May 3, Fifth Sunday of Easter: John 15:1-8
The more I read the beginning of John 15, the more I come to believe that it is about the Lord’s Supper.
Among Orthodox Christians only three saints are designated as “theologian,” and one of them is St. John the Evangelist. A quick reading of merely the opening verses of John’s Gospel suffices for us to see and believe how different this writing is from the synoptics. If you are preparing a sermon on this text, sit down and read the whole Gospel of John again. If you are preparing to hear this text in worship, sit down and read the whole Gospel of John again. John the Theologian has more in mind than an accounting of the earthly days and the daily acts of the Word made flesh.
And the more I look at this specific text in chapter 15, contemplate its placement in John’s Gospel, and analyze the structure of John’s writing, the more I come to believe that this key text is associated with the Lord’s Supper—and with the community gathered around Christ. John wants to impart how Christ, the Word made flesh, is going to continue to act in the world since the death, resurrection, and leave-taking of Christ.
Jesus’ statement in verse 5 is one of the “I am”—ego eimi—pronouncements unique to John’s Gospel. In chapter 6, after the feeding of the 5,000 near Capernaum, Jesus declares, “I am the bread of life.” Now, in chapter 15 in Jerusalem, after the supper and the washing of the disciples’ feet, Jesus declares, “I am the true vine.” In chapter 6, Jesus continues: “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” Then to chapter 15 again: “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. . . . As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you, abide in my love.”
