‘I Am’ Says Abide In Me

In the gospel reading for the weekend of May 2/3, we hear one of Jesus’ many “I am” statements. John’s gospel records Jesus using this powerful phrase on many different occasions: “I am the bread of life,” “I am the good shepherd,” “I am the Resurrection and the life,” “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

The words “I am” were no ordinary words to the people who heard Jesus speak. Back when Moses encountered God at the burning bush, God identified Himself when He told Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

So in the minds of anyone familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures, the phrase “I am” clearly referred to the divine Lord. No wonder Jesus’ opponents wanted to kill Him. By using the phrase “I am,” Jesus was equating Himself with God. Coming from a mere mortal, like you or me, this is either blasphemy or insanity.

This week’s gospel reading is one of the many discourses Jesus gave on the night before He was crucified. Jesus told His disciples, “I am the vine, you are the branches.”

Jesus offered some very encouraging words during this discourse. He said, “Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit,” and, “If you remain in me and my word remains in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.”

How wonderful. If we just remain—or abide—in Jesus, we will be able to bear much fruit and be able to go boldly before God and make our desires and requests known, confident that God loves us so much that He’ll answer our prayers.

Oftentimes people will focus only on the uplifting, encouraging words of Jesus in this passage. But Jesus also offered some words of warning here. He pointed out that God the Father “takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,” and that “anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.”

Whoa! That’s a little disconcerting. Anytime Jesus mentions the possibility of being thrown into a fire, we ought to pay close attention. If we don’t attach ourselves to Jesus, or if we are attached to Him but it doesn’t affect our lives, then we are in danger of being thrown into a fire and burned. (Is that a figure of speech, or poetic imagery, or a specific reference to the fires of Hell? I’m not sure, but why take the chance?)

Jesus made another interesting statement here: “Every [branch] that does (bear fruit) [the Father] prunes so that it bears more fruit.”

When Jesus said that God the Father prunes those who abide in Jesus, He meant that all of the ungodly things, the activities on which we waste so much of our time and energy, are cut away and removed from our lives. Each person has his own unique list of junk that needs to be pruned away. I suspect if we each made a list of ungodly activities that dominate our lives, there would be some common themes, especially with the often soul-rotting “entertainment” offered these days on TV and the Internet.

God’s pruning is no doubt a little painful, but it’s just what we need. Getting rid of our self-centered view of life and changing to a Christ-centered view is the only way we’ll ever produce abundant, good fruit. Also, if we abide in Him and let His power work through us, it’s the only way we’ll ever experience true joy and peace. There’s no doubt that this is true, because I AM said so.