Love = nutrients

John 15:1-9

¹ “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. ³ You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. ⁴ Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

⁵ “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. ⁷ But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! ⁸ When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

⁹ “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.

A lot of us don’t do a lot of gardening and most of us probably don’t have grape vines so sometimes the pictures painted in the Bible are not clear to us – so sometimes we have to go back to basics to really get the richness of what is being said.

Jesus describes himself as the vine (I am the vine) and each of us as the branches.

It is the vine that connects to the ground and gets the nutrients from the soil. It is the branches that bear the fruit. But the branches can only bear fruit if they are connected to the vine and the vine needs the branches to bear fruit. That is interesting – Jesus needs each one of us to bring his love (i.e. nutrients) to those around us. This means we need to be well connected to the vine so that we feel his love (i.e. nutrients) well and grow strong.

The Message version indicates we should make our home in Jesus. We have been talking in church about household faith – not only does that apply to each other – those ideas also apply to time with Jesus – making our home in him. Spending time together, doing things that build our faith together, bringing his love to those around us. If we think about our times with Jesus in a similar way we can build our home in him.

Dear Lord, thanks for the love that you have for each of us. Help us to connect into the love well – to be good, strong branches – so we can bring your love to all those in our circle – to bear amazing fruit. Amen

Written by Therese Manning