I AM THE TRUE VINE - Johannine Theology - Part XIV

John 14 ended with Jesus telling his disciples to get up and get going because he didn't have much more to say to them and, in fact, says in John 14:30, "Hereafter I will not talk much with you... ."  


But according to John 15, they didn't get up and go.  Jesus keeps right on talking. 

I have already suggested that John 14 dovetails nicely with John 18; that the likelihood exists that John 14 was originally intended by its author to be the last teaching Jesus gave to his disciples before being betrayed by Judas Iscariot.

So what happened?


There are a couple of possibilities.  The most likely is that John 15, 16, 17 are a set of teachings that were written by a different author or authors at a different time and written to expand upon what was already said in John 13 and 14.

  

John 14 ends on a relatively positive note which is quickly remedied at the beginning of John 15 where there is no attempt to explain why Jesus continues speaking after indicating he was done talking in Chapter 14.  In my opinion,  this inserted information makes sense as a form of teaching for those being initiated into this community; as it serves both as a warning and an indication of what to expect as a disciple of Christ.


INTO THE INNER SANCTUM

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he takest away, and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

John 15:1-3 (KJV)

With these words we enter the inner sanctum of Johannine theology.  In terms of an initiate, this is moment you've been waiting for - union with Christ - union with God.  It gets no better than this on this side of life.   What makes one consider this chapter was intended for initiates is the the plethora of "ifs," "ands," and "buts"  that follow.  Verse 8 actually talks in terms of becoming Jesus's disciple, not being one.


If this were a play and I were to direct it, the setting for John 13 and 14 would naturally be around a table where Jesus's disciples would be seated.  At the end of chapter 14 when Jesus tells his disciple to get up and go, I would have the table scene fade to black with Jesus walking to front center stage addressing the audience, saying the above verses while a single spotlight focuses on Jesus alone.


While being portrayed as Jesus talking to his disciple, John 15 (as is true of the entire Gospel of John) is addressing the current reader or listener.


It serves as an invite to the chosen to delve further into a deepening relationship with Jesus and the Father, a challenge to bear fruit - to bear the the task of loving one's fellow disciple as Jesus loved his disciples, and to warn against taking such an invitation and challenge lightly.


Yes, chosen.


One doesn't get into the Johannine community because you made a choice.  The only way in is because one is chosen, as we are reminded in verse 16, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit."


Once chosen, you better listen up and follow its code of conduct, which is to love your fellow community members just like Jesus loved his disciples.  Once your chosen you have been made clean, you are considered recreated by the very Word that brought all creation into being.


And Yes!  You can screw this up!


This may sound strange to the modern Christian, but by the time Christianity became accepted as a legitimate religion in Roman Empire, there were those; such as the emperor Constantine who was reported to have waited until he was on his death before being baptized so as not to sully his soul before meeting his maker.


According to John, nothing appears to be a done deal on this side of life unless you're one of the "not chosen."  And God alone knows (has determined) who is or isn't chosen.


Remember John 3:18 - the unbelievers are "condemned already."  They are devoid of any choice beyond this side of life according to John, and the choice left to the chosen few is to choose not to believe.  If one were to follow such theologic to a reasoned logical conclusion, it would mean that God knows who of the chosen is "chosen" to fail like Judas Iscariot.


And here's what you can expect if you are one of the chosen:


You are not going to be well liked by those who weren't chosen.


In fact you're going to be hated and persecuted by them just as Jesus was hated and persecuted by them.


But not to worry - Jesus will have the Father send you the Advocate, the Holy Spirit.


BEARING FRUIT


So what's all this talk about bearing fruit about?


If the believers consist of those chosen to believe, then what fruit or product are Jesus's followers supposed to bear?


Bearing fruit has always been about bringing others to Jesus. Yet, John consistently reminds the reader that the believer believes because believing is matter of God or Jesus choosing who will believe.


If you believe it is only because you were chosen to believe.  If you don't, logically speaking, it's not your fault.  It's because you were not chosen.  It's as simple as that.


Or is it?


How does one know who is chosen?  How is this Christian community supposed to grow?


What is the Johannine mission?


Mission in the Synoptic Gospels is about preaching and sowing the seed freely, if not carelessly  and letting it grow to bring forth fruit as it will (as demonstrated by the Parable of the Sower in Matthew. 13).  The Gospel of Matthew ends with the Great Commission.  The Gospel of Mark clearly indicates that Jesus appointed twelve apostles to spread the word, and Luke is clear in Acts that the Word is to be spread to the ends of the earth.


THE PLAN


This is not to say that John lacks a mission plan.  John has one and is defining it in Chapter 15.  It is a cautious plan that is not dependent on reckless broadcasting of the gospel message to garner followers from among the masses as the Gospel of Matthew indicates in Chapter 22:14, "For many are called, but few are chosen,"  but rather it is careful plan designed to attract the chosen, but as yet uninitiated, by having the initiated lead exemplary lives to draw uninitiated chosen to Christ; like a bees to honey.


