Pruned to Bear Fruit

Last week I talked about pets. This week I get to talk about plants. If I talk about rocks next week, we will have covered all of creation: animal, vegetable, and mineral. Of course, if you know that next week will be about rocks, you will probably skip this blog, so maybe I’d just better stick with pets and plants.

Sunday’s Gospel is about vines, grapevines in particular. Jesus obviously knew how to grow grapes. In a natural environment, grapevines grab onto tree branches and grow upwards until they can spread out all over the forest canopy. That’s good for them, but not the trees, nor anyone who wants to gather grapes and make wine. The ancients used to let the vines sprawl all over the ground, but that’s a problem, too, because rodents can eat the grapes and the uneaten ones will rot. So it wasn’t long before someone figured out how to grow grapes on a trellis. It was also discovered that if their wild growth was pruned back every year, the vines would bear better fruit.

That’s the basic idea behind the Gospel images of grapevines. The most delicate job is pruning, so it’s not surprising that God is the one who does it. Jesus himself is the vine, and we are the ones who get pruned. But what does that mean? Clearly it does not mean that we are cut off; Jesus implies that we remain connected to the vine. The Greek word “to prune” is usually translated “to make clean,” literally to create a place that has been swept. With grapevines, this means cutting the branches back to just a couple of buds, so that the vine’s energy is focused on a few big clusters of fruit rather than a lot of spindly ones. Applying that sense to us, God works to remove whatever is unnecessary in our lives, the overgrowth which saps so much energy that we are not able to bear much faith-filled fruit.

This almost sounds like a Gospel reading for Lent, as it calls for a disciplined life, one that is focused on God, on prayer, and especially on simplicity. The more we have and the more we do, the more God gets crowded out. Working toward a simpler life is a good idea any time, not just during Lent. It’s like charity appeals that suggest giving up one fast food meal a week and sending that money to a worthy cause. We can choose to reorient our time as well. God calls us to be good stewards of all that we have been given.

Yet Jesus is talking about more than just a simpler life, pruning away what is unneeded. He especially focuses on the connection between vine and branches. “Abide in me as I in you,” he says. “Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.” The word used for “to abide” is multivalent. Often it means to remain or stay in place, but also has the sense of endure, hold out, to stand fast against opposition. In the New Testament it contrasts the permanence of God with human changeableness, as in “God’s word abides forever.” John’s Gospel makes this use even more personal. Christ abides in us and we in Christ. It is only by remaining connected to the Word of God that we can produce the fruits of the Spirit.

Branches receive water and minerals when they abide in the grapevine. When we abide in Christ, we also receive nourishment from God. “Those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them,” John writes. The essence of God is love, an enduring, eternal relationship. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are sometimes described as the Lover, the Beloved, and the Love between them. It is into this relationship that we are welcomed when we abide in Jesus. It is out of this relationship of pure love that we produce the fruits of the Spirit.

What are those fruits? I always come back to the Apostle Paul’s list: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Most of these describe how we should treat one another. Jesus is clear about that, too. It is our relationships with other humans that reveal our relationship with God.

Next week we will read again about abiding in God’s love (not about rocks). It’s a message we need to hear often, that we are loved by God and called to extend that love to all whom we encounter. It’s a lifelong task, really. There’s always some wild growth that seems to come out of nowhere and demand our energy. There’s always a need for pruning. Yet if we abide in Christ, the love of God will continue to flow through us and bear fruit.  “I am the vine, you are the branches,” Jesus says. “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit.” May we always abide in that love.

[Easter 5: Acts 8: 26-40; Psalm 22:24-30; 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8. Paul’s fruits of the Spirit are found in Galatians 5:22-23.]

Listen to this as preached on the Fifth Sunday of Easter.