GLORIFYING GOD AND THE VINEYARD

JOHN 15:1–17

As Jesus continued to teach his final lessons, he spoke to his disciples using the image of a gardener, a grapevine, and its branches. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. . . . You are the branches” (John 15:1, 5). Jesus employed this image at that time for a reason.

The climate and topography of the Promised Land are exceedingly favorable for growing grapevines. As a result, in Bible times almost every village in the hill country was surrounded by vineyards and had at least one winepress for processing the grape harvest.42 But even today, despite more favorable growing conditions, the grapevine remains one of the most demanding of all crops to grow, requiring significantly more time and attention than wheat or olives.43

The purpose of planting the vineyard was to produce grapes. In Jesus’s illustration, God the Father is the Gardener who does everything possible in order to ensure good fruit. The tasks required of the gardener included preparing the field by removing the large stones, which were then used to build terraces. Moreover, the gardener built watchtowers and winepresses (Isa. 5:2) and then planted the choicest vines. Knowing that the grapes might become sour as a result of dewfall if they were lying on the ground, the gardener placed a large rock under each cluster to lift the grapes off the soil. As the vines grew, he meticulously pruned the vines, removing unproductive branches, which in turn stimulated greater fruit production from the other branches of the vine.44 The gardener then piled the pruned grapevines on top of the rock terrace wall in order to build an ancient form of barbed-wire fence in an attempt to protect the vineyard from unwanted animals entering the vineyard and decimating the produce. After the grape harvest the women gathered the pruned grapevines from the terrace walls and burned them as fuel for baking and for warmth in the winter.

Judean vineyard. In Bible times, grapevines grew on the ground.

Vineyard terrace wall and hedge.

Continuing his illustration, Jesus described himself as the vine and his disciples as the branches (John 15:5). Like the branches, if the disciples were disconnected from the loving care of the Gardener and from the nourishment of the vine, they would have no life or fruit. So Jesus said, “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me” (John 15:4).

Jesus then said, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8). The reason God (the Gardener) is glorified when the branch bears much fruit is because the branch had nothing to do with the growth of the fruit—it is all the doing of the Gardener. Thus Jesus used this common image to teach and encourage the disciples because he knew the difficulty they were about to encounter. The disciples could not withstand the dreadful hours that lay ahead on their own power, but there was assured hope—to abide in the vine. Therefore Jesus’s words to the disciples were a reminder that any life they wished to have could be sustained only if they remained in him. It was the fruit of love that would prove them to be his disciples, and they could only have this love because of their heavenly Father’s work as the Gardener (John 15:8–9).

Grapes near harvest time growing in a vineyard.

Agricultural watchtower built for the vineyard.