I Am
the True Vine, Jesus says.
Vines
are plants that have a growth habit of trailing or climbing stems.
While remaining rooted in the ground by the vine, the stems/branches are able
to grow and expand over large areas very quickly. The vine itself is anchored
in the roots, these serve as the conduit for nutrients to flow through the
plant. The vine is also a storage reserve of energy for the branches as it
grows and spreads.
Jesus
is the vine, the life-giving center. We are the branches. Only the branches
that are connected to the vine are healthy and growing and have the
chance to bear fruit.
Jesus
also says that his father is the vinedresser. God the Father sees those
who are not bearing fruit and takes them away. Have you ever tried to clean up
vines on any of your property? The stems and branches grow
intertwined and different vines grow together. If you try to tear them out you
end up with what seems like a never-ending tangle. It gets worse if you're actually trying to save some of the vines and clear out the rest! Where does one end and the other begin? Sometimes a branch on a vine
can even be severed from the vine but it is caught in the other branches and
looks like it is still attached until time goes by and you notice that it isn't
flowering like the other branches and it's dying.
Often
times people's lives can be like this. They can intertwine their
lives with things that look like Christ. From a cursory glance they look to be
planted on the vine. But it becomes obvious when the rest of the vine is
beginning to show fruit that these other ones aren't
connected to the life-source. Jesus says that the Father sees this and he takes
these branches away and they are destroyed. There will be a time when they
cannot hide in the appearance of being a Christ-follower and they
will be removed.
You'd
think that's maybe the end of the work for the vinedresser. He's removed the
dead branches, his work must be done! But it's not. The branches without fruit
aren't the only ones that require attention. Jesus says that branches that
bear fruit are pruned, so that they can bear even more fruit. In this way,
pruning isn't an act of discipline (as sometimes we are tempted to see it), so
much as an act of cultivation.
Grapevines
usually
only produce fruit on shoots that came from buds that were developed during the
previous growing season. So, one of the principles behind pruning the previous
years growth includes shoots that have turned hard and woody during the winter.
These branches will be pruned either into a cane which will support 8 to 15
buds or to a smaller spur which holds 2 to 3 buds.
Just
like the grapevine, we can't rely on past growth. We may look like we're
growing to an untrained passerby but the Father, just like a trained gardener
with a vine, sees what areas are unable to keep producing fruit and prunes it
off. We all have things in our lives that hinder our growth, things that
God wants to prune. Sometimes it's outright sin. Sometimes it's just circumstances
that might be clouding our vision or weighing us down.
I think
sometimes there are seasons where the Lord prunes us down to a smaller spur
(holding 2-3 buds). Maybe there is a whole lot in our lives than needs to go.
I've had these seasons. It can feel like your whole world is coming apart,
that you are losing things you didn't know you could possibly live without. You
might even be tempted to question what in the world God was thinking allowing
so much pain and loss. But it makes you cling to the True Vine and with all of
the life-giving nutrients flooding into the concentrated area, soon new buds
are forming.
Or
maybe you're in a season where smaller and more precise cuts are needed and you
are pruned into a cane (supporting 8-15 buds). But, even in seasons where the
pruning is more limited and precise, it can be painful. It is the act of
putting things to death in our lives that don't bear Christ-like fruit, which often can be as fun as it sounds!
But we
are reminded over and over in Scripture that death brings life for those
abiding in Christ. The good news is that even though this is hard, we are
assured that while death for the branches that aren't connected to the vine is
final, death for the branches that are part of the vine is an opportunity to
display our resurrected life. Death for the resurrected isn't really death! And
something I find encouraging from this image of the vine and branches is that
when pruning is done correctly (as we know God always does) it actually has the
ability to multiply the growth of that branch. It’s not that we just lose
something and gain something in its place. Anything God prunes from our life
will allow opportunity for even more fruit to grow than we were capable of
before.
Being
pruned is a necessary part of growth, but if we aren't also receiving life from the vine at all times, the potential for
growth is lost. And so Jesus reminds us to abide in him...the True Vine...the
life source. In fact Jesus makes a point about abiding in him 5 times in this
very short passage. Almost to the point where I'm like, OK already, quit
repeating yourself! Anyone who knows me knows that one of my pet peeves is the
inefficiency of repetition--having to say it or hear it! But, Jesus doesn't
repeat himself because he is inefficient. I think he repeats himself because he
knows this is a concept that we have a hard time holding on to.
Intellectually
it's not difficult to understand but it's so easy for us to lose sight of the
bigger picture when life happens. And all of a sudden we aren't abiding in
Christ—the vine— we're abiding in our own little branch. In times of
pruning our fleshly reaction is to focus on the loss. It's easy to think,
but, God, I had great plans to grow over in that direction, or, just give me a
little more time, I planned to take care of that later. We focus on ourselves,
defining ourselves by what we have or don't have and finding our self-worth in
the way our branch used to be or the way we think it should be. When we SHOULD
be focusing our energy on the vine, the place where our health and purpose
flows from. When we focus on receiving Christ's life and energy and renewal in
the things he has placed before us, exponential growth can happen. But this is
something that doesn't come naturally to us, so we need to remind ourselves,
sometimes every minute, to abide in Christ.
I know
this is true for me. This is something I struggle with, even in this season of
motherhood, and all the wonderful things that it brings, I still find myself
focusing on the things God has pruned instead of the things that remain. I get
caught up in the direction I thought I should have been growing. You know, the
things I want to do in ministry or the way I want to be seen. Instead of
looking to Christ in these times, I’m so guilty of focusing on my own little
limb and the pruning shears that just lopped off something that was a little
too dear to me and wailing WHHHYYYYYY???? When I find myself in these moments I
need to remind myself AGAIN--abide in Christ.
While
we are so inconsistent in living this out, Jesus is consistent on his end. He
reminds us that when we abide in him, he abides in us. There is no question. We
never have to worry that he won't provide everything we need to live fruitful
lives with what remains. We only need to concern ourselves with remembering our
place in the whole picture.
Jesus
said I Am the True Vine. He is the source and life and purpose. We are the
branches. When we draw our being from the Vine, we produce fruit in kind with
the Vine. In all of the difficulties, challenges and complexities of life—it
really is that simple. He is the vine. We are the branches.
When we
abide in Him He will abide in us. And
Jesus says we can be assured of two things when this happens: We will be known
as his disciples and the Father will receive all the glory. And that’s really
all my life should be about, reflecting Christ and bringing Glory to God.
