Hello,
My name is Nietzscheaux and this is part 9 of a Lectio Divina journey through the Gospel of John.
Each meditation in this series is an invitation to slow down,
Listen with the heart,
And enter into stillness with the word.
Today's passage is the entire chapter of John 15 where Creator sets free,
Jesus,
Speaks of abiding,
Pruning,
Loving,
And being chosen.
Let us begin with a quiet prayer.
O Great Spirit,
You are the vine and we are the branches.
Help us to remain in you,
To receive what you give,
To bear fruit that reflects your love.
May this time deepen our trust and nourish our soul.
Amen.
A reading from John 15.
I am the true grapevine.
My Father is the vinekeeper.
He cuts off the branches in me that have no fruit.
He carefully trims back the branches with fruit so they will grow more fruit.
My teachings have purified you,
But you must stay joined to me in the same way a branch is joined to the vine.
A branch cannot grow fruit unless it is joined to the vine.
It is the same with you and me.
I am the vine and you are the branches.
The ones who stay joined to me will grow much fruit,
For without me nothing grows.
The ones who do not stay joined to me are broken off and dry up,
And then they are gathered up and used to make fire.
If you are joined to me and my words remain in you,
You can ask me for anything and it will be done.
When you grow a harvest of fruit,
This will show that you are walking my road.
You will then bring great honor to my Father.
In the same way the Father loves me,
I have loved you.
Never stop walking this road of love.
By doing what the Father has told me,
I have remained in His love.
As you walk in my ways,
My love will remain in you.
I am saying this so your hearts will be filled with the same joy that I have.
To walk the road with me,
You must love each other in the same way I have loved you.
There is no greater way to show love to friends than to die in their place.
You are my friends if you walk in my ways and do what I say.
I no longer see you as my servants,
But as friends.
Masters do not share their hearts and plans with their servants.
But I have shown you everything I have heard from my Father.
You may think you chose me,
But I am the one who chose you.
You are my new garden where I will grow a great harvest of my love,
The fruit that remains.
When you bear this fruit,
You represent who I am,
My name.
Then the Father will give you what you ask for.
I am telling you this so you will walk the road of love with each other.
If you are hated by the world,
Remember it hated me first.
The ones who walk in the ways of this world love the ones who do the same,
But look down on and hate the ones who do not.
I have chosen to walk away from the ways of this world on a different path,
And that is why the world will hate you.
Remember,
I told you a servant is not greater than the one he serves.
If I was hunted down,
It will be the same for you.
If they walk in my message,
They will walk in yours.
The people who walk in the ways of this world will do this to you because you walk in my ways,
Representing me.
This shows they do not know the one who sent me.
If I had not come to them and represented the truth,
They would not be guilty of this,
But now their guilt remains.
If I had not done the things no one else has done,
They would have no guilt,
But now they have seen with their own eyes and hated me and my Father.
The full meaning of their own sacred teachings have become clear.
They hated me for no reason.
I am sending you the spirit of truth,
The one who is coming from the Father.
He will walk close by your side,
Representing me and telling the truth about me.
You will also represent me as truth-tellers,
For you have walked with me from the first and have seen these things with your own eyes.
Let these words wash over you now,
Not striving to understand or to know,
But letting the words of Creator Sets Free Jesus simply rest in your heart,
Asking yourself what word or image is sticking with you from the reading you just heard.
And now,
Settle in to hear these words in yet another way.
Creator Sets Free Jesus said,
I am the true vine,
My Father the gardener.
He removes the branches that bear no fruit and prunes the ones that do,
So they can bear even more.
Remain in me and I will remain in you.
No branch can bear fruit on its own.
Apart from me,
You can do nothing.
If you abide in me and my words dwell in you,
Your life will be full of fruit and joy.
Just as the Father has loved me,
I have loved you.
Stay in that love.
This is my commandment.
Love one another as I have loved you.
No one has greater love than this,
To lay down their life for their friends.
You are my friends.
I choose you.
I appoint you to bear fruit that will last.
The world may not understand you.
It did not understand me either.
But the Spirit will come,
The Spirit of truth from the Father,
And will speak on my behalf.
You will also speak,
Because you have been with me from the beginning.
What does it mean to you to be called a friend of Christ?
What kind of fruit is your life being shaped to bear?
Where might the Spirit be asking you to remain,
Rather than to run?
Let these questions echo through you as we take a few moments of silence to sit with the words of Creator Sets Free,
Jesus.
True Vine In a world that pulls us in many directions,
Help us remain in you.
When we feel cut back,
Help us trust your pruning.
When we are called to love,
Let us remember your example.
Let our lives bear fruit that lasts in love,
In truth,
In peace.
Amen.
This meditation is part of a Lectio Divina journey through the Gospel of John.
If these words have offered you peace,
I invite you to stay on path for the last recording.
In our next session,
We will move into John 17,
Where Jesus prays for his friends and for those yet to come,
A prayer of union,
Protection,
And love.
Until then,
Abide in the One,
The One who has made His home in you.
Live like dust lit by fire.
Nicho
