Homily 76 — John 14, verse 31, to 15, verse 10

“Get up, let us go from here. I am the true vine, you are the branches, and my Father is the vinedresser.” [a]

Ignorance makes the soul timid and unmanly, just as instruction in the teachings of heaven makes it great and lofty. When the soul has had no care, it is in a way timid, not by nature but by its own will. For when I see a man who was once brave now turned coward, I say that this cowardice no longer belongs to his nature, since what is natural does not change. And again, when I see people who were cowards only a moment ago suddenly become daring, I make the same judgment and put it all down to the will. Even the disciples were very fearful before they had learned what they needed to learn and had been counted worthy of the gift of the Spirit; yet afterward they became bolder than lions. So Peter, who could not stand up to the threat of a servant girl, was hung head downward, and was flogged, and endured countless dangers, and still would not be silent. He bore what he bore as though it were a dream, and in such straits he spoke boldly. But it was not so before the crucifixion.

That is why Christ said, “Get up, let us go from here.” But why, tell me? Did he not know the hour when Judas would come upon him? Or perhaps he was afraid that Judas would come and seize them, and that the plotters would be on him before he had finished giving his most excellent teaching? Far from it! Such things are far beneath his dignity.

If he was not afraid, then, why did he move them, and then, after finishing his discourse, lead them into a garden that Judas knew? And even if Judas had come, could he not have blinded their eyes, as he did also when the traitor was not there? Why did he move them? He is giving the disciples a little breathing room. They were in a place where they could be seen, and they were likely to tremble and be afraid, both because of the hour and because of the place, for it was the dead of night. They would not have paid attention to his words, but would have kept turning around, imagining they heard the men who were coming to attack them, and all the more because their Teacher’s words had led them to expect trouble. For he says, “Yet a little while, and I am not with you,” and, “The ruler of this world is coming.” Since they were troubled when they heard these and similar words, as though they were certain to be seized at once, he takes them to another place, so that, thinking themselves safe, they might listen to him without fear. For they were about to hear lofty teachings. That is why he says, “Get up, let us go from here.”

Then he goes on to say, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” What does he mean to show by the comparison? That the man who pays no attention to his words can have no life, and that the miracles about to take place would be done by the power of Christ. “My Father is the vinedresser.” What then? Does the Son need a power working in him? Far from it! The example does not mean that. Notice how exactly he works through the comparison. He does not say that the root enjoys the vinedresser’s care, but the branches. And the root is brought in here for no other purpose than that they may learn that they can do nothing without his power, and that they must be joined to him by faith, as the branch is to the vine.

Verse 2: “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, the Father takes away.” Here he is pointing to the way they live, showing that without works it is impossible to be in him. “And every branch that bears fruit, he cleanses it.” That is, he makes it enjoy great care. Yet it is the root, rather than the branches, that needs care, by being dug around and cleared; still, he says nothing about that here, but speaks entirely of the branches. He is showing that he is sufficient in himself, and that the disciples, however excellent they may be, need much help from the vinedresser. That is why he says, “The one that bears fruit, he cleanses it.” The one branch, because it is fruitless, cannot even remain in the vine; but the other, because it bears fruit, he makes more fruitful still.

Someone might say that this was spoken also with an eye to the persecutions then coming upon them. For “cleanses it” means “prunes it,” and pruning makes the branch bear better. This shows that persecutions, if anything, make people stronger. Then, so that they would not ask whom he meant by these words, and so as not to throw them back into anxiety, he says in verse 3: “Now you are clean through the word that I have spoken to you.”

Do you see how he brings himself in as the one tending the branches? “I have cleansed you,” he says; and yet above he declares that the Father does this. But there is no separation between the Father and the Son. And now you too must do your part. Then, to show that he did this not because he needed their service but for their own progress, he adds in verse 4: “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can the one who does not remain in me.”

For so that they would not be cut off from him by timidity, he fastens and glues to himself their souls, gone slack with fear, and holds out good hopes to them for the future. For the root remains; to be taken away or to be left belongs to the branches. Then, having urged them on in both ways, by what is pleasant and by what is painful, he asks first for what must be done on our side.

Verse 5: “The one who remains in me, and I in him.” Do you see that the Son contributes no less than the Father to the care of the disciples? The Father cleanses, but the Son keeps them in himself. Remaining in the root is what makes the branches fruitful. For a branch that has not been cleansed, if it stays on the root, bears fruit, though perhaps not as much as it should; but the one that does not stay bears none at all. Yet the cleansing has also been shown to belong to the Son, and the remaining in the root to the Father, who also begot the Root. Do you see how everything is shared, both the cleansing and the enjoyment of the power that comes from the root?

Now being able to do nothing would be a great penalty in itself, but he does not stop the punishment there; he carries his discourse further. [f]

Verse 6: “He is thrown out,” he says, no longer enjoying the benefit of the vinedresser’s hand. “And he withers.” That is, if he had anything from the root, he loses it; if he had any grace, he is stripped of it, and is robbed of the help and the life that come from it. And what is the end? “He is thrown into the fire.” Not so the one who remains with him. Then he shows what it is to remain, and says in verse 7: “If my words remain in you.”

Do you see that I had reason to say earlier that he is looking for the proof in works? For when he had said, “Whatever you ask, I will do it,” he added, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14, verses 14 and 15). And here: “If you remain in me, and my words remain in you.” “You will ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

He said this to show that those who were plotting against him would be burned up, but that they themselves would bear fruit. Then, turning the fear away from them onto the others, and showing that they would be invincible, he says in verse 8: “In this my Father is glorified, that you be my disciples and bear much fruit.”

