The vine and the branches.
If these words were spoken in the house, they may have been suggested by a creeping, Clinging vine trained against the wall; if upon the footpath, by the vineyards on the slope of Olivet; if in the temple, by the golden vine wrought upon the gates.
I. THE VINE IN ITSELF IS A SUITABLE EMBLEM OF CHRIST. Its beauty, as planted, trained, or trellised; its grateful shade; its fruit, whether fresh and luscious or dried; its wine," that maketh glad the heart of man;"—all render it not only interesting, but suitable to set forth in symbol the excellence of the Redeemer, his nobility, beauty, preciousness, and use to man. Palestine was a land of vineyards: witness the grapes of Eshcol; Judah binding his foal to the vine, etc. Hence most naturally the vine was used in Old Testament Scripture as an emblem of the chosen nation, and hence Jesus in his parables put the noble plant to the same use. No wonder that our Lord applied to himself and to his people a designation so instructive.
II. THE VINE IS AN EMBLEM OF CHRIST, ESPECIALLY AS THE SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.
1. He is the divinely appointed Root and Stem upon which the branches depend; the Superior with which they, the inferior, are related in dependence. The vine-stock survives even if the branch be cut off and left to die. We are dependent upon Christ; he is not dependent upon us.
2. A close and vital union joins the branches to the vine, and Christians to their Lord. The life which is naturally Christ's becomes ours through our union by faith with him.
3. Yet it is a mutual indwelling. As Jesus himself has said, "I in you; you in me." What condescension and kindness in this marvelous provision of Divine wisdom!
III. THE BRANCHES ARE INDEBTED TO THE VINE FOR THEIR FRUITFULLNESS; SO ARE CHRISTIANS TO THEIR LORD. The branches of the living vine evince the life and health of the plant first by their vigor, their verdure, their luxuriance, their comeliness; signs of spiritual life are manifested in the Church of God by the peace, the cheerfulness, the spiritual prosperity, of its members. But the great aim of the husbandman's care and culture is that fruit may be yielded in abundance. What shall we understand by spiritual fruit, the fruits of the Spirit?
1. Perfection of Christian character.
2. Abundance in Christian usefulness.
IV. THE TREATMENT OF UNFRUITFUL AND FRUITFUL BRANCHES FIGURES THAT OF THE NOMINAL AND THE REAL DISCIPLES OF CHRIST.
1. The cause of unfruitfulness is stated. "Severed from me ye can do nothing."
2. The doom of unfruitfulness is anticipated. To be cast out and burnt, like the vine-parings in the Kedron valley.
3. The condition of fruitfulness is mentioned. Close union with Christ.
4. The means of increased fruitfulness is also explained. Divine pruning and discipline, i.e. affliction and trouble tending to spiritual strength and fertility.
V. THE MOTIVES TO CHRIST-ABIDING AND FRUIT-BEARING ARE URGED. Stress is laid here upon two.
1. Thus the heavenly Husbandman, the Divine Father, is glorified.
2. Thus Jesus secures for himself true and worthy disciples. What powerful motives to induce Christians to be "neither barren nor unfruitful"!—T.
The Divine vinedresser.
This is one of several passages in our Lord's discourses in which he designates his Father a Husbandman, a Householder, a vine-dresser. Such similitudes are helpful to us in arriving at an understanding of the relations of the Father both to our Savior and to ourselves.
I. THE DIVINE HUSBANDMAN'S CARE OF THE VINE AND THE VINEYARD.
1. He plants the vine. That is to say, he appoints that his own beloved Son shall assume our human nature, and shall introduce into this world the principle of spiritual life, with all its fruitful and blessed results.
2. He watches over the vine which he plants. "I the Lord do keep the vineyard; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day" (Isaiah 27:3). As Jehovah cared for and tended the vine which was brought out of Egypt, for which he prepared room, and which he caused to take deep root, so that it filled the land; so he watched over and blessed "the true vine" which he with his right hand planted in the soil of earth.
II. THE DIVINE HUSBANDMAN'S TREATMENT OF THE VINE-BRANCHES.
1. Of those which are unfruitful. As the worthless branches of the vine are removed, cast into the fire, and burned, so is it with the lifeless and only apparent members of the organism constituted in the Person and ministry of Jesus Christ. The fate of the Jews is the best illustration of our Lord's meaning; they were like a branch that brings forth wild grapes, bitter clusters.
2. Of those which are fruitful. It might be supposed that for such, seeing that they are the occasion of satisfaction, there can be no severity. But as the vine is always carefully, closely, and unsparingly pruned by the skilful gardener, so is it with the faithful and fruitful Christian. Divine discipline is a fact, and it is the best and indeed the only explanation of much of human suffering. Religion does not make the sorrows of life, but it explains them, and it gives strength to bear them, and wisdom to profit by them.
III. THE DIVINE HUSBANDMAN'S ULTIMATE PURPOSES.
1. The fruitfulness of all the living branches of the living vine.
2. The promotion of his own glory; for the result is such as to bring out clearly the wisdom and the power of the Lord of all.—T.