THE ATTRACTING FORCE OF LOVE


It is in the esoteric nature of the Johannine approach to mission to be subtle, if not cryptic.


The times dictated a need to be careful.  Preaching in the synagogues was perilous if not impossible for a number of reasons. The Pauline approach of speaking in the public square was likewise risky business.  John's cautionary approach hints at and offers us a glimpse into changing world - one that was increasingly more hostile and suspicious - an environment that required careful and cautious planning.


Martyrdom was not the goal of the Christian or Johannine community, even though it would be the price exacted on some.  The question for the Johannine community was how to carry out their mission to bear fruit in such a hostile environment and survive.


John offers a two-pronged solution.  Jesus says that advocate, the Holy Spirit, will be sent by the Father to testify and that the chosen, his disciple, will also testify since they have been with him from the beginning. 


I believe Jesus saying that they were with him from the beginning conveys a double entendre, meaning that twelve were there from the start of Jesus's ministry and a more cryptic meaning that all the chosen have been part of him from the beginning of creation.


What does testify mean in this context?


The Holy Spirit speaks to the heart of the those who listen with the ears of the heart, to quote St. Benedict, who came on the scene some four hundred years later.

For the chosen there was another mode of testifying.


There is a saying that actions speak louder than words and this becomes the approach adopted by the Johannine community.  Jesus repeatedly tells his disciples and to those listening to this gospel, that world will know who his disciples are by the love they demonstrate to each other.  What will bring this new realm, this new creation into being and knit it together is the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the force of love.


THE VINE, BRANCHES, AND COMMUNION

"I am the Vine; ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him; the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."  John 15:5 KJV


This is the  last formal I AM statement made by Jesus in John. It is an interesting metaphor for John to close with.


This is the one metaphor which includes Jesus's followers.


At the beginning of Chapter 15, Jesus describes himself as the true vine.  The implication is there are other types of vines and branches that are not true or trustworthy.  One never gets too far from the differentiating paradigm of religion in John.


When one hears of the vine and the branches, pruning and cutting what comes to mind is viticulture and wine-making.  I'm fairly sure this is what the author of this chapter had in mind as it is consistent with Eucharistic - the Communion -  subtext that runs throughout the Gospel of John. 


Stepping back a bit and taking a look at this gospel from a broader perspective the two essential elements of Holy Communion, bread and wine, are linked to the concepts of Word and Spirit.  The Bread of Heaven or Bread of Life is associated with the solid stuff of Jesus's preaching and teaching.  The Vine is associated with the fluid elements; the working of the Holy Spirit, the love of Christ flows through the vine to the branches.


Once again, we see the patina of a mystery cult that involves hidden knowledge that is yet to come to the initiated.  The uninitiated await a metamorphosis from mundane to divine, from the physical to spiritual just as liturgical churches treat the bread and wine sanctified and sacrificed during communion in terms of alchemy; of bread and wine transformed literally into flesh and blood, the mundane transformed into the divine.


Although some might be offended by referencing the doctrines of transubstantiation and consubstantiation as religious alchemy; that's what they're portrayed as it being.  To carry this correlation further, I would say that where bread and wine are understood to be the true body and blood of Christ serves as an elixir vitae - that washes away one's sins and ensures eternal life


John brings another dimension to this Eucharistic mystery that is rarely talked about.  In John, the Bread of Life and the Vine sustain and bind the believing community together.  This aspect of the rite of Holy Communion has lost potency over the centuries, but it is clearly established in John.


Vines and their branches possess a fractal quality -  like producing like -  in an ever-expanding pattern, similar to a family tree. In this sense, John is describing an ever-expanding Holy Family.


John reminds us, however, that being a part of this system is dependent on knowing the source of one's divination, which is Jesus - "for without me ye can do nothing."  


Being chosen requires one to sublimate one's ego, which most mystery religions require as necessary for transformation.. One must give up what one thinks one is to put on a new self, to become the true self in and of Christ.


Whereas Jesus incarnates, becomes divinity enfleshed, the reverse  happens to the initiated believer, who becomes flesh enspirited, made divine in Christ - no longer living for oneself but living as part of much larger, more extensive organism; the Vine which is Christ.

* * * * * * * * * *

It is likely the Johannine community of believers lived on the fringe of the destruction that occurred in Palestine in 70 AD.  They, like their fellow Jews, migrated to other areas, such as, Asia Minor where they were viewed by suspicion by the Jewish communities in those areas and where they encountered a flourishing Greek culture that strongly influenced their theological perspective. 


The Johannine approach to presenting the gospel of Christ is uniquely different from the Synoptic Gospels to the extent that one wonders how the Gospel of John found its way into the New Testament canon.  The answer, I believe, lies in the likelihood that this community's perspective had great appeal to the emerging Church in the Greco-Roman world.


John 15 is one of the most remarkable pieces of literature in the New Testament by virtue of its creative approach to knitting together a community that ensured its survival.  One can speculate with a degree of certainty that their approach increasingly became the approach taken by the larger Christian community as this gospel became a mainstay of Christian literature and is why we are studying it today.



Until next time, stay faithful.