I AM The Vine

 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” John 14:6

Audacious statement – beyond the I AM declaration, Jesus finishes it off with an absolute – no one gets to God except through Jesus. That makes clear what Jesus felt about other ways, other spiritual leaders, other religions, even Judaism. The only way to the Creator God is through Jesus. How does that set with you? Does Jesus’ explanation seem unfair? Egotistic? Why can’t some other route lead to God? How can He make such an exclusive claim? Who did Jesus think He was?  He fully claimed He was the I AM; He claimed to be God, in human form (fully human and fully God). He claimed to be the Creator of the universe (without whom nothing made was made John 1:3). What do we do with those claims?

We can accept them as true or false. We can choose to believe Jesus is who He says he is, or not. He gave us that choice. We can spend much of this precious life searching for some other way, trying other options, pursuing another savior. How has that worked out? Perhaps you’ve had a pretty good life, not a lot of suffering or trials; you’ve been a good person. What is your expectation for an existence once this life is over? Do you assume this life is all there is, and at death we just go into nothingness? Does that bring you hope or joy? Does it make you feel at peace about dying? If you do believe in God, do you assume your good person status will satisfy God as good enough to let you into an afterlife? Upon what basis would God judge? I don’t think any of us could claim perfection. What makes someone good enough?

The Bible says only through Jesus can we find what’s needed to appease God. We are all sinners – not one of us is perfect. We all fall short of God’s standard of “good” (righteous). And just one slip is enough to qualify us as lost in sin. Fair? We hold other humans pretty accountable, especially if they do something that hurts us. Yet God, our creator, isn’t allowed to judge what sin is? We all sin and fall short of what God demands. Does that make for a cruel God? Unreasonable?

What is unreasonable about providing a way out? What is unfair about giving humankind a way to restore relationship with the Creator, and allowing us to qualify?  God offered up Himself, in our place, took our sin and made us whole. We have been forgiven!  Most of us just don’t know that. The issue isn’t how bad or how good we are. The issue is what are we doing with Jesus – the way, the truth and the life? His death on the cross brought forgiveness for all sin for all time. It opened the door to stand before God, forgiven, based on what Jesus did in our place. All we need do is accept that gift. That gift, if we accept, brings us the promise of abundant life and joy.

That brings me to the final I AM.  This declaration goes along with the “Life” part of what Jesus has to offer. “I AM the vine, you are the branches.”

I taught English and I love words. There are lots of phrases in the Bible that give us insight into a relationship with God. One is the prepositional phrase “In Christ” ("in Me", "in Jesus).This is one of my favorite phrases because it bears such promise for us who believe in Jesus. Paul uses that phrase a lot, but it began here in John. (A fun study would be to read through Paul’s letters and underline every time you see “In Christ”)

John 15:1, 4, 5 “I AM the true vine and my Father is the gardener.” “Remain in me as I remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. I AM the vine and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing.”

I enjoy gardening. I like watching things grow. When something is separated from the parent plant, it might live a while longer in a vase of water, but certainly won’t last as long as it would connected to the plant. Stems, branches, are meant to stay connected to the parent plant. That is the image we have here. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. As long as we are connected to the vine, we can bear fruit, His fruit, which we see in Galatians 5 the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control.  What is impossible for us to do under our own power, when connected to vine, we can do exceedingly well.

Romans 8:4 speaks of the requirements of God’s law now being fulfilled in us, through us (rather than “by” us). Because of our broken nature, we cannot live a “good enough” life. But when we accept God’s gift of Salvation, we are, in addition to forgiven, given the ability to truly do good, bear much fruit. We can do this because we are “in the Vine”. The source of life that runs through the parent plant is now available to us!

Colossians 2:9 says “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.”

Romans 8:1,2 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” That means we are set free from trying to earn salvation by being good and failing. We are set free from all the useless effort, because Christ did it for us, and now “in Him” we have life and freedom.

Paul goes no to teach “Christ in you (us) the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27) Christ, through the Holy Spirit, also now lives in us. That is a forever, permanent status. 

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your life in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (Col 2:6) And, how did we receive Christ? By anything we earned or did? No, by God's grace made available in accepting His Son's sacrifice in our place. So we "continue to live our life in Him" in the same manner, by God's grace, empowering us with His Spirit in us, connected to the Vine.

Unfortunately, we are very wayward branches. We slip away from the vine and begin to attempt life on our own. We think we know better, or we now have it under control. We then end up breaking off connection/communication with the vine. Fortunately, it is easier to reconnect to Jesus than it is to reconnect a stem actually broken off from a plant. Our sins have been forgiven, we are assured an eternal relationship with God. But just like human relationships, communication, fellowship can be broken by our actions. Going to God and confessing what separated us from the vine, admitting that “without Him we can do nothing”, that relationship is restored. And when we are connected to the Vine, we can do all things.” (see Philippians 4:13).

People see “disconnected” Christians and judge Christianity as either a failure or ruse.  It’s hard for someone who doesn’t know God to see the problem isn’t with the faith, it’s with the very human believers. The ruse part can be somewhat true. Too many Christians underplay their life-long struggle with sin. So they put on an air of perfection, only to eventually be found out. Hypocrite is the term thrown around a lot.  Too bad we can’t just be honest about our failings.  This side of heaven we will never be free of sin or sinning. And the more we try to hide that fact, the worse it becomes when the bubble bursts.  The only difference between someone who believes in Jesus and someone who does not is that the believer has accepted God’s grace gift of forgiveness.  It’s there for the nonbeliever too. Other than having accepted forgiveness, Christians are just as human and just as prone to messing up.

I John talks a lot about our relationship with sin, using the metaphor “walking in darkness” versus “walking in light”. When we are connected with the Vine, when we are allowing God’s Spirit to run through us like sap in a plant, we are in the light. When we step out on our own, and choose to go our own way and do our own thing, we are back in the dark, blocking the Spirit's light. But, because of God’s forgiveness already there, our misbehavior doesn’t take away our relationship (lose our salvation), but it does hinder our relationship, limits our communication and growth. The answer to this, the way to reconnect with the vine is to “confess our sins”. We are to come to God and admit our shortcomings and ask Him to restore fellowship – reconnect us to the vine.

In this connection we will find the promised joy and abundance in life, even in the midst of life’s struggles and sorrows. A personal relationship with God through Jesus allows us a taste of heaven, a promise of what’s to come.  It also gives us an opportunity to be the person we long to be – kind, loving, gracious, the beautiful fruit of being connected to the vine.

What should we do with Jesus’ claim that He is the only Way, Truth and Life?  That the only means of coming to God is through Him?  Accept or reject that Jesus is God? Simply put, we can accept or reject His claim and offer.  Once accepted, we quickly learn that we are still us – we will still mess up, sometimes horribly. What we do in those moments affects our growth and daily access to our God. But just as in salvation, God has provided a way to reconnect to the Vine. Learning a habitual process of examining our lives and confessing will keep us connected.

Jesus, the Great I AM stands before us, arms open ready to receive us and connect us to Him.  As Mary Oliver

asked in her poem The Summer Day, “what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?