Wednesday, June 9, 2010

John 15, Week 1

Week 1 - The Vine and the Husbandman
John 15:1-8
Isaiah 5:1-11
Psalm 80

Questions:
Before the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, what are the comparisons in Scripture to the vine? Can you find any fruitful comparisons?

Have you ever pruned a bush or a vine? Explain the process. If you have never pruned a bush or a vine, please ask someone who has to explain the process to you, in detail. Write a paragraph about pruning, and why it is important in a plant.

Look up the meaning of the Greek word for prune or purge, kathairo. Why do you think our Father the Husbandman or the Vinedresser needs to prune us?

Devotion – Week 1
It had been an extremely tough and emotional week for Jesus and his disciples beginning with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and ending with the Passover supper. This was an evening of teaching, Jesus’ last opportunity to impart words that would last through the turmoil of the coming days. It started with the washing of the disciples’ feet, and though they saw through the glass darkly, this teaching later resounded with them and has become some of the most comforting Words ever written.

Jesus is the vine, He provides the roots, the nutrients, and all of us (the believing branches) flow from Him. The Father is the vinedresser, husbandman, or farmer, who has the job and the divine power to judge the branches fruitful or unfruitful. Jesus is using allegorical words, but the talk is about real people and what they do and don’t do in their every day lives, and whether or not they are truly part of Him, the true Vine.

Think about his words with regard to removing the branches that are unfruitful and pruning the others to make them even more fruitful in light of what we know of the followers who were sitting with him at the table. Judas Iscariot—the unfruitful branch—followed Jesus with the twelve the entire three years, yet left the room before the end of the evening to betray the Lord. Jesus had already warned Peter (Ch. 13) that he would deny Him, and although Peter was sure he was ready to “lay down his life” for his Lord, he could not. He needed to be painfully pruned.

Let’s talk a little about this process. First and foremost, the divine Vinedresser prunes the branches for His own glory. The Greek word for prune or purge, kathairo, means to cleanse of filth, impurity, etc., metaphorically from guilt, to expiate, and in the case of trees and vines, to prune the useless shoots. The Greek word katharos expands to cleanness and purity, in the physical sense as by fire, in the levitical sense as in the use of which is not forbidden, and ethically, to free from corrupt desire, sin or guilt.

For those of us who have pruned a tree or bush and have accidently clipped our own skin in the process, it hurts! Our pruning will most likely hurt. Cleansing will also hurt if one is dirty enough. Scrubbing dirt off can be painful depending upon how muddy the skin is or how embedded dirt has become in one’s skin.

In addition, depending upon the season for pruning, there is often a lot of just plain unnecessary foliage and growth that has nothing to do with the beauty of the real vine or plant that simply needs to go. The plant’s beauty is hidden under all that busyness. The “stuff” has to go, in order for the plant to bear the “fruit” or the beauty it is meant to have.

Jesus says we are clean. This means we are justified. However, the pruning is our sanctification. When I read the words of our Lord here, I am comforted that He is the Vine, but I hear commands, words of warning, prophecy. Would He be issuing a warning and instruction to abide in Him if it were not our responsibility to cling to the vine? He is faithful to give us what we need when we fulfill our responsibility: the Holy Spirit and His gifts, including answers to prayer.

He is very specific in His instruction:
  • Abide in me and you will bear fruit; apart from me you can do nothing;
  • Keep my commandments as I have kept my Father’s commandments (by abiding in His love);
  • Love one another, enough to lay down your life
  • Go and bear fruit for the Kingdom

Yet we the branches have to remain in the vine. We must abide [Gr. meno] (remain, continue, endure, dwell) in Him or we can do nothing. We will dry up [Gr. xeraino] (pine away, wither, waste away). This means we cannot give up—not even temporarily. Ever see what happens when you buy a nice hanging basket, then go on vacation and forget to ask someone to water it, even for a week? If we don’t have our living water, we too will be parched, needy and unfruitful. We could not abide, keep one commandment, love, or bear fruit. We cannot expect to thrive without nutrients, without being firmly rooted. His Word is fertilizer to our souls.

Is your Father the Husbandman currently pruning you? Is it painful? Does it feel that in the process you could indeed be ripped right away from the vine it hurts so deeply?

What kind of plant are you? What kind of fruit are you bearing?


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