5th Sunday of Easter (Year B)

Acts 9:26-31;
Ps 22;
1Jn 3:18-24;
Jn 15:1-8

BIBLICAL-MISSIONARY COMMENTARY

Christ, the True Vine

The Gospel of this fifth Sunday of Easter presents us with the beautiful discourse of Jesus, who, continuing his so-called farewell Discourse at the Last Supper before the Passion, reveals Himself to His intimate disciples as “the true vine”. These words, spoken in such a special situation, require, then as now, that all faithful disciples of Christ listen seriously and reflect constantly in order to grow more and more in faith and knowledge of the identity and mission of their divine Master. Therefore we invite everyone to enter into a kind of lectio divina of the passage, pausing on almost every sentence of the discourse, in order to grasp not only the content, but above all Jesus’ heart, which beats behind every word whispered to His own, almost like a spiritual testament.

1. “I Am the True Vine”: The Self-Revelation of Jesus’ Identity and Mission in Jn 15:1-8

Jesus’ quoted pronouncement is part of the set of seven Christological “I am” self-revelations with nominal predicate in the Fourth Gospel, in which Jesus applies concepts or images known in the Jewish tradition to Himself (cf. Jn 6:35: the bread of life; 8:12: the light of the world; 10,7,9: the gate for the sheep; 10:11,14: the good shepherd; 11:25: the resurrection and the life; 14:6: the way-the truth-the life; 15:1,5: the true vine). Thus, after last Sunday’s image of the Good Shepherd, which evoked the reality of shepherding, we are confronted with another image from the agricultural world, no less eloquent, which describes the identity-mission of Jesus. He is the vine, the true, as literally expressed in the original Greek, in a twofold intimate relationship with the Father, the vine grower, and with His disciples, the branches.

Jesus’ declaration that He is “the vine” is undoubtedly the key image or theological focus of this passage (Jn 15:1-8) and of the entire larger discourse that ends with Jn 15:17. Indeed, this statement is repeated verbatim in v. 5, and the related metaphor of “bearing fruit” as the disciples’ task is echoed again toward the end in v. 16: “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain Jesus applies to Himself the image, as striking as it is unheard of, that is found only here in the New Testament. The term he ampelos “the vine” occurs in the fourth Gospel only in our pericope (three times), while it occurs elsewhere in the synoptic gospels three times (Mt 26:29 // Mk 14:25 // Lk 22:18), once in Jas 3:12 and twice in Rev 14:18.19, but always in its primary sense of a biological plant. Why then does Jesus use the metaphor “the vine” for the revelation of His identity?

Although there are many hypotheses, it should be noted that this image seems to be well rooted in biblical and Jewish tradition (with an emphasis on the fruitfulness of the vine). Indeed, as Beasley-Murray summarizes, the metaphor of the vine or vineyard for Israel is frequently found in the Old Testament (cf. Hos 10:1-2; Is 5:1-7; Jer 2:21; Ezek 15:1-5, 17:1-21; 19:10-15; Ps 80:8-18), rabbinic tradition (Israel as vine in Rab. Lev. 36 [133a]). Moreover, the vine as a symbol of the Jewish (chosen) people was a very common image in the time of Jesus: on coins and pottery of the Maccabean era, as well as, and this should be emphasized, on the door of the sanctuary of the Herodian Temple (Giuseppe Flavio, Ant 15.395). Biblical scholars point out a striking fact: every time in the Old Testament, when Israel is described as a vine or vineyard, the people are placed under divine judgment for corruption and sometimes inability to bear fruit (cf. e.g. Is 5:1-7; Jer 2:21). The text of Is 5:1-7 is then used by Jesus as the background for His parable of the murderous vine-growers in Mark 12:1-11 (and in parallel texts).

In light of the above, one can sense a polemical intention in the adjective “true” added in the original Greek immediately after Jesus’ declaration of being “the vine”. Perhaps it is intended to emphasize that Jesus is now this “true vine,” that is, the true Israel, in contrast to the “Israel of the flesh,” which has continually failed in its mission-identity in its relationship with God the Father. Moreover, one can also sense the possible tensions within the Johannine community at the time when so many false or anti-Christian teachers were appearing (cf. 1Jn) (hence the insistent call to remain [only] in Jesus by keeping His commandments and loving one another in order to bear fruit that will last and to “become” His disciples again, as well as the paradoxical description of the branches [vv. 2-6] that are already in Jesus but do not remain in Him and therefore do not bear fruit and will be take away!)

