A Vine, Branches, and Fruit!

John 15:1-10

     This section of the Scripture is one of my favorite, perhaps because I love the beautiful picture Christ paints for us with His words. They remind me of the grapevines my Grandmother had planted in her back yard, full of grapes - and the jelly she would make when they were ripe!

      It's easy to envision Christ as that vine - deep roots drawing nutrition up from the soil, through the branches, producing an abundance of  sweet, ripe fruit.

     We are compared to the vine's branches. A branch takes the nutrition from the vine and passes it on to the fruit. It also holds up the heavy clusters of fruit that the vine produces. The branches that aren't bearing fruit get pruned away, if they were left they would take away from the production of fruit - which is the purpose of the grapevine. The most beautiful branches on my Grandmother's vine were worthless if they didn't produce fruit!

     They were also worthless if they didn't stay connected to the vine! Without the vine they would wither up and no nutrients would be passed on to make the fruit. In the same way, fruit will only be produced in our lives if we stay connected to the True Vine, Christ! We are to "abide" in Him - to remain... reside... dwell... to continue in the relationship...

     Christ, the True Vine, loves us, His branches! He tells us to dwell right there in His love, and how can we do that? By keeping His commandments. When a lawyer asked Jesus, "What is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus replied, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:36-40)

     Keeping Christ's commandments and loving like this is impossible on our own, but when we "abide", remain...reside...dwell...continue in our relationship with Christ, the sweet, ripe fruit of love will be produced! A love beyond here and now to eternity!

     Which is a whole lot longer than Grandmother's jelly lasted...