Go back and read Isaiah 5: The farmer worked very hard to make things right for that vineyard. Yet, the vineyard was a disappointment. The farmer responded.
Here in John's Gospel, the vineyard again is used as a metaphor: The branches that don't produce fruit are removed from the vine. The branches that do produce fruit are pruned so that they will produce more.
Consider the effect on your community from what your church congregation is doing.
Would that community be better or worse off if your congregation pruned some of its actions and practices from the vine?
Consider the effect on your community from what your church congregation is doing.
Would that community be better or worse off if your congregation pruned some of its actions and practices from the vine?
If the answer is "better off," then what further pruning would make the effect even better?
BTW, according to the notes in the New Interpreter's Study Bible, the other "I am" sayings include: bread of life, (6:35, 48, 51; light of the world (8:12; 9:5); gate for the sheep (10:7, 9); good shepherd (10:11, 14); resurrection and the life (11:25-26); the way, and the truth, and the life (14:6).
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