Posted: 1/18/07
BaptistWay Bible Series for January 28
God prunes with a wise, loving hand
• John 15:1-17
By David Wilkinson
Broadway Baptist Church, Fort Worth
The first section of John 15 focuses on yet another in the series of “I am” statements from Jesus—this time, however, with a corresponding “you are” statement: “I am the true vine,” says Jesus, “and my Father is the vinegrower” (v. 1) and again “I am the vine, you are the branches (v. 5).
The vinegrower tends to the vineyard, and part of that care is to prune the plants. Notice that the gardener not only prunes the unhealthy branches but every branch that does not bear fruit. Further, the purpose of the pruning is to produce more fruit (v. 2). For that reason, both unproductive and productive branches may be pruned.
Jesus’ metaphor can be difficult. I doubt plants, if they could speak, would stare at the pruning shears gleaming in the sun and say to the gardener, “Great, I just can’t wait for you to lop off a few branches!” If given the choice, we would probably say to God: “No thanks. I’ve got some branches that may be unproductive, and I’ve got others that are unhealthy or even dead or dying, but I think I’ll pass on the pruning.”
On the other hand, when the pruning is done, the wisdom of the process is clear in retrospect. The evidence comes in the form of new blossoms and the promise of more fruit.
A kind of paradox is at work here. We are the branches, connected to the vine or the trunk represented by Jesus who in turn is connected to God. We might well envision a plant with three, intertwined branches—the Holy Trinity—serving as the stem or trunk to which every limb is connected.
There is another helpful perspective on this Johannine figure of pruning. Pruning our lives seems difficult and harsh, but pruning can also be an act of repairing. Elaine Emeth says this pruning metaphor makes sense “when she thinks of God as a gardener who grieves while watching a violent storm rip through a prized garden. Afterward, the gardener tenderly prunes the injured plants to guarantee survival and to restore beauty and harmony. Pruning is clearing away the debris of our messy lives.”
Relationship as key
The key to this image is relationship. The relationship of the branch to the vine is expressed through Jesus’ repeated use of the word “abide.” Already in this Gospel this verb has become “a rich and full word to describe a relationship of trust, love, knowledge and that oneness characteristic of God and Christ. Here, however, the word reaches its peak in frequency of use and in intensity of meaning,” theologian Fred Craddock notes. “Abiding” in Jesus means being and staying intimately connected. Through this connection the life-giving sap, the nourishment of God’s love, flows into each limb, enabling it to produce fruit.
Returning to a frequent theme in these farewell addresses, Jesus emphasizes again that the nature of this relationship finds expression through obedience (vv. 10, 17; and also 13:34-35; 14:15, 21, 23). Obedience is rooted in love—first, in God’s love for us and then in our love for God. Indeed, all that describes our relationship with God through Jesus—abiding, obeying, bearing fruit—is tied inextricably to self-giving love (vv. 12-13).
Related as friends
Jesus further defines the quality of this relationship in his remarkable words encouraging the disciples to call him Friend (vv. 13-15). The Master who earlier in the evening had taken a basin of water and a towel and knelt as a slave to wash his disciples’ feet now “wipes away all distinctions, all self-abnegations, all false humility, and declares ‘friendship’ to be both the source and the goal of the divine intention for us,” Church of England priest Sarah Coakley noted in a sermon.
“I chose you,” Jesus reminds them (v. 16). Earlier he had promised he would not leave them orphaned (14:18). For an orphan, there is nothing like hearing the words from an adoptive parent, “I chose you.” Again, these are words for all Jesus’ disciples. We have not been abandoned. We have been chosen.
Further, we have been chosen for a purpose. Returning to the image of the vine and branches, Jesus reminds the disciples they have been “appointed” to “go and bear fruit—“indeed, fruit that will last.” And the Father, the vinegrower, will provide whatever is needed for that to happen (v. 16).
Abide in Christ
J. Hudson Taylor, the great 19th century missionary to China, captured the meaning of what it means to “abide” in Jesus’ love, just as a branch finds life in the intimate connection to the vine: “The branch of the vine does not worry, and toil, and rush here to seek for sunshine, and there to find rain. No; it rests in union and communion with the vine; and at the right time, and in the right way, is the right fruit found on it. Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus.”
No words could apply more fittingly to our study of this passage from John’s Gospel: “Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus.”
Discussion questions
• What significance do Jesus’ words “abide in me” and “abide in my love” have for you?
• In what ways can we embrace Jesus’ meaningful image of “abiding”?
• Wallace Charles Smith comments on the image of pruning in John 15: “God will continue clipping until so-called Christians repent of racism and bigotry; until Skid Rows are replaced by avenues of compassion and streets of hope; until child neglect is replaced by child nurture. … God will keep on clipping until everyone who wants work will find it; until black, white, red or brown will have access to full, productive lives. … God will keep on clipping until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of God.” How do you respond to Smith’s commentary?
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