When I was in Colorado recently, I wanted to build a fire. So, I trekked through the snow on the property looking for logs and branches to construct my A-frame. Since all the trees were mostly frozen, it was hard to tell which ones had life in them and which ones were dead. The ones that broke off easily were the ones I leaned up against the stack of wood, and the rest were not easy to break off. Although they were seemingly dead because of the winter frost, they were very sturdy and not easy to bend. After a couple hours of traveling back and forth from the fire pit to various places on the property, my construction was finished. It was time for a fire.
The only problem was, the owner had left a note saying "Absolutely no campfires!" Damn.
I stood pondering what "absolutely no campfires" really meant. Maybe he meant no ground fires. Maybe he meant to have a fire, but to clean it up really well afterwards making it look like there never was a fire. Or, maybe he meant no fires.
I walked away discouraged after all the work I had put into building this awesome fire, while the branches and logs I had gathered sat waiting for a flame.
When Jesus talks about us, he talks about things like branches, vines, pruning, cutting, gardeners, and fires. He says that he's the vine. His father is the gardener. We are the branches. As branches, we are connected to the vine. The gardener does the work of maintaining the vine and the branches. Depending on the amount of fruit that is bearing, the gardener can prune back or completely cut the branch back, starting it over. In order to go further, I need to explain the differences between cutting, pruning, and topping.
At the house I grew up in, there was a huge live oak tree that had branches covering the whole yard. We climbed it all the time as kids, and its shade provided many days of playing and killing slugs.
I drove back years later to look at my old house, and to my disarray, the tree was lifeless. It was dead. The new owners had topped the tree. Every single branch had been chopped at the joint. There were no leaves, no greenery left. The tree had starved to death, and now was just waiting for someone to take it out of its misery.
Then, there rose bushes. In order for rose bushes to flourish and roses to bloom in abundance, careful pruning and cutting needs to happen. The idea is to take a look at the bush every year, or maybe twice a year, and observe which branches are bearing fruit and which ones aren't. The ones that are bearing roses, need to be pruned - meaning, slightly cut back where the branch meets the stem. If a branch is not bearing any roses, the whole branch gets cut off at the joint. In this scenario, all that's left is the stump at the intersection of the former branch and the stalk of the bush. The branch must start over, feeding off the nutrients coming from the rest of the bush. Eventually, it will bear fruit.
With all this said, I would like to give my interpretation of what Jesus is telling us in this passage. We are the branches connected to him, the source of life. God is the gardener, observing, watching, and reaching into us to prune those of us who are bearing fruit. If we're bearing fruit, he wants us to bear more fruit. If we're not bearing fruit, he cuts us back to the joint, starts us over, knowing that with the rest of the vine and branches alive and well we can feed off their nutrients. What I don't believe God does is "top" the tree. He doesn't haphazardly whack off random branches, leaving the tree to starve to death. Just as a rose gardener, he takes careful consideration in where he prunes, where he cuts, and how he feeds the whole tree.
To the naked eye, a tree that has some branches bearing fruit and greenery and others that are stumpy and stunted, looks weird. Trees like this look out of sorts and funky-looking. While some branches are growing beautiful flowers, others are looking like they need some help. At the same time, they are all sustaining off each other, and all the branches no matter which state they're in are sustaining off the vine, or trunk.
Just like the different stages of cutting and pruning, we go through seasons in which we are full of joy, and can't seem to string together bad days even if we tried. We are producing fruit in abundance. We are happy, and people actually seek our company because they want a little of what we got going on. Have you ever felt the sensation that things were so good in your life that other people sought your company or advice?
Then, there are those other times. Sadness and depression can't seem to leave. When it rains, it pours. One thing after another. We don't know where the end is. It just seems like nothing is working and everything is falling apart, leaf by leaf. The people who were seeking our help are now doing great, and we're actually going to them for help now. Has someone you have helped in your life ever got on their feet and then helped you when you weren't doing so hot?
Jesus is saying that regardless of how many times we get pruned back or cut back, the source of life remains. We may have to start from the beginning and we may experience amazing growth, but the source of life still remains. God doesn't kill trees.
The source of life we are connected to is a love that just doesn't go away. Although we don't feel loved or we feel loved all the time, the love is like nutrients and water pumping through our veins, creating cells for growth so that we can grow greener and more fruitful.
The fact of life is this. Branches sustain off of their sources of life - the vine or trunk or root. We sustain off the love of God. God's love pumps through our veins and promotes life, and joy, and growth. Sometimes, though the process is still working, we don't produce the kind of fruit that we could. So, we start back over.
Have you ever heard someone talk about how they started their life over, or got a new life? Have you ever heard a story of someone spending a few years on top of the world, and then through a series of events, their world comes toppling down, only to be built back up over the next decade?
We are connected to Jesus who is constantly pumping love, joy, contentment, and freedom into our veins. We go through seasons where we produce an amazing amount of fruit, and others where we just need to start over. The Gardener knows what's going to make us grow the best, so we don't have to worry about being carelessly cut off and mistreated. Our best interests and the interests of the whole tree are being watched out for, and we can trust the Gardener.
Today's Action: Pay attention to the ways in which we are being pruned or cut back today. Pay attention to how well we are sustaining off the other "branches" and the "vine." What stage are we in? Are we trusting the Gardener to do the work?
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