The Vine

One of my favorite memories of my grandmother’s house was the grapevines she had growing in her backyard. The vines ran along the side of her ranch-style home tethered to an intricate system of 4x4s and wash line. The structure towered over me as a small child. I often would sit under the canopy of spiraling wood and reenact the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, while plucking and flicking the Japanese beetles from the fuzzy green leaves. 

Those vines were a labor of love, requiring hours of weeding, pruning, training, and harvesting. My grandmother loved to share the pale green clusters once they were ripe for the picking. She worked tirelessly training those concord vines knowing that if she ignored them for more than a few days, they would quickly become unmanageable. She knew if they stretched too far, all the energy from the plant would go to the leaves and leggy tendrils, leaving no nutrients for the fruit. Grapevines have the potential to grow over eighty feet in length if left alone. You would think that would be eighty feet of grapes! But it is not. Grapes only grow on the newest shoots, the freshest cuts, the branches closest to the main vine.

In John 15:5, Jesus is speaking to his disciples who often understood him better when he spoke in metaphors. It’s likely the disciples were familiar with the process of growing vines and making wine. Water was scarce in the desert terrain of the biblical regions and not always clean to drink, while wine was a beverage many people could obtain or even produce themselves. When Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches,” the disciples probably understood that to produce good fruit in their own lives, it was important for them to remain close to Jesus, the vine.

In Jesus, we find everything we need to thrive. His wisdom and teachings guide us, his omniscience determines our best routines and timing, and his immeasurable love nurtures us with patience. If we stretch too far away from him, we waste energy in places that are meaningless and trivial. But if we stay close, he promises we will produce the sweetest of fruits.

Reflect

As you reflect on today’s devotional, listen to the song, “Tend”while you answer this question:

What, in your life, is creating distance between you and Jesus that needs pruning?