The fact that men lived was proof positive that they were at-one with God. They were in tune with the Infinite. This new idealism was paradoxical to everything they had ever heard before, and so Jesus found it necessary to explain the abstract idea in simplest terms.

He used a common experience to illustrate the truth of the atonement. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.” Why did he say—the TRUE vine? Because men were not quite sure that he was what he said he was; viz. the teacher of absolute truth—THE CHRIST, the anointed one. By contending that he was the TRUE vine, he meant to encourage their confidence. He was the heaven-sent messenger to tell them the truth. God was not separate from His universe, because in reality He was the husbandman, the one who owned, operated, and cared for the vineyard.

That was a new idea, and it shocked the people. They were at a loss to know how they might contact the Infinite, and so Jesus continued with the simple metaphor: “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing.”

That was an elementary way of giving the information whereby man could contact the husbandman. He was to listen attentively to the teachings. The Christ was the medium through whom they could know the truth about God and their at-one-ment with Him. They were to let the new teachings filter through their minds, just as the branches allowed the vine to gather up the sap and force it through in order that there might be fruit.

If they dared to take him seriously, then they would discover that they attained the blessing for which they had been seeking—the fruits of peace and happiness. But if they did not listen intently to the new idealism, they would never contact the Infinite, because they would be the blind, following the blind teachers of religion. Therefore, “without Me ye can do nothing.”

The priests were valueless. The Sacred Book was misleading and confusing. It was imperative to “Abide in me, and let my words abide in you, then ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done.” In other words, Jesus insisted that they discard their old teachings, even their sacred scriptures and take His teachings

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