Matins Devotion: June 14, 2024
We self-righteous sinners have an amazing ability to take Christ’s words of comfort and turn them into words of terror. A great example of this is found in our words from John 15 this morning. When Jesus tells us that He is the true vine and we are the branches, and that every branch not bearing fruit will be cut off, He is speaking a word of comfort to His disciples. Just moments before His betrayal, He’s telling them that they don’t need to fear that all is lost when He’s violently ripped away from them and condemned by the chief priests. He is, as He always has been, the true vine. He will bring forth the fruit of forgiveness, life, and salvation from them. The Chief Priests and Pharisees are the ones who will be cut off and thrown away.
That’s what Jesus is saying, and yet, like the parable of the sower, so often we turn this into a word of terror, an impossible challenge. “Jesus is telling you that you need to bear fruit and that if you don’t, you’ll be thrown into condemnation. So do you have enough fruit? Are you sure you have enough? Are you sure it’s pure enough? How can you really be sure that you’re connected to Jesus if you’re not living the right way?”
All of this is rather clearly not what Jesus is saying. So why do we insist on seeing these words as words of terror, rather than comfort? I suppose there are two explanations–one is that the devil simply doesn’t want us to believe in Christ, so he always wants us to see Christ’s words of peace like a carrot on a stick, always close but never attainable. He wants us to despair and give up and convince ourselves that Jesus must not really want us to be His branches. Likewise, we see things this way because our pride wants us to justify our hatred of our neighbor. It wants us to look at the Christians around us and say, “they’re giving the faith a bad name. They’re not committed enough. They’re not bearing enough fruit to have any confidence that they’re true believers like I am.”
So kill your despair and your pride. Kill the lies of the devil and the lies of your self-righteous heart by listening to the final words of this discourse. “These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Jesus doesn’t tell you that you are His branch to give you an impossible challenge, but to fill you with impossible salvation made possible and real and yours. Jesus has done this for you. And He’s done this for your neighbor. The chief priests have lost. The enemies of the Gospel will always lose. You will win because you have been born again into the true vine who has brought forth forgiveness, life, and salvation from you.
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