Those of us in this part of our world who are experiencing Spring, flowers growing, trees sprouting leaves and bushes revealing new growth, new branches, welcome these words of Jesus today when he says that he is the vine, and we are the branches. He talked about the need to prune the branches, to give way to new growth.
Jesus spoke of how essential it was to remain rooted in the vine, to receive the nutrients and food that would enable new growth.
It should not be too difficult for you and me to grasp the significance of the example that Jesus uses today. He spoke often of our need to remain in him, to stand by him, to be one with him. We heard him tell us that if we remained in him, he would come and make his dwelling among us.
Planting and caring for plants are wonderful examples to help us understand our relationship to Jesus. Some people are known to have a green thumb. We could think of such people as having made great strides in becoming more like Jesus. On the other hand, there are some of us who forget to water a plant, give it food, to care for it and in no time, it begins to wilt. They tell me it is hard to kill a plant, a reminder that God would like to remain rooted in us but relies on us to care for him. Imagine, he relies on us to care for Him. What kind of God is this? He is the same one who accepted to die on a cross for us so that we could live and live forever; that we could be a branch rooted in a vine and receive eternal life.
We heard from Paul’s account today that the vine had some branches that needing some pruning. There were issues in the early church that were causing dissension. Should pagan converts have to submit to circumcision. Jewish converts said yes. That was easy for them since they were circumcised as Jews.
The Apostles and priests met together to see about this matter. It has continued ever since. There have been numerous council meetings to discuss serious issues and sometimes branches had to be pruned. Was he both Christ and man? Some branches said no. They had to be pruned.
What a gift God has left us in the Person of the Holy Spirit who remains to guide us and to do the pruning that is needed from time to time. But the concern today is with our individual branches and whether with the advent of Spring some pruning may be needed.
