¹ “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.”

Master teacher that He was, Jesus brought forward one of His farming illustrations. But we underestimate the divine Story-Teller if we fail to recognize the exquisite plot lines at various levels. Many layers of meaning await the devoted believer revealing truth upon truth, the beauty of God’s sweet communication to those who love Him and seek Him. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “Every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old” (Mt 13:52).

At this juncture, we aren’t sure whether the group was now on the way from the Upper Room (vs. 14:31 Jesus said, “Let us go from here”) and the rest of this discourse through chapter 17 was given on the way to Gethsemane. Or whether they remained in the Upper Room as John 18:1 seems to indicate. Regardless, Jesus’ teaching continued seamlessly.

On one level, interpreters of this analogy of the vine see Jesus teaching about individual spiritual growth—to continue in spiritual life one must remain connected to Christ. Yet at the same time, we recognize the vine motif that was often used in the OT to represent God’s people. For example, Asaph wrote, “You removed a vine from Egypt; You drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground before it, and it took deep root and filled the land” (Ps 80:8–9)-a clear reference to Israel (see also Ps 80:8, Is 5:2, Jer 2:21, Hos 10:1). Jesus is concerned about the health of the people of God, Israel. In this thinking, Jesus Himself is the vine, the true Israel.

Still another perspective is to see here the church, referred to elsewhere as the body of Christ. Jesus, then, is teaching ultimately about the health and growth of the new people of God, the church. This interpretation sees the church replacing Israel in the vine metaphor. But such would cause tension with Romans 11 which speaks of the Gentiles being grafted into the branches of the metaphorical tree, where clearly Israel comprises the so-called natural branches. Admittedly the plants are different (vine in John 15 and olive tree in Romans 11), but the concepts overlap. Jesus all along had been offering the long awaited Messianic Kingdom to the Jews, the people of God. Their rejecting it made room for Gentiles—but the vine did not change. God is still dealing with the people of God. To mix the two metaphors, Gentiles do not replace the natural branches, but are added along side of those natural branches that are pruned.

Lord, I am grateful as a Gentile, that You have given me the privilege to be grafted into Your vine, to become part of the people of God.