Day 5: I am the true vine
The Passover meal is over, and the last hymn has been sung, but it’s hard to leave the table. The disciples’ hearts are heavy, and their minds are reeling. They had eaten the bread Jesus broke, saying it was his body. What did that even mean? And, what, exactly, did Jesus mean about the wine being his blood of the new covenant? The old covenant required a death. Is it possible their Messiah will die? Peter’s mind wanders to the sword he left by the door, and he wonders if he’ll need to use it to protect Jesus. John leans into Jesus and sighs. Jesus wraps his arm around John and gives him a quick hug before getting to his feet and reaching out his hand to help John up. The others follow slowly, helping each other up from their reclined positions.
Jesus suggests they go to the grove of olive trees where they have often enjoyed time together, and everyone agrees this would be a welcome place to rest and debrief.
They walk alone or by twos, mostly in silence, along the dark path lit by a full moon and a few torches. As they ascend out of the Kidron Valley, Jesus notices a small vineyard and seizes the moment to teach. He knows this will be his last opportunity to embed his love and the truth of new creation into this small band of disciples before he is crucified. He stops, lifts his torch, shedding light on the vine growing on a trellis near him and waits for the disciples’ attention. He knows they’re exhausted.
Placing his free hand over his heart, he says,
“I am the true Vine.”
He pauses, taking in their expressions and nods of understanding. Maybe he even repeats it for emphasis, “I am the true Vine.”
Vineyard Metaphor
The disciples understood the metaphor of the vine. They knew how the scriptures described Israel as a vine that God had transplanted from Egypt and tended carefully, while looking for good fruit. The promise of a rich harvest was repeatedly dashed by Israel’s disobedience and running after other gods. But when Israel was in alignment with the love, justice, and mercy of the one true God, fruitfulness and flourishing followed.
To fully grasp what Jesus means by true Vine, we must understand the nature of vines. Grapevines are not normally propagated by seeds because grape seeds are not “true to seed.” Grape seeds do not produce the same kind of grape plant that they come from! In other words, taking the seeds from the fruit of a beloved grapevine and planting them to start a new vine will not produce the same kind of fruit.
To start a new vine that will produce the same fruit, you must use part of an existing vine.
There are several methods that winegrowers use, including grafting, layering, and using greenwood cuttings, but the most common method of propagation is using hardwood cuttings from pruned vines and rooting them in moist soil. Each cutting must have some buds which will then grow into a new vine with the same DNA as the existing vine.
Reflection and Meditation
Jesus’ DNA, which was truly God from before the beginning and is now also truly human, is the true root stock of the new creation.
He is the First and the Last, and he is in every way the true Vine. With this one statement, Jesus opened a new chapter in history.
Jesus, who was in the beginning with God and was God (John 1:1-2) and “through him all things were made” (John 1:3), is once again proclaiming that he is the “truth and the life” (John 14:6). All other vines, including Israel, are not God. In him is found true life, and, as we will see, staying connected to the true Vine brings us love… joy… fruitfulness.
As you consider the idea of truth, take a moment and imagine a grape vine. Imagine the life-giving water being pulled up from the roots and distributed to the branches and feeding the fruit.
What if, from the beginning, there has been one true Vine filled with divine DNA? What if you could drink from that DNA and become all that you were created to be?
What would change for you if you knew your fruitfulness depended on staying connected to the one true Vine?
Rest in God’s love and receive the gift of Jesus’ divine DNA today.
“God’s presence in us is like the fire in the burning bush. It gradually takes us over, so that although we remain ourselves, we are being made over into our true selves, the way God originally intended us to be. …We never lose our identity, but we are filled with God like a sponge is filled with water. ”