In our Gospel today, John 15 :1-5, Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.”
Let’s go a little deeper. If the branches are cut off from the vine, they will die. Just as if we are cut off from a life in Christ, we will spiritually die. Those cut off from Jesus cannot produce the fruit that he wants us to produce working through his grace.
I love the pruning analogy Jesus uses. Those that are bearing fruit, he will prune. It’s not a one and done, he still continually prunes us. God had to do a lot of pruning in my life for me to bear fruit! And it wasn’t just with little clippers – he had to break out a chainsaw.
It is often in the painful parts of our lives that he is doing his pruning of us to bear more fruit. We should take the pruning as a badge of honor. Remember when the fig tree was not bearing fruit, Jesus said cut it down. I’d rather take a routine pruning than be cut down! If he is pruning us, he must believe we can
bear more fruit for his kingdom.
De Colores, Deacon Kevin
