesus talks about being a vine, He uses the word the, meaning that He is the only one, and when He says He is The Vine, He modifies the word vine with the word true.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener." To get an idea of what this means, we need to talk about how the relationship of God the Father and God the Son.

A couple of weeks ago, we listened to the beginning of John’s Gospel, where John sounds like the opening words of the Bible, as He wrote, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God." As John develops his report, we learn that, when He refers to God as the Word, He is referring to the second person of the Trinity—God the Son—and that God the Son is Jesus. Jesus is the Son, and the Son is the Word. Therefore, Jesus is the Word of God.

How did God create the world? He used words. He spoke, "Let there be light," and so on, for six days. The point is this: that God used words to create the world informs us that the world was created by The Word of God. And, who is The Word of God? The Son of God is The Word of God. And, who is the Son of God? Jesus Christ is the Son of God and, thus, Jesus is the Word of God.

Therefore, whom did the Father use to speak all things into creation? He used His Son, who became the man, Jesus. Jesus is the Word. Jesus is God. Jesus is I Am. This is Jesus’ world, that’s why He is the person of the Trinity who becomes one of us, to pay for our sin.

Now, to show why Jesus calls Himself The True Vine, I am going to use a simile. As the Bible uses The Word to describe who Jesus is, so that we understand that we are His creation, that Jesus now calls Himself The True Vine is like His being the Word.

Indeed, while we do not understand how things grow from words, we do understand how things grow from vines. So, in this I Am statement of our Lord Jesus, He is showing us that our life comes from Him, and we only remain alive when we remain attached to Him.

We understand branches. This spring, when the snow is finally gone, we will walk around our yards, picking up branches that came off the trees during the various winter storms. We will not put the branches back onto trees. That would do no good. Having come detached from their trees, the branches have died and are mostly good for feeding a fire.

The only way for a branch to remain alive is for it to be connected with the main plant. When a branch is connected, it gets life from the main plant. When a branch is connected, its leaves can work photosynthesis, and it can flower, and its flowers can sprout fruit.

Your Lord Jesus wants you to be a bearer of fruit, so He teaches you that you have to be connected with the main plant to do so. He is the main plant. He is the True Vine.

He calls Himself The True Vine to show us that only He is the source of life. Now, since Jesus is the True Vine, and your connection to Him is through faith, which He gave to you Baptism, and which He sustains through His Word and His Holy Communion, then what is the one life-sustaining thing you possess? Your branch is connected to the True Vine through faith. That makes your faith in Jesus Christ the most valuable thing you possess.

Jesus says, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Apart from Jesus, you are dead—you are a branch that has been broken from the tree and only useful to throw onto a fire. But, growing as a branch on Jesus, the True Vine, you are able to bear much fruit.

The first fruit of being a part of Jesus is the fruit of repentance. To repent means to turn from your sin and turn to your Good Shepherd, who shines His Light upon you, gracing you with the forgiveness, life, and salvation, for which He laid down His life upon the cross.

After you bear the fruit of repentance, you bear the fruits of good works. You know God’s Commandments, the holy way in which He made for you to live. As you are a lamb of God, who has the Light of the World shining in you, you work to love all people as you know the depth with which God loves you. Jesus gave you life, and died for you to have eternal life. As a branch on Him, the True Vine, you desire to give life to your neighbor, whom you will love as you love yourself.

Let’s work backward with what we have, so far.

• Jesus is the True Vine, from which all life grows and is supported As the source of life, He nourishes and protects life.
• He is the Good Shepherd. As the Best Shepherd, He gives up His life to the big bad wolf, so that sheep are not lost to death, the devil, and damnation.
• By His entire life in our flesh, Jesus shows Himself to be the Way, and the Truth, and the Life, so that we know the truth about the way to eternal life.
• He is the Way, because He is the Light of the World—the source of all things, visible and invisible, which reflect His glory.
• And, He is all of this good stuff, because He is I Am—the God of Moses, existing before Abraham, having no beginning and no ending, never changing, the same yesterday, today, and forever.

As this is our last I Am sermon before Holy Week, this pastor’s hope is that you know your Savior Jesus so much better, and more closely and wonderfully. On Maundy Thursday, as you prepare to commune with Him, you will hear that He is the Bread of Life; on Good Friday, that He is the Gate for the sheep; and on Easter, that He is the Resurrection and the Life.

He is Jesus. He is your Creator. He is your Savior. He is Your Lord. He is I Am . . . The True Vine on which you have life, and life forever. Amen.