Christian Holiness Journal

One could write volumes on the lessons of the Parable of the Vine and Branches. The key is to abide in Christ, attached to Him as a branch is a vine. 

I’ve never seen a branch that is attached only when it feels like it, or only attached on Sunday, or only attached when the spirit moves it. It is attached every second of every day of its life. If it does become detached, it withers and dies. 

If it is properly nourished and pruned, it will bear fruit. So, what are the fruits we, as Christians, will bear? The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. These are the fruits produced by those who are truly following Christ. 

When Jesus tells us that He is the door, He implies many different things. He describes the door of a sheep pin, a four-sided stone enclosure with about a five foot gap in one end. The shepherd, after gathering the sheep, literally sleeps in the gap, keeping the sheep in and predators out. The shepherd is the gate. This is the picture that Jesus paints with His words. 

To us, who don’t live in a pastoral society, there is another meaning that was implicit 2,000 years ago and is just as valid today. There is but one door into the Kingdom of Heaven, and that door is Jesus. 

Jesus had just fed 5000 men. The total, including women and children could have easily been 20,000 people. The next day, many of those people come looking for Jesus. They wish to make Him king. 

Their minds are set on the physical, as opposed to the spiritual. They think only about how Jesus can make their lives easier, more comfortable. They forget that He had just told some of them that He would not receive the honor of men; they refuse to hear it. 

“…you seek Me, not because you saw the signs,” Jesus tells them, “but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

Jesus listens to their reactions. Make Him king and He can feed the entire nation. He refuses? He’s not going to feed us today? What, no food? Why won’t He? If He fed us yesterday, then why not today? I’d do it. If I had His power, I’d feed everyone, everyday. 

How can we do the mighty works of God, like you do? 

“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

They don’t get it. They continue to press Him for another miracle. They want bread, and Jesus offers them the bread of life. 

How often do we go to Jesus for a miracle, and He offers us Himself. It is nearly impossible for us to comprehend the words of Jesus in this passage. We live in a physical world, in physical bodies, that need to eat regularly, that need to drink constantly.  

Whereas we see only the physical, Jesus responds with the spiritual. Jesus is to our spirits what bread is to our bodies. We cannot survive without Him. 

Our goal in life should never be the blessings of Jesus. Our goal in life should never be to prosper through Him. Our goal should simply be… Jesus. 

My goal is God Himself,

Not joy, nor peace. 

Nor even blessing,

But Himself, my God. 

‘Tis His to lead me there’s

Not mine, but His –

At any cost, dear Lord,

By any road.

– hymn by Frances Brook