In this way he makes his words believable. For if bearing fruit belongs to the Father’s glory, he will not neglect his own glory. “And you will be my disciples.” Do you see that the one who bears fruit is the disciple? But what does “In this the Father is glorified” mean? He rejoices when you remain in me, when you bear fruit.

Verse 9: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.” Here at last he speaks in a more human way, for this, spoken to men, has a force of its own. What a measure of love he showed! He chose to die. He counted worthy of such honor those who were his slaves, those who hated him, his open enemies, and he led them up to heaven. If I love you, then, take courage. If it is my Father’s glory that you bear fruit, imagine nothing bad. Then, so as not to make them careless, see how he braces them again: “Remain in my love.” For this is in your power. And how will this happen?

Verse 10: “If you keep my commandments, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments.” Again his discourse proceeds in a human way, for certainly the Lawgiver would not be subject to commandments. Do you see that here too, as I am always saying, this is said because of the weakness of the hearers? For he is chiefly answering their suspicions, and showing them in every way that they are safe, that their enemies are perishing, that everything they have, they have from the Son, and that if they show a pure life, no one will ever get the better of them.

And notice how he speaks to them with great authority. He did not say, “Remain in the love of my Father,” but “in mine.” Then, so that they would not say, When you have set us at war with everyone, you leave us and go away, he shows that he does not leave them, but is joined to them, if they are willing, as the branch is to the vine. Then, so that confidence would not make them careless, he does not say that the blessing cannot be taken away if they grow slack. And so as not to refer the matter to himself, and thereby make them more likely to fall, he says, “In this my Father is glorified.” For everywhere he shows his own love and his Father’s love toward them. So it was not the things of the Jews that were “glory,” but the things they were about to receive. And so that they would not say, We have been driven from the possessions of our fathers; we have been deserted; we have been left naked and without anything, he says, Look at me. I am loved by the Father, and yet I still suffer the things appointed for me. So I am not leaving you now because I do not love you. For if I am killed, and do not take this as proof that I am not loved by the Father, neither should you be troubled. For if you remain in my love, these dangers will not be able to do you any harm as far as love is concerned.

Since love, then, is a mighty and irresistible thing, and not a bare word, let us show it by our actions. He reconciled us when we were his enemies; now that we have become his friends, let us remain so. He led the way; let us at least follow. He loves us not for his own advantage, for he needs nothing; let us at least love him for our own profit. He loved us when we were his enemies; let us at least love him when he is our friend. As it is, we do the opposite. Every day God is blasphemed because of us, because of our robberies and our greed. And perhaps one of you will say, Every day your sermon is about greed. I wish I could speak about it every night as well! I wish I could do it following you around in the marketplace and at your table! I wish wives and friends and children and household servants and farmworkers and neighbors, and the very pavement and walls, could shout this word out constantly, so that perhaps we might let up a little! For this sickness has seized the whole world and occupies everyone’s soul, and the tyranny of mammon is great. We have been ransomed by Christ, and we are slaves of gold. We proclaim the rule of the one and obey the other. Whatever that other master commands, we obey at once, and for its sake we have refused to know family, or friendship, or nature, or laws, or anything at all. No one looks up to heaven; no one thinks about the things to come. But a time will come when even these words will be of no use. “In the grave,” Scripture says, “who will praise you?” [h]

Gold is a desirable thing. It gets us much luxury and makes us honored, but not in the way heaven does. For many people even turn away from the wealthy man and hate him, but the one who lives virtuously they respect and honor. But the poor man is laughed at, even if he is virtuous. Not among men, but among animals without reason. That is why he should not even notice them. If donkeys brayed and jackdaws chattered at us while all the wise praised us, we would not lose sight of that audience and pay attention to the noise of animals without reason. And those who admire the things of this present life are like jackdaws and worse than donkeys. Besides, if an earthly king approves of you, you take no account of the crowd, even if they all laugh at you; but if the Lord of the universe praises you, will you go looking for the good word of beetles and gnats? For that is what these people are compared with God, or rather not even that, but something baser still, if there is anything baser.

How long will we wallow in the mud? How long will we make the lazy and the belly-worshipers our judges? They may be good judges of gamblers and drunkards and those who live for their stomachs, but of virtue and vice they cannot form so much as a dream. If someone mocks you because you do not know how to lay out the channels of the watercourses, you will not think it anything terrible; you will even laugh at the one who charges you with that kind of ignorance. And yet, when you want to practice virtue, do you appoint as judges people who know nothing about it? That is why we never master that art. We entrust our case not to the skilled but to the untaught, and they judge not by the rules of the art but by their own ignorance.

So I urge you: let us despise the crowd. Or rather, let us desire neither praise, nor possessions, nor wealth, and let us not count poverty an evil. For poverty is our teacher of good sense and endurance and all true wisdom. So Lazarus lived in poverty and received a crown; Jacob asked only to have bread; and Joseph was in the deepest poverty, not only a slave but a prisoner as well. And that is why we admire him all the more. We do not praise him so much when he handed out the grain as when he lived in the dungeon; not when he wore the diadem, but when he wore the chain; not when he sat on the throne, but when he was plotted against and sold.

So let us think about all these things, and about the crowns woven for us after the contests, and let us admire not wealth and honor and luxury and power, but poverty, the chain, bonds, and endurance for the sake of virtue. For the end of those things is full of trouble and confusion, and their lot is bound up with this present life; but the fruit of these is heaven, and the good things in heaven, which “eye has not seen, nor ear heard.” May we all obtain them, through the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen.