Tag Archives: my Father is the gardener

JOHN’S GOSPEL…THE POWER OF THE SEED – 18

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“Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”

‭‭John‬ ‭12‬:‭20‬-‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

What was it the triggered this insightful declaration of Jesus? What was He saying? A seed has only one purpose…to die and be buried in the ground. Unless it dies, a seed will never fulfil its purpose. 

Of course, this is logical, but what does it imply if we follow the logic of Jesus’ statement to its conclusion? Jesus did not just make a random observation out of the blue about a law of nature. He made a serious, but veiled declaration about His own role in a new order that was about to come into being. 

Any new life has to be born of a seed. Some Greeks, known as “God-fearers” because they worshiped the God of Israel, in the crowd at that moment, purposely asked to see Jesus. This was the clue that something new was about to happen. The Gentiles who, up to this point in history, were “outsiders”, despised, hated, and ostracised by the Jews, and outside of God’s realm, were on the threshold of a new identity. Through the “seed” that would die and be buried in the ground, a new dispensation of unity between Jew and Gentile and a new species as God’s family would grow and bloom, reproducing seeds of this new identity.   

“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭11‬-‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Isaiah’s prophecy, written centuries before this event, was on the verge of fulfilment, 

“I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles,”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭42‬:‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God’s purpose, a mystery up to this point, was about to change the entire direction of history. 

“This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Everything that flowed from the fulfilment of this declaration depended on one thing…the death of the seed. What if the “seed” chose not to die? What if Jesus, confronted by the reality, the horror of what was about to happen to Him, chose His will over the Father’s will?

“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

‭‭John‬ ‭12‬:‭27‬-‭28‬ ‭NIV‬‬

That voice again! Seldom did the Father speak to His Son in an audible voice. Only at those times when Jesus made crucial decisions that directed the course of His life, did the Father affirm His choices, not to tell Him what to do but to assure Him that He was on track. 

So, the die was cast, the choice was confirmed…the seed would die, as planned from before the universe came into existence. 

“Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭50‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jerusalem would be the place of His execution. 

“In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭13‬:‭33‬ ‭NIV‬‬

 So…

“As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭9‬:‭51‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Now, in this situation, already in Jerusalem, according to the Father’s timetable, Jesus touched base with heaven. He ensured that His every move, guided by the Father through earthly events, was in harmony with the Father’s will. 

So, He could say, with assurance, despite the emotions accompanying His resolution, despite His revulsion at the thought of impending suffering, real as it was, that He was ready to face the next step in this unfolding plan of redemption. 

To be continued…

THE TRUE VINE

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THE TRUE VINE

“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. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:1-5 NIV.

Jesus and His disciples had left the upper room where they had eaten their last Passover meal together. They made their way through the dark streets of the city towards the olive grove called Gethsemane. As they walked slowly through the vineyard outside the city wall, Jesus must have stopped and fingered the vine leaves, recalling His intimate knowledge of the Scriptures.

Israel was symbolically God’s vineyard. In Isaiah 5, the prophet sang a song about His vineyard – “I will sing of the one I love, a song about His vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut a winepress as well.”

Imagine God’s disappointment when, after all the preparation and care He had given His vineyard, it produced a crop so bad that it was worthless to Him. “Then He looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it only yield bad?”

Since His people had failed to fulfil His destiny for them, He had no option but to send them into exile, away from His presence in His temple and from their land so that they would learn to distance themselves from the idols and the wickedness of the surrounding nations.

“Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.

“The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines He delighted in. And He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.” Isaiah 5:1-7 NIV.

There was only one “vine” that could satisfy the desire of the Father for good grapes and abundant fruitfulness — Jesus Christ, His own Son. Instead of Israel, He was the true vine that represented and took the place of God’s people who had failed to live up to His expectation. Jesus was not only the true vine but the way for God to replant His vineyard and reap crops of good grapes through those who would believe in Him.

The way of fruitfulness is the way of abiding or remaining in union with the true vine. Being joined to the vine and remaining in fellowship with Him is the only guarantee that we will produce the fruit that will bring delight to the heart of the Father. The vine, the stock, is perfect and needs no cultivation. The branches are the ones that need constant attention so that they will be as fruitful as they can possibly be. 

The vinedresser has ways of improving the fruitfulness of the branches. He lifts up, cleans and reattaches the branches that trail down into the dust, not “cutting them off” but treating them so that they will become fruitful again. He prunes the fruitful branches, removing everything that will hinder the production of grapes.

The branches have no other responsibility but to remain in the vine. As long as we are attached to the vine and receiving the sap of its life, we shall be fruitful — revealing the nature of the vine in our lives. The Father’s role is to cultivate and prune the branches according to His skill as the vinedresser so that the fruit we bear is the fruit that reveals the true nature of the vine.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.