John 15 - Preacher's Commentary

15:1-8

Joy and Hatred: The Depth of the Relationship

As Jesus and His disciples leave the Upper Room and move toward the Garden of Gethsemane they pass the temple. Here one of the chief ornaments is a “golden vine with a cluster as large as a man.”⁵This decoration becomes the basis of a visual parable. Jesus’ intimate relationship with these men cannot be stated in precise, theological terms. So, as He has done all through His ministry, He uses the motif of a vine and its branches to illustrate spiritual truth. His union with these men is as alive as the relationship of the vine to its branches.

Jesus is the “true vine” (v. 1). In the Old Testament writings, Israel had frequently been spoken of as the vine which Yahweh loved and tended. But over and over again, waywardness and corruption had made God’s people barren (Is. 5:1–7). Now it is Jesus who is the real vine, the Chosen One from God.

His Father owns the vineyard and cares for it. And as with any responsible vineyard owner, His one primary purpose in growing a vineyard is that it will bear fruit. So the branches that bear no fruit “He takes away” (v. 2). When they become dry and lifeless He casts them out to be burned (v. 6). Here is the final judgment on those who no longer “abide” in the vine.

Once these branches had beautiful green leaves and seemed to flourish, but then the Source of life was cut off, and now they are barren and dead. Is not Judas, who has walked with Jesus for these years, even now working out the details of Jesus’ death? And there will be those who begin in belief but eventually have the spirit of the “antichrist” because they perverted the truth (1 John 2:18–19). So much of synagogue life, once the center of faith, has become hardened and legalistic—dead! So selfish interests, unconfessed sins, a careless disregard for the truth, or a bitter, unforgiving spirit can block the flow of life from the vine. Gradually the branch dies. It is then taken away and burned.

But the “vinedresser” also prunes those sprouts and leaves which would hinder the branches from bearing fruit in any way. Generally in the month of August the little shoots that would take life from the vine would be pinched off. The fruit-bearing branches must get all the nourishment. Are not those experiences in life we call troubles—the hurts and disappointments and defeats—the Father’s way of pinching off those excess leaves that seem so attractive, but bear no fruit? And does not the “vinedresser” call us to strong discipline and obedience, the rearrangement of our priorities so that time and talent and resources are at His disposal instead of being drained off in peripheral interests? The “vinedresser” has only one criteria for pruning: Will the branches bear more fruit?

Those disciples are not perfect, but they have been made “clean,” for the unnecessary leaves have been cut off (v. 3). The “word” which Jesus has spoken has pruned them so they might bear much fruit. Each one has been searched and cleansed, prepared for ministry. But this small community has also been pruned, for one among them has left. The life and spirit in Jesus’ word has confronted Judas and judged him, and he has gone out!

This being made “clean” is as painful as yesterday and as fresh as today. For yesterday was a tangled, unproductive day when I found myself running to meet deadlines, even being scheduled to meet two people at the same time. When I tried to pen some comments and insights about this beautiful chapter in John early in the morning I found myself pushing impatiently, writing words, but little more. When I got to the office my faithful secretary, so eager to serve, was obviously upset by my confused attempt to get half a dozen things done at once.

Later in the afternoon I hurried off in the rain to meet Gottfried Osei-Mensah, executive of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, coming in from Los Angeles to spend the weekend with us. In spite of my feeling that this had been a somewhat wasted day I became aware immediately of the deep peace and joy in this dear brother’s life as soon as I met him. So while we sat having a cup of coffee and a snack, getting acquainted, I found myself blurting out some of the frustration and confusion of the day to this new friend. To which Gottfried quietly replied, “Yes, the evil one always tries to get us into this state of affairs.” What a word from the Lord that was! I saw then what had been happening. I had lost much of the day to the evil one at the very time I was trying to write about “abiding in Christ.”

There was a wedding that evening, a surprisingly blessed event even though the florist did not show up with the flowers. And as Ruth and I drove slowly home, talking over some of the mixed experiences of the day, I found the burden lifting. In the strange mystery of His grace, the battle was again the Lord’s. He had taken over. And as I awakened this morning, far more open and relaxed, and turned once again to this powerful, yet somewhat disturbing chapter, I became suddenly aware that He had been making me “clean” through His word, that without Him “I can do nothing.”

This fruit that the disciples bear is not what they do, but the life of Jesus in them. It is His character reproduced within them and shared with others in love. This cannot come to pass without the disciple abiding in Jesus, making his home in Him as Jesus makes His home in the disciple. His life is shared with the disciples as their life is given to Him.

So Jesus can categorically say “without Me you can do nothing” (v. 5). No amount of ingenious planning or restless activities or sponsoring of “spiritual” events on our own can produce this fruit. This is like trying to tie imitation fruit on living branches. It is like Peter’s earlier self-centered boast, “I will lay down my life for Your sake” (John 13:37).

15:9-17

Love and Joy in Union

The union between Jesus and His disciples is not an external arrangement, but an internal, personal relationship. Jesus defines this union, gives it content and substance, by a “triad of love.” The Son loves these disciples as the Father loves Him. This is the love that has sought them out, called them into life, and which now holds them and sends them out into the world to continue His mission. What an awesome, yet tender reality. But these frail, struggling men are then to love one another as Jesus loves them. This is not an option, but a command. It is an impossibility unless they abide in His love.

