15. The True Vine (John 15)
“The figure of a vine and its branches is
perhaps the best illustration of the intimate union between Christ and his
followers. That of the shepherd and sheep gives us the thought of intimacy, but
it is that between a guardian, who is of a superior order, and creatures of an
inferior grade whom he watches over and protects. That of a husband and wife
gives the idea of intimacy and union between two beings of the same order, but
they are two persons with independent lives, and one of them lives on though the
other one has died. That of the head and members illustrates one life common to
the whole body, but it falls short in not being able to express the constant
putting forth of new growths” (R. Wright, “The True Vine”,
The Dawn Ecclesial Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 3 — March 1961 — p.
65).
The picture of the vine — as our brother
says, the best illustration of our intimate union with Christ — can teach
us something about Biblical fellowship. Christ’s words are simple yet
profound: “I am the true vine” (v. 1). It is significant that our
Lord does not say, “I am the stem, and ye are the
branches” (cp. v. 5). Rather, the whole plant is Christ, and we as the
branches are a part of the whole — not just attached to Christ, but
part of Christ! Such an expressive statement gives sledge-hammer force to
the warning of Christ in Matthew 25:40,45:
“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of
the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto ME.”
We should be extremely reluctant to cut off our
brethren, and no better reason can be given than this: that through lack of love
and patience we may find ourselves cutting off Christ! This is analogous
to the comical picture of the man in the tree who is so busy pruning that he
inadvertently saws off the limb on which he is sitting. Comical indeed,
naturally speaking; but the spiritual counterpart is a great tragedy. How many
lives have been blighted by what in the beginning was an earnest (if
misdirected) zeal for “purity”, but the outcome was the separation
of the zealous remnant from any hope of nourishment that it could have received
through the remainder of the vine! Children in the separated families have found
this self-imposed isolation spiritually withering; their links with a healthy
ecclesial life were never fused; when grown they drift away in far greater
numbers than their counterparts in the “loose” ecclesias from which
their parents withdrew!
Christ continues: “My Father is the
husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away”
(vv. 1,2). In this analogy the “branches” are pruned only
by the Father. This is not to deny, of course, the Scriptural duty of
ecclesias in extreme situations to take the initiative and to “purge out
the old leaven”. However, as has been seen previously (Chapter 13), we all
too often lose sight of the fact that usually it is better for the faithful
ecclesial to wait until the Father, in His providence and infinite wisdom,
severs the diseased or dead branches from its midst. (Compare also the lesson of
the seven “stars” in Revelation 1:16 — see Chapter
6.)
The central exhortation of Christ’s parable
in John 15 is found in v. 4: “Abide in me.” Each branch must
abide in the vine in order to bring forth fruit. If for any reason it is
severed, the branch may continue in existence for a time — but in the day
of reckoning the “husbandman” will gather it together with the other
lifeless sticks and cast them into the fire of eternal destruction (v.
6).
All of the emphasis here is upon our duty, our
necessity, to attach ourselves solidly to the true vine, and never to relinquish
our grasp. A dog with a bone was crossing a bridge one day, when he chanced to
glance down and spy his reflection in the water. Thinking this to be another
dog, and a rival claimant for his bone, he bared his teeth and let out a growl
and a ferocious bark. Unfortunately, in the process he dropped his bone, which
sank irretrievably to the bottom of the stream.
Like that dog, we sometimes forget who our real
enemy is, and in giving our attention to fighting a supposed enemy we may lose
our grip on the prize. Christ has wisely advised us to hold firm to our
hope, and not to worry too much whether someone else should have a
right to that same hope. Unlike the dog’s bone, there is food enough for
all in Christ; the “branches” need not squabble among themselves.
This teaching, of what should be our proper
attitude toward our fellow “branches”, is emphasized further in v.
16. Christ says, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you.” The one who chooses is the one who holds the right subsequently to
refuse!
What a sad and confusing spectacle we have today
in the ecclesial world: a host of “independent” branches, each one
jealously pruning away whole branches and grafting other branches back in their
place, as if to say, ‘We alone are the people, and wisdom will die
with us.’ (In fact, some of these smaller communities are near extinction
because of continuous division and subdivision in pursuit of that elusive
“purity”.) But all the while — since the fundamental beliefs
of each “branch” are sound — they are all attached to
the One Vine (though some “branches” imply by their rhetoric that
their rivals are really attached to “brambles”).
Let us return to the wholesome picture of the
true vine. In this ecclesial network it is our business, wherever we may be, to
send out new shoots, to grow and consolidate — so that others through us
may receive sustenance from Christ the one vine. Practically speaking, we must
endeavor always to strengthen our bonds with brethren in our local ecclesia,
with brethren in isolation, with other ecclesias near and far. The vine of the
Truth must be an intricately woven web of spiritual relationships, through all
of which flows life from Christ! We must not be afraid thus to send our more
“feelers” and bind ourselves closer and closer together with our
brethren. The more we seek to be “one” with our brethren, both in
joys and sorrows, the healthier will be our attitude toward fellowship. Where
true love exists, misunderstandings and suspicions will be much less frequent.
We may still periodically have to remove “dead” or destructive
members from our midst, but if we are living up to this standard it will be a
truly painful experience — as it should be! It will not be something that
affords us a secret pleasure in the contemplation of our own
“superiority”. A full appreciation of our interdependent
relationship with all our brethren will serve as a necessary check upon
the traditional divisive tendencies of Christadelphia.