The “disciple whom Jesus loved,” known as John, either John ben Zebedee (the Apostle), or John the Elder, wrote his recollections of his experiences with Jesus so that those who hear or read would believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and would find eternal life in His name (cf. John 20:31).
Jesus knew His time to suffer, die, be raised, and ascend to the Father was coming very soon (John 13:31-32); His disciples did not, and throughout John 13:1-17:26, Jesus sought to prepare them for what was about to occur.
And so Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, and explained to them how they should follow His example and humbly serve one another (John 13:1-17). Jesus spoke of His imminent betrayal and sent Judas Iscariot out in John 13:18-30. Jesus, focusing on the eleven remaining disciples, would then begin a discourse in John 13:31 which would conclude with His “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17:1-26. He began this discourse by emphasizing how God would be glorified in the Son of Man, and it was for them to love one another as He had loved them (John 13:31-35). They could not yet go where He was going, but He went to prepare a place for them: less about spatial distance, and more about relational distance, for Jesus would suffer and die to reconcile them to God, and would not leave them as orphans but give them the Spirit of God (John 14:1-31)
Some have suggested a slight contextual shift with Jesus’ final word to depart from their present location in John 14:31; some have gone so far as to suggest John 14:31 was the original conclusion of the discourse, with John 15:1-16:33 added as a second discourse. Nevertheless, Jesus’ themes in what follows well illustrated and advanced what He had said beforehand. We do best to consider John 13:32-16:33 as one coherent discourse, with John 14:31 perhaps suggesting the beginning of the movement from the upper room toward the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus thus continued His discourse by setting forth the illustration of the (grape) vine, speaking of Himself as the Vine, the disciples as the branches, and the Father as the Gardener (John 15:1-8). The Father cuts off every unproductive branch which does not remain in Jesus and burns it in the fire; He prunes productive branches so they might bear more fruit (John 15:2, 6). Jesus assured the present disciples they would not suffer that fate, for they had been cleansed by the word Jesus spoke to them (John 15:3). Jesus underscored the force of the illustration: as branches can only produce fruit while remaining connected to the vine, so they must remain in Jesus, for apart from Jesus they could do nothing (John 15:4-5). Those who remain in Jesus, and the word of Jesus remains in them, can ask Jesus, and it will be done for them, for God is glorified when Jesus’ disciples bear fruit and prove their discipleship (John 15:6-7).
Grape vines, and the wine produced from the grapes of the vine, were prevalent throughout Galilee and Judea, and the harvesting and stomping of the grapes would have been communal activities. To this end the disciples would have been very familiar with viticulture, and Jesus’ illustration would have made sense to them. Grape vines very much require such continual maintenance if they would produce high quality and a high yield of grapes.
Speaking of the people of God in terms of grape vines had beforehand involved judgment: Isaiah’s “Song of the Vineyard” in Isaiah 5:1-7 and Jesus’ “update” in Matthew 21:33-46; likewise, the judgments regarding drinking the unmixed cup of the wine of God’s wrath (cf. Jeremiah 25:15-17, Revelation 14:10, 16:19). But wine would also be enjoyed as part of the eschatological banquet feast on the final day (e.g. Revelation 19:6-9). Jesus’ illustration of the vine and the branches dovetails nicely with this last image: Christians jointly participate in the faith in God in Christ through His Spirit, demonstrating their discipleship by walking according to the Spirit and bearing fruit, all of which is empowered by God in Christ, and that fruit will be “harvested” and enjoyed as part of the celebrations of the victory on the final day.
In a highly individualistic world which desires to celebrate individual achievement and looks askance on expectations of communal authority or life, Jesus’ illustration of the vine provides a needed reminder for Christians regarding who they should be and how they persevere. The faith will not be well advanced by our own unaided efforts; apart from Jesus we can do nothing. We are not to see ourselves as “lone rangers” who have pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps; we instead are branches of the Vine, submitting to Jesus in all things, actively and consciously depending upon Him and His strength and direction, and enduring whatever pruning in discipline God requires of us in order to prove more faithful and productive in the Kingdom of His Son.
Jesus then returned to what was likely His most prominent theme throughout this final discourse: encouraging the disciples to love one another as He had loved them (John 15:9-17; cf. John 13:31-35). Jesus has loved the disciples as the Father had loved Him: they should thus remain in His love by obeying His commandments, as Jesus obeyed the Father’s commandments and remained in His love; all of this should be done so Jesus’ joy would be in them, and their joy would be made complete (John 15:9-11). What was Jesus’ commandment they should observe? To love one another as Jesus had loved them (John 15:12, 17).
Jesus powerfully affirmed how no greater love existed than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13). Jesus then spoke of the disciples as His friends if they do what He commanded them: they were no longer as slaves, not understanding what the master is doing, but are friends, since Jesus made known to them all He heard from His Father (John 15:14-15). They did not choose Jesus; Jesus chose them to go and bear fruit, and the Father would give them that for which they asked (John 15:16).
