I AM the True Vine

Jesus is always using metaphors. Sometimes these metaphors make sense.  Sometimes they just leave me confused and feeling a little lost. Jesus calling himself the True Vine is one of those metaphors that leaves me scratching my head. I get the obviousness of the metaphor in the agricultural significance of  a vineyard.  And I get the sense that we have to be connected to Christ. But when I start digging at this connection we have in Christ the more I feel the fog of confusion settling on me.

John 15:1-8 is the text in question. Jesus says things like: “I am the True Vine…Remain in me, and I will remain in you…no branch can bear fruit by itself…neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me…apart from me you can do nothing.”

I’m an avid distance runner. I’m fairly accomplished and have some natural ability. When I want to accomplish something in my running, like run a certain time or distance, I know the formula: up my mileage, increase my pace, stretch well, eat well, etc. I often translate this kind of formula to my spiritual life: read my Bible more, pray more, have more self-control, etc.

It just makes sense that I follow that kind of formula because it is what works in other parts of my life and it is what I’ve been taught over and over in my life. But that is not the formula for Christian spirituality.  Holiness in my life is not going to come through my ability, my hard work, my willpower. Holiness will only come through how I relate to the True Vine.

Do you see why I am left scratching my head? Grace is just so confusing. It runs counter to everything I know. It challenges me on every turn to let go of my perceived ability.

I’m challenged in this to rid myself of the ways I’ve been taught to improve myself, and embrace the only means I know of fixing anything, which is reliance on Christ.

The question then is not ‘what am I doing to bear fruit?’. No the question is ‘how am I intentionally allowing God’s life into my life?’.