Over the winter I’ve been clearing a lot of dead ivy off the trees in my garden. Ivy is an incredibly efficient plant. It seems to be able to grow at will, usually quickly, and it wraps itself around whatever other objects – be they trees, shrubs, posts or walls – are at hand. But this ivy had all died. Why? The tree surgeon came last summer and cut off the ivy at the roots. Over the winter, all the rootless branches died. Now they can find their way into my green bin!
No matter how healthy or productive the plant, if a branch gets cut off it usually dies. Branches need to remain connected to the main plant to live. This is the image Jesus uses here to describe our spiritual lives: only this time, he is the vine and we are the branches (v5) – ‘If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.’
It’s always tempting to do things our own way, in our own strength. It becomes a particular temptation as we get older and seemingly more mature in the spiritual life. As young apprentices, we knew we needed Rabbi Jesus’ help with everything; but as time passes, we can find ourselves forgetting. We start to rely on our historic walk with the Lord, our essential competence as Christians. Maybe we even feel that we should somehow be more self-reliant as we mature in faith.
It’s a dangerous temptation. We might be more resilient, yes; but we can never be self-reliant – we remain as God-reliant as ever. Jesus’ words are blunt: (vv4-5) we ‘must remain in the vine…. apart from me, you can do nothing.’
The good news is that there is a flip side; if cutting ourselves off from the vine is spiritual death, then remaining in the vine brings life. As the abundant life of the true Vine flows into our ‘branches’, then we bear much fruit – something Jesus is keen to share with his friends, so much so that he repeats it (v5, v8). We can even ask him for anything, ‘and it will be done for you.’ Of course, that presumes that Jesus’ words sit deep in our hearts (v7), so that what we ask of Jesus flows naturally out of a life in tune with the divine will. But it’s a striking promise nonetheless, which both demonstrates our apprenticeship and brings glory to God (v8).
We often sing the great old hymn ‘Abide with me’ at funerals – the line is taken direct from this passage, where in older translations ‘remain’ is rendered as ‘abide’. And at one level it’s a line we can sing at all stages of life; but this image is really meant more for our lives than our deaths. We are to abide/remain in Jesus day-by-day, experiencing his life flowing into ours. May that be our reality today – and may the Lord grant us all grace to ‘bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.’ Amen.