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The branches are the center of greatest interest in the parable-allegory of the vine (Jn 15:1-17). The purpose of the vine is that the branches are loaded with clusters, that bear much fruit. For this to be the case, the vine must be well cared for. The sap of the vine, which gives life to the branches, must be well used.
All the vine shoots start from the vine, they are inserted in it, without it they would not exist. But some dry up; those must be cut and burned. Those that are alive must be pruned and cleaned, so that the sap, which they receive from the vine, is concentrated in the suitable points so that the clusters sprout strongly and is not lost in vain flowering. What matters is that there is a good vintage.
Jesus Christ himself gives the keys to interpret the parable-allegory. “I am the vine… you are the branches.” With the ‘I am’, Jesus evokes his divine condition, since God, Yahweh, is the “I AM”.
Jesus is the vine, the disciples are the branches: The “I am” and the “you are” indicate the clear distinction between one and the other. He never says “we are”, just like when he says “my Father” and “your Father”, he never says “our Father”.
The disciples, the Christians, have to be united to Christ. There are two modes of joining.
One modality is to be united only by faith and baptism, without producing works of love. In this case faith is dead, because when it is alive it is expressed in acts of love (Gal 5,6), the branch has dried up, the supernatural sap does not flow through the veins of the Christian’s soul; we are before a spiritual corpse, whose destiny is the consuming fire, which makes a reference to divine judgment, although it can only be a medicinal punishment to make the punished enter the paths of love.
Another modality of union is the one that is realized through faith and charity. The branch is alive, the Christian practices works of love, fulfills the commandment of the Lord: “This is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another as he commanded us” (1 Jn 3, 2. 3). To bear fruit, both things are necessary: “Command them to abide in him, not by faith alone, but chiefly by charity, since by faith there are many who abide in him, yet they bear no fruit. Christ was dealing with that permanence in himself that produces fruits, which is impossible without charity. Sometimes we see on the vine many dry, dead, fruitless branches, because they do not partake of the sap of the root. These are the ones who adhere to Christ only by faith. They are branches, they remain on the vine, but they are dead and dry, because they do not suck the humor of Christ’s grace, which cannot be shared without the charity that is the life of the soul” (J. MALDONADO, Commentary on the Gospel of Saint John , BAO, Madrid, 1954, p.821-22).
One who is thus vitally united to Christ must also be pruned and cleaned, as a branch is pruned and cleaned, so that it bears much fruit, that is, so that it grows in the faith and in the love that it already has.
What does pruning consist of? Pruning is always painful, since it consists of cutting living parts of the branch. In the life of the Christian it is about the tests that must be overcome with firmness and the sufferings and tribulations that must be endured with patience and perseverance. Trial and pain serve to strengthen the spiritual life (Rom 5,3). Hardships, suffered with faith and love, produce abundant and incalculable fruits of glory (2 Cor 4:17).
And what does cleaning consist of? In discarding all selfishness and all love of money and power, because the love of money is the origin of all evil (1 Tim 6,10) and power is a corrupting diabolical force. Both things chain man, enslave him, suffocate his noblest sentiments, end up suffocating his faith in God and his love for men.
The Christian united to Christ by faith and love lives the same life as Christ, is one with him, is Christified, remains in Christ and Christ in him. This is the formula of reciprocal immanence: “remain united to me as I am to you” (Jn 15:4). The verb to remain, which indicates the unbreakable union that must reign between Jesus Christ and Christians, is very typical of the Johannine writings. It appears forty times in the gospel and twenty-three in the first letter. Among all the texts, perhaps the most significant is Jn 6:50: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”
Mutual immanence feeds and nourishes itself in the Eucharist, the bread from heaven that must be eaten with faith in Christ (Jn 6:29). Without this union nothing can be done in the supernatural order, in reference to eternal life. “Without me you can do nothing” (Jn 15,52), but with this union everything can be done, much fruit is borne (15,5), everything that is asked of the Father is achieved (15,7) and the Father is glorified (15,8).
Christians are all one in the One, distinct, and at the same time identical in Christ.
Christ is the vine and he is also the vine, that is, the totality of the vine and the branches. The branches are all one in the vine. With this metaphor, Saint John describes what the Church of Jesus Christ is. Christ is the true vine that supplants the other unfaithful vine that was Israel. He, and the Christians in him and with him, are the new Israel of God, the Church (Gal 6,16).
In this vine there is no distinction or privilege among the branches, which are all the same. Distinction, preference and superiority consist in bearing more or less fruit. The same supernatural sap runs through all: He who has more faith and more love, is more united to Jesus Christ and lives with greater intensity his divine life. ->vine; sufferings; faith; charity.
Evaristo Martin Nieto
FERNANDEZ RAMOS, Felipe (Dir.), Dictionary of Jesus of Nazareth, Editorial Monte Carmelo, Burbos, 2001
Source: Dictionary of Jesus of Nazareth