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One of the famous I am metaphors of John opens this discourse. In it Jesus likened himself to a grapevine and his Father to the farmer who tended it (v.1; cf. Ps 80:8-11; Isa 5:1-7; see on 6:35). Grape husbandry was widespread in Palestine, so much imagery would have been vivid to the disciples. But what Jesus had to say was not just a disquisition on one form of agriculture. It was a spiritual message with three distinct but related parts.
The first section (vv.1-4) builds on a knowledge of basic methods of grape culture. Branches that do not produce fruit are useless and are removed by the farmer from the vine. Branches that do bear grapes are pruned so that they might be even more fruitful. Jesus did not specify the identity of any of the spiritually unfruitful who may have been in his mind, but he implied that the disciples were among the fruitful, for he pronounced them already clean (or pruned; the Greek word is the same) through his ministry (cf. 13:10). As Jesus was the source of Christian fruitfulness, it was essential to remain vitally in touch with him.
Jesus emphasized this idea in the second part of the discourse (vv.5-8). He began by restating the first element of the metaphor of 15:1, but in the second he spoke of the disciples rather than of his Father. No branch, he said, can be fruitful that is severed from its vine. It is the same in the spiritual realm: the secret of fruitfulness is living in connection with Jesus, who is the source of fruitfulness. Remaining in Jesus and being fruitful is the essence of discipleship, brings glory to the Father, and guarantees answered prayer (cf. 14:13).
In the third section (vv.9-17), Jesus reaffirmed the importance and nature of love (cf. 14:15-24) and fruitbearing. The Father’s love for Jesus was the model for Jesus' love of the disciples; his obedient love for the Father was to be the model for their love for him; his self-sacrificing love for them was to be the model of their love for each other. The initiative in all this was his. He chose them and not they him. His design was that they should bear fruit, and his command was that they should love each other (cf. 13:34-35).