John 15:2--Pruning Part 2--We All Need Pruned

Jesus said to his disciples:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

Jesus drew an apt analogy here. Both grape vines and people inherently need pruning.

That’s certainly true of grape vines. “If left unattended, grapevines can become unruly, and fruiting will be poor due to overproduction of vegetation.” Basic Principles of Pruning Backyard Grapevines (Ohio St. Univ. Extension 2004).

It’s also true of us. People left to their own will inevitably sin and hence be less fruitful than they could be. We see that throughout scripture. Genesis 6:5 and  8:21 tell us that  “every inclination of the human heart is evil[.]”1 John 1:8 tells us that if “we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves[.]” Proverbs 29:15, John 7:8-9 and Romans 3:23 also recognize that reality. That is even true of Godly folks.  Think about Abraham in Genesis 12:10-20 and Genesis 20 and Paul in Romans 7:8-24.  We are inevitably less than we can be without God’s pruning.

But what about the argument that even atheists can do good things? That is true enough, but doesn’t go far enough. There is no denying that many people with no relationship to Jesus do great good, but are they doing as much good as they could if they moved in His strength by moving according to His will?  Probably not. Instead, they are like untrimmed grape vines. They bear some, but not as much, fruit as they would if they were powered—and pruned—by Jesus.

John 15:2--Pruning Part 1--What is Pruning?

Jesus said to his disciples:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

What is Jesus talking about here? Let’s look at this on several levels and think about it for a day or two.

Let’s start by looking at the key word: “prune.” The Greek is “kathairō.” Strong's defines it as “to cleanse, of filth impurity, etc, to prune trees and vines from useless shoots.”  Modern day farmers have the same understanding. “Pruning can be defined as the removal of plant parts to obtain horticultural objectives.” Pruning, Training, and Grape Canopy Management (Iowa St. Univ. 2002).

Let’s move onto the purpose. Why prune? Jesus tells us the ultimate reason: “every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”  That’s consistent with agricultural practice. “The purpose of pruning is to obtain maximum yields of high quality grapes and to allow adequate vegetative growth for the following season.” Pruning Grapevines (Iowa St. Univ. Extension 2000) That has to be done because “left unattended, grapevines can become unruly, and fruiting will be poor due to overproduction of vegetation.” Basic Principles of Pruning Backyard Grapevines (Ohio St. Univ. Extension 2004). Indeed, a vine’s fruitfulness can be diminished by more that 90% if it is not pruned. Pruning Grapes in the Home Garden: Some Basic Guidelines (Washington St. Univ. Extension 2014).

So what does pruning involve? It is the extensive cutting away of old branches so that new, more fruitful, branches can grow. That is essential because the vast majority of grapes come from new, rather than preexisting, branches. Although the method and extent of the cutting varies in different varieties of grapes, it is significant in all kinds—about 85-90% of old branches are removed. The results are dramatic:

Pruning Grapes in the Home Garden: Some Basic Guidelines. The cutting has real impact on the plants, although they eventually bounce back, they often “bleed” significant amounts of sap right after pruning. Pruning Grapevines (Iowa St. Univ. Extension 2007). It is an annual process; experts advise to “make sure your grapevines are pruned each year[.]” Basic Principles of Pruning Backyard Grapevines (Ohio St. Univ. Extension 2004). Pruning precedes fruitfulness; it is done in late winter or early spring.  Pruning Grapes in the Home Garden: Some Basic Guidelines.

How does it work? In two ways. The first and most important is to let more sun reach fruit bearing new branches. That allows them to better perform photosynthesis. Pruning Grapes in the Home Garden: Some Basic Guidelines. Second, it also directs sap to fruitful, rather than old and non-fruit bearing, branches.

That’s it for now. Let’s think about John 15:1-3 in light of those facts and see what the Holy Spirit shows us. 

John 15:2--unfruitful branches, part 2

“Jesus said to his disciples:

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts away every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit.’”

A couple more thoughts on the highlighted portion of verse 2.

First, God does not take that action lightly, but gives folks a chance, and help, to become fruitful before he moves them out of the way. We can infer that from the passages Jesus seems to be drawing on and their context. Those passages are Psalm 80, Isaiah 5, and Ezekiel 15. They were written to warn Israel that God had lost patience with them and that they would be set aside. When were they written? After long periods of disobedience and multiple warnings. Jesus’ teaching in Luke 13:6-9 also reflects that principle. God does not want to set believers aside--He would much prefer them to bear fruit--so He gives them multiple chances to be fruitful before He stops using them.

Once again, that principle is illustrated, albeit by rough analogy, in our garden. There have been times when particular crops failed to produce. Our initial reaction is to give them more attention, not to till them under. It is only after we’ve tried everything we know to turn them around that we till them in. Why? Because their failure hurts others (the folks that would have been fed by that bed’s production) and we want to do all we can to avoid that. I suspect that God approaches individual believers’ unfruitfulness the same way.

Second, the action is self-imposed. It only happens when believers themselves make the choice not to pursue fruitfulness.  God gives each of us multiple chances and 1 John 1:8-2:2 tells us that the door to forgiveness is always open. It is only when a believer fails to walk through that door that God will move that person out of the way. 

John 15:2--unfruitful branches, part 1

“Jesus said to his disciples:

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts away every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit.’”

What do we make of the portion of verse 2 highlighted above? It seems pretty tough. And how do we reconcile it with God’s loving nature? Several things are worth thinking about. Let’s start with two of them.

First of all, we can’t dismiss it as a divine typo. It is consistent with the passages of the Jewish Bible Jesus seems to be alluding to. See Psalm 80 and Isaiah 5.  It is also consistent with what He said elsewhere. See Luke 13:6-8. Indeed, Jesus drives home the same point later in the same passage we’re considering here. See John 15:6.

Second, it actually is motivated by love. God wants us to be fruitful so we can deliver His love and goodness to others. Others suffer if we fail to do that, and God loves them too much to let His people contribute to that. And make no mistake about it; our failure to be fruitful hurts others. So God is acting in love when He moves an unfruitful believer out of the way.

Let me illustrate that by last year’s garden. We planted a bed of tomatillos in the spring and several beds of beets in mid-August.   By early September it was clear that neither were as productive as they should have been. The tomatillos were played out and significant portions of the beet beds were growing weeds instead of beets.

If we would have let that continue those spaces would have been wasted and we would have generated less food for the hungry. Instead, we pulled the tomatillos, tilled under the weeds, and planted mustard greens. That resulted in several hundreds pounds of produce where there would have been none and beauty where there would have been decay:

                  Greens where played out tomatillos were

Viewed in that light, God’s practice of cutting “away every branch … that doesn’t produce fruit” is an act of love that blesses far more folks than it hurts.

Well, that’s it for now. More later.

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