This love is not a vague, sentimental feeling that comes and goes, but a tough reality that is always revealed in obedience. The Son shares in and shows forth His Father’s love by absolute obedience to all His commands, which takes Him now to the Cross. The disciples can only abide in the love of Jesus, then, if they keep His commandments. Love and obedience are two sides of the same reality.

This does not mean these disciples are called to a grim, cheerless existence. On the contrary, if they abide in the love of Jesus by obeying His commands, they will remain in His joy! Jesus’ joy will be in these men constantly, not sporadically (v. 11). G. K. Chesterton called this joy “the gigantic secret of the Christian.” And when Malcolm Muggeridge, brilliant man of the world, first encountered Mother Teresa in Calcutta among her “destitute and dying,” he could not explain the “luminous quality” he saw in this little, plain woman. This turned out to be far more than a TV assignment for Malcolm Muggeridge, for eventually it was that joy which drew him to Christ, who always shares His joy with those who obey Him.

It is a mystery and challenge to our earthbound way of thinking that the nearer Jesus came to the Cross the more joy became a part of His vocabulary. How strange this sounds to affluent, comfort-seeking Americans who confuse joy and happiness. Joy is an unexpected gift growing out of our intimate relationship with this One we love and serve. While happiness, even though it is frantically sought as some kind of product that can be possessed, turns out to be a disappointing illusion. Happiness is like the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow that does not exist.

No, the more deeply we enter into a loving, obedient union with Jesus the more “full” will be our joy, like the melody that comes out of the creative discipline and struggle of an artist who gives himself to the instrument.

Jesus’ command to His disciples now becomes very specific. They are to love one another as He has loved them (v. 12). This does not mean tolerating or being nice to one another, but is a call to enter into the mystery of His own death. As these men have heard Jesus say the Good Shepherd “lays down” His life for the sheep and watched Him lay down His garments to wash their feet, so they are to lay down their lives for one another, not only in physical death if need be, but in a caring openness for one another that reveals Jesus.

Jesus has opened the way for this new kind of relationship among these men, calling them “friends,” not “servants” (v. 15). His love has broken down the wall which separates the master from the slave, the rich from the poor, the one who comes first from the one who comes last. Because these disciples are His friends, Jesus has opened His heart to them, showing the purpose of His coming, holding nothing back. And in the end, the “greater love” of His death will completely liberate them so they can give themselves with abandon as “friends.” They will remain His friends if they do whatever He commands them.

He has “chosen” these men to continue His mission (v. 16). The initiative is His, not theirs. He has appointed them, trained them, and prepared them to go and bear much fruit. The word “appointed” in verse 16 is the same verb Jesus uses when He speaks of “laying down His life.” It is His death then that will empower these disciples to carry out their work in His name. “The Lord divested Himself of life that He might invest them with the apostolate to the world. He set aside His life and set them to their work.”⁶ And those disciples who will join them because of their witness in the years to come throughout the world will “remain.” They too will bear fruit.

There is no mission, no fruit borne, without prayer in Jesus’ name (v. 16). This is no hit-and-miss surface asking, but a life of intercession for the mission in union with Jesus. His will and purpose then become the disciples’ will and purpose. Leighton Ford and Gottfried Osei-Mensah of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization have shared with some of us the amazing harvest now being reaped in many parts of God’s mighty vineyard. However, we have been reminded again and again that it is where the church is living in prayer—in Romania, East Africa, El Salvador, and particularly in South Korea—that the harvest is the greatest!

It may well be that the most desperate need of the American church is the recovery of fervent, believing prayer in the name of Jesus.

15:18-25

The Hatred of the World

The disciples will be hated by the world as Jesus has been hated. It is the nature of the world to hate as it is the nature of the disciple to love. And these are mutually exclusive. So as the disciples are known for their love, the world is known for its hatred.

These men are not of the world, for Jesus “chose them out of the world” not to leave the world, but to continue His mission in the world as a new community of love. And the separation of the disciples from the world makes them objects of its hatred. The world loves only its own, those who conform to its spirit, accept its values, and worship its false gods. Jesus underlines the sharp line of suspicion the world draws between itself and the disciples by speaking of the world five times in two sentences (v. 19).

When a handful of us from our church in Wichita journeyed to Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, to work and learn for a few days, we saw the bullet holes in one of the buildings and heard the story of community ostracism. For this radical, healing community of love, trying to be totally faithful to Jesus was a challenge and a threat to that hostile community, even though it was so well “churched.” That same enmity was revealed when a senior high girl, who was a new Christian in our youth group, wept openly because her non-believing mother was insisting she could no longer come to church. “The implacable hatred of the world for the friends of Jesus is the sign of the verity of that friendship.”⁷

So the disciples will be treated as their Master. They will be persecuted as He has been persecuted. But it is also true that those who have kept the word of Jesus will keep the words of His disciples. He is the Source of their authority.

This hatred of the world is sin grounded in their ignorance of God for which they have no excuse. They do not know the Father even though the whole of Jesus’ life and ministry, all His work, has been a revelation of His Father. Therefore, their hatred is directed at God the Father, not only at His Son. Here again we see the union of Father and Son in another context.

Their hatred is actually a fulfillment of “their” Scripture. For the very law they boastfully claim to possess and obey prophesies their own sin.

15:26-27

(See notes in next chapter.)