UNBLOCKING THE WELL OF THE LIVING WORD

John 15:1–27 

Focus verse: ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.’ (John 15:1,2) 

Old Testament lens: ‘You brought a vine out of Egypt, you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it, it took root and filled the land.’ (Psalm 80:8,9) 

A rose, if it’s pruned carefully, can grow outwardly toward the light and become its most fruitful. (1) In the same way, vines must be pruned to thrive. Our loving Father cuts away distractions or false ambitions so that we can bear lasting fruit. The Greek word Jesus uses for ‘prune’ in John 15:2 is closely related to the word for ‘clean’. In the next verse, Jesus says His disciples have already been ‘cleaned’ or pruned by His word, but should expect more pruning, because pruning is part of growing. 

In the Old Testament — in Psalm 80, Isaiah 5, and other passages — Israel is often described as God’s vine, brought out of Egypt and planted in the Promised Land. However, that vine failed to produce good fruit. Now Jesus is saying, ‘I am the true vine’. He is the faithful Israel, the one through whom God’s purpose is now fulfilled. His followers, by staying connected to Him, become part of God’s renewed people. 

The picture of the vine reveals the close relationship believers are meant to have with Jesus. It’s not optional. A branch that cuts itself off from the vine withers and dies. A branch that stays connected, and accepts the Father’s pruning, will live and bear fruit, simply by remaining in personal relationship through prayer, worship, and the Word. 

The vine imagery has its roots in Old Testament judgment and hope.(2) Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Hosea all described Israel as a vine that had become unfaithful and fruitless. God’s judgment was that these vines would wither and be burned, like fruitless branches are cast away. 

Psalm 80 offers a heartfelt prayer for God to restore His vine, Israel, by raising up a ‘Son of Man’ to save and lead the people. In John’s Gospel, this hope relates to Jesus Himself, the true vine and the fulfilment of Israel’s calling. The disciples’ mission is to bear fruit, inner growth, and outward witness to the world, fruit that will last. In John 15:8 Jesus says, ‘This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.’ 

The Early Church Fathers who inspired the Celtic Church 

Maximus the Confessor (580–662) 

Several early Eastern Church Fathers strongly emphasised ‘abiding’ as the inner transformation of the believer and the formation of Christ within (Galatians 4:19), often described in terms of deification (theosis) or Christification. However, Maximus offers perhaps the most developed theology of Christification. 

For Maximus, salvation is the process by which the Logos, who became human, recapitulates all creation in Himself and enables each believer to become a ‘living manifestation’ of Christ. Through ascetic struggle and divine grace, Christ comes to dwell in the soul, transforming it so that the believer becomes a microcosm of the Incarnate Word. Maximus says, ‘He who loves God in the true and perfect way is he who is made another God by participation, and he manifests in himself the same energy as God through grace, as far as this is possible for human nature.’ Maximus means that the believer, through love and divine grace, comes to manifest God’s own life, Christ’s divine energy, within themselves. 

He says, ‘ The Word of God, who for our sake became man once in the flesh, is always willing to be born spiritually in those who desire Him. He becomes an infant and forms Himself in them by the virtues.’ This is one of the most direct statements of the ‘formation of Christ within’ in the Greek Fathers. Maximus says the Incarnation is repeated mystically in each believer: Christ is ‘born’ within us and takes shape through virtuous living and divine grace. ‘The Word of God wishes to make all human beings participants in Himself in the same way that He became participant in us, by making our human existence His own.’ As the believer grows and bears fruit, as John 17 says, this will be for the Father’s glory. 

St Cuthbert (c634–687) is a particularly rich example when exploring the theme of abiding in John 15. Cuthbert had an intense personal relationship with Christ, nurtured throughprayer, contemplation, and solitude. After being a bishop of Lindisfarne, he retreated to Inner Farne, a remote island off the coast of Northumbria, where he lived in almost total isolation, dedicating himself to prayer, Scripture meditation, and simplicity. This abiding was not withdrawal for its own sake. It was a deliberate act of rooting his entire being in the presence of Christ. Like a branch that draws life from the vine, Cuthbert sought to detach from worldly distractions to stay connected to his spiritual source. Bede records that Cuthbert prayed in the sea at night, standing in icy water up to his neck, singing psalms, a discipline aimed at deeper communion with God. 

Despite, or because of, his solitude, Cuthbert’s life bore immense spiritual fruit. His holiness, humility, and connection to the divine drew people to Christ even after his death. Pilgrims visited his tomb at Lindisfarne for centuries, seeking healing and spiritual renewal. He had compassion for the poor and sick. Even in isolation, his life overflowed with love, power, and grace. Cuthbert embraced a life of austerity and discipline, living with minimal food, often growing his own vegetables, slept little, rising at night for prayer, practised fasting and physical hardship, and renounced position and comfort, initially resisting being made bishop. The pruning led him to deeper humility and fruitfulness. Cuthbert’s hardships refined his soul.

REVIVAL

If Jesus is the faithful Israel we need to pray for Israel to be revived and abide in Jesus, and to become like Jesus. The disciples’ mission in John 17 is to bear fruit, inner growth, and outward witness to the world, fruit that will last. The mission that Jesus gives to His disciples is to go into a world that may resist or even hate the message. Today, the world is hating Israel, without cause. Psalm 69 sounds like the anguish of Christ on the cross: ‘They hated me without cause.’ Michael Cameron writes that Augustine saw Christ using the Psalms to explain Himself, that Christ actually speaks, before His incarnation.(3) Psalm 69 speaks of the rejection foretold of Christ, and of His disciples, but also of the Jewish people.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, be born in me … and be born in the Jewish people, that they may enter into their calling, even when rejected and hated by so many nations in the world, and may they bear fruit that will last, and may it be to the Father’s glory. Lord, unblock the well of the Living Word. 

Abide in the Vine (CLICK ON PICTURE BELOW TO LISTEN TO SONG)

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(1) Wright, N.T John for Everyone, Part 2, SPCK, (2002), 68, 69.

(2) Hays, R. Echoes of the Scripture in the Gospels, Baylor University Press, (2017).

(3) Cameron, M. Christ Meets me Everywhere, 168; referenced in Carter, C.A. Interpreting Scripture. Baker Academic (2018)