In this way Jesus welcomed the disciples, and all of His disciples, to consider themselves as friends of God in Christ. There are still ways in which it is good to consider ourselves as servants/slaves of Christ, as the Apostles considered themselves in Philippians 1:1, James 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1, and even John himself in Revelation 1:1: believers are not entitled to their standing, but do well to humbly serve God in Christ and consider doing so as their duty (e.g. Luke 17:7-10). Furthermore, the humility and shame which attends to calling oneself a “slave of Christ” remains precisely the point. Yet in terms of relational distance and standing, the Apostles consistently speak of God as Father and believers as brothers and sisters in Christ for good reason (e.g. Romans 8:12-17, Ephesians 2:19). Christians as friends of Jesus represents a similar metaphorical framework: we have been brought in to share in the life of the household of God and should maintain a deeply intimate and strong connection with Jesus. Jesus can be the “friend who sticks closer than a brother” of Proverbs 18:24 if we let Him be, and we should be that kind of friend for God in Christ and for fellow believers.
In declaring the disciples as His friends, Jesus has brought to completion the hospitality of the “Heavenly Stranger.” The “Heavenly Stranger” is a theme we can discern throughout John’s Gospel: consider how many times Jesus has spoken of Himself as having come from the Father and is not from below, and how He expected to return to His Father (e.g. John 16:28). The goal of hospitality (Greek philoxenos, “love of stranger”) in antiquity was to turn strangers into friends through welcome into one’s home and relational growth through shared meals and space. Thus John well indicted the world in John 1:10-11: the world should have welcomed Jesus the “Heavenly Stranger,” taken Him in, learned from Him, and become His friend, but it would not. Instead, John has set forth an ironic profound reversal if we will perceive it: the Stranger shows hospitality to make His “hosts” His friends. Jesus, the “Heavenly Stranger,” provides a feast of Himself for His disciples, and He later washed their feet, a standard form of displaying hospitality, shared space with His disciples, and thus was able to turn such “strangers” into His friends (John 6:1-71, 13:1-15:17). But those who accept the hospitality of the “Heavenly Stranger” and become His friends would then incur the hostility of the world which would not welcome or accept Him: an ominous foreshadowing of the warnings which Jesus would go on to provide in John 15:18-16:11.
While we have gained much from considering the disciples as the friends of the “Heavenly Stranger” in John 15:9-17, we should always give pride of place to Jesus’ particular emphasis throughout not only this passage, but in fact the whole discourse: Christians should love one another as Jesus has loved them.
Jesus has constantly encouraged His disciples to obey His commandments; He even tied their standing in Him to that obedience. But what was His commandment? To love one another as Jesus had loved them. To remain in the love of God in Christ, one must live in and by the love of God in Christ. Jesus thus does not make appeal to some kind of authoritarian-style checklist paradigm of obedience and faithfulness: throughout this passage, to obey Jesus’ command involves to love one another as Jesus has loved us. Love is central and cannot be overemphasized.
We unfortunately must make note of the abominable and pervasive distortion and perversion of Jesus’ powerful message in John 15:13: nation-states have constantly taken this powerful message and have harnessed it to “bless” and “sanctify” those who have died as part of military action. Jesus laid down His life for His friends, His disciples (cf. 1 John 3:16): He suffered evil and did not respond in kind. Jesus did not even attempt to respond in kind, as those do who fight in a military context. Jesus was testifying regarding what the love of God in Christ requires: a love so sacrificial it will give of itself before it takes from others. Nations will continue to make war on other nations, and in those wars, people seek to kill lest they get killed, and those who are killed suffer thus because they were killed before they could kill. God may be acting in and among those nations in these endeavors, but they are not acting according to the standards of what God has made known in Christ. We can understand the desire to recognize those who have lost their lives in military campaigns for a given people, but they did not die like Jesus died according to how Jesus died and for a similar end, and we should not easily suffer the bastardization of the Gospel to this end.
Jesus, the “Heavenly Stranger,” suffered hostility from the world; as He would soon discuss, how much more will the friends of the “Heavenly Stranger” likewise suffer? Christians should love one another as Jesus has loved them because they cannot ultimately rely on anyone else. Christians loving like Jesus, nourished and sustained in God in Christ through the Spirit, presents the most powerful testimony and witness regarding what God has accomplished in Christ; it goes far beyond anything we can well argue. Such love has always proven counter-cultural, and always will. May we love one another as Jesus has loved us, remain connected to Jesus our Vine, and bear witness to how profoundly we have been shaped by our friendship with Jesus the “Heavenly Stranger” to all who will see and hear!
Ethan R. Longhenry