am the vine, you the branches This part is a meditation on Jesus as the source of life for the community and builds on the pattern of discipleship in the gospels. In the beginning Jesus states: "I am the true vine", leading to the use of the term The Vine to refer to this teaching. The disciples (and hence the community) are then referred to as the branches that depend on the vine: "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing." – John 15:5 The passages in John 15:9–10 then draw parallels between the relationship between Jesus and the disciples with that of The Father and Jesus: "as the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you" "keep my commandments ... as I have kept my Father's commandments". Later in the discourse, this pattern is repeated in John 17:18 in which Jesus "sends the disciples to the world", just as the Father had sent him to the world. This pattern of discipleship reemphasizes the Good Shepherd teachings in John 10:1–21 in which one "lays down his life" in obedience. The theme of the instruction then emphasizes that abiding in Jesus results in fruitfulness, and is way in withering away. And Jesus now refers to his disciples as friends: "Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you." – John 15:14 This component of the discourse again ends in 15:17 by reiterating the importance of love: "These things I command you, that ye may love one another." Part 3: If the world hates you In John 15:18–16:33 Jesus prepares his disciples for conflict and hatred by the world, reminding them he had also faced adversity: "If the world hated you, you know that it had hated me before [it hated] you." ... "They hated me without a cause." Warning the disciples of coming persecutions he says: "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you" This again draws parallels between Jesus and his disciples, as had been drawn earlier in the discourse. In the First Epistle of John (3:13) the brethren are reminded of this again: "Marvel not, brethren, if the world hateth you". Drawing parallels again, Jesus states in John 15:23: "He that hateth me hateth my Father also" But Jesus comforts the