(Jn 15:1-8)

John 15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

John 15:2 Every branch in me that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit.

John 15:3 You are already worlds because of the word which I have spoken to you.

John 15:4 Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so also you unless you abide in me.

John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.

John 15:6 Whoever does not abide in me is cast out like the branch and dries up, and then they gather him up and throw him into the fire and burn him.

John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask what ye will, and it shall be given you.

John 15:8 In this my Father is glorified: that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

v. 1 presents the two main actors of what could be called, with a Hebrew term, a "mashal", that is, a sort of sapiential reflection that starts from life experience: Jesus, the true vine, and the Father, the vinedresser, in a relationship in which Jesus, as the vine, acts as the place where the Father makes a judgement on the believers, all born from this vine, but only some become worthy of it and are able to bear fruit, while others merely vegetate, disowning their origin and therefore detaching themselves from it.

The expression 'I am' in John's Gospel acquires a theological significance of enormous importance. It is a reference to Yahweh's name and manner of being [revealed to Moses] and defines the divinity of Jesus, as if to say that that Yahweh who met Moses on Sinai is now back among his own in the person of Jesus. An "I am" that is defined here as a "vine", i.e. as the unique and exclusive place from which the branches are generated, which not only belong to it, but are an offshoot of it; from this vine the divine life-blood flows to the branch-believers. This is an image that defines the indefinable divinity of Yahweh, of which Jesus becomes the historical site of his unveiling to men.

v. 2 completes the image introduced by v. 1 and presents a new figure, that of the branch, which by its very nature has been generated by the vine and is bound to it, and feeds on its own life. Two types of branches are presented here: those that do not bear fruit and those that do bear fruit. This last category is also subjected to pruning. To remove and to prune are two traumatic verbs, to which both types of branches are subjected; if on the one hand they recall the action of a judgement, which is placed on all, on the other hand they hint at how the instrument of this sorting is the moment of trial, which will discriminate those who remain and those who do not, alluding to the faithfulness or otherwise provoked by persecution (Jn 15:18-19).

v. 3, taking up the theme of cleansing, here understood in the sense of purifying, adds a new note: purification is not only through trial, but is also measured by the faithful reception of Jesus' word, which possesses in itself a regenerative power. This is why it is a purifying and transforming word. This concept is effectively expressed by the Greek particle "dià" which means "by means of", assigning to the word the role of instrument through which the very life of God flows. It is no coincidence, moreover, that John opens his Gospel by placing in the absolute principle of God precisely his Word (Jn 1:1-2), from which all life then flows (Jn 1:3).

v. 4 introduces the theme of "abiding in", which here presents the double face of the disciple in Jesus and of Jesus in the disciple, opening up a game of reciprocity that becomes a communion of life, the initiative for which is here in the hands of the disciple, because the abiding of Jesus in the disciple is consequent to the abiding of the disciple in Jesus. If being branches does not depend on us, but on the vine, of which we are part, remaining depends on us. The word "abide" does not indicate an ephemeral, temporary "being there", but a persistent and persevering one. It means to dwell long, always. It means making that vine, which is Christ, our habitation. It is ultimately an existential fidelity to Jesus, which constitutes the "conditio sine qua non" of Jesus' remaining in the disciple, so that life can flow from the vine to the branch.

The first consequence of not remaining or remaining is that of not bearing or bearing fruit. What does "bearing fruit" mean? John always uses the singular, 'fruit', and never the plural, 'fruits', in which case the reader would be led to think that these are the good works. But here we are not talking about good or bad behaviour; The background is not moral, but Christological, understood as an existential response to being or not being in Jesus. The term in the singular, 'bearing fruit', refers more to a condition of life than to works, which v. 4 defines as a mutual 'abiding in', an interpenetration between Jesus and disciple, expressing a communion of life and such that they become one.

Bearing fruit", therefore, excludes reference to works, defining, instead, a condition of life that touches the very ontology of the believer, who is in Jesus with his whole being and is in turn interpenetrated by him, so that the two become one, as are the vine and the branch, which feed on the same life-blood and in some way belong to each other. Here, then, that 'abiding' is not a static 'being in something', but a dynamic interpenetration between Christ and us, so that we are constituted as one with and in Christ; it means being christified. It is, in the final analysis, a reproduction in us of the same relationship that exists between Christ and the Father 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation - exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

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