2. “My Father is the vine grower”: The Revelation of the “Collaboration” Between Jesus and the Father in the One Mission

The image of the Father as vine grower somehow validates the “true” character of the vine that is Jesus. That is, the vine is true because it is planted and tended by the Father of Jesus, who is the only true God, as later stated in Jesus’ long prayer before the Passion: “Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ” (Jn 17:3). On the other hand, the close relationship and collaboration between Jesus and His Father in their actions and, in general, in their mission (v. 2) is evident here. Such “missionary cooperation”, to use the modern expression from the Church documents, between the Father and the Son is emphasized several times in John’s Gospel (cf. e.g. Jn 6:44): “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day”). However, it must be remembered that the description of Jesus and the Father in vv. 1-6 of our text today is only a metaphor and should be read as such in order to avoid misleading conclusions on the dogmatic level (like the Arian heretics of the past who, in the image of Jesus as the vine and the Father as the vine grower, saw a clear distinction of nature between the two!)

The vine grower’s actions are understandable in themselves (even for those who have never grown plants!). The only slight confusion may arise from the mention of the branches standing in the fruitless vine (are they there or not? and to whom does it refer?). However, this phenomenon is normal in agricultural practice, and the intent here seems to be more on the positive warning of bearing fruit (2 times in the verse) than on the negative prospect of being cut off. Again, it must be remembered that this is a figurative discourse, a mashal, conveying a general idea, not an allegory in which every detail must necessarily have a real counterpart. On the literary level, the play of words (and sounds) between airei “to cut off” and kath-airei “to prune” is noteworthy, reflecting the mnemonics widely used in the oral tradition.

3. “Remain in me, as I remain in you.” For Missionary Communion with Jesus the Vine

And here then is Jesus’ heartfelt direct invitation to the disciples as a spiritual testament: “Remain in me, as I remain in you,” like the branches in the vine. Whereas before the relationship between Jesus and his Father was emphasized by the metaphor of the vine, now, with the resumption of the same, the relationship between Jesus and the disciples is made explicit. The picture is complete: I (Christ) - Father - disciples. Then, in v. 6, the prospect of the Last Judgment appears, which recalls the highly suggestive image of the burning fire in the eschatological discourses (cf. Mt 3:10; 7:19; 8:12; 13:42), but which, according to the theological thinking of John, is already taking place in the present. Eternal life is already in the possession of those who believe in Jesus and live in communion with him.

The reason for permanence in Jesus is always in the perspective of the “fruit” of the mission entrusted to the disciples. On the one hand, such persistence guarantees the true “success” of the missionary action: “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing”; on the other hand, it leads to the fulfillment of every prayer to God and to Jesus: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you”, because what the disciples will ask for will actually always be according to the divine will.

Thus, the exhortation to “remain in me” is central throughout the passage, as the verb “remain” recurs several times until the end. Two observations are necessary here. Firstly, the imperative “remain” with the Greek verb in the aorist tense implies the initiation of an action. It thus marks a new phase in the life of the disciples, no longer that of an initial faith (for “you are already pruned”), but of maturity (“bear fruit”!). Secondly, the disciples’ recommended permanence in Jesus is accompanied by Jesus’ remaining in them. This is a reciprocity emphasized three times in the pericope (vv. 4, 5, 7), of which in the last formulation (v. 7), Jesus’ “I” (remaining in the disciples) is varied in the concrete form of “my words”, recalling the Word that made them pruned (v. 3). For the disciples, remaining in Jesus goes hand in hand with remaining in His words, that is, in His teachings/commandments, which are also from God and culminate in the new commandment of love (cf. 1 Jn 3:24; Second Reading). The emphasis is on the commitment of the disciples, which recalls Jesus’ repeated invitation in His farewell discourse to observe His words. In this light, we better understand Jesus’ call to all those whom he had previously called to become more and more His disciples in an ongoing journey of life-mission for the glory of God the Father (cf. Jn 15:8).

Let us pray with the Collect prayer provided in the Italian missal for this Sunday:

O God, who has placed us in Christ as branches in the true vine, give us your Spirit so that, loving one another with sincere love, we may become the first fruits of a new humanity and bear fruit of holiness and peace. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.