Life on the Vine

Being Pruned

For those of you who didn’t know this, I earned my undergrad degree from Vanderbilt. And there’s definitely a type of student who ends up at a school like Vanderbilt. I showed up for freshman orientation and I was surrounded by people who had done everything. These were students who, in high school, had each been members of a dozen clubs, had been presidents of half of them, had played sports at a high level, had captained teams, and had taken the highest levels of classes they could get their hands on. Many of my new classmates had played in bands, done leadership programs, won championships, and participated in everything their high schools had to offer. And, by all accounts, these were all good things. Yet, one of the pieces of advice that was repeated again and again and again throughout orientation was simple, don’t do that here.

Having taken this next step in our education, we were warned that we would not have the time, the energy, or the capacity to continue to be involved in everything, especially not at such a high level. In academics and in extra curriculars, we would have to start to narrow our focus. And over the next year, you saw students start to prune things and focus more on what they were passionate about and what they thought would be best for their future. Majors were declared and classes became more and more focused in one area. What had been a dozen extra curricular activities became one or two. This wasn’t because the other classes or clubs were bad - in fact many of them would also be helpful, but it was a situation where you had to give up what was good for what would ultimately be better. Just an example, I went in with an intention to triple major in education, mathematics, and physics - which lasted about half a semester before I had to shift to a double major with a minor in computer science instead. We learned the lesson, sometimes the hard way, that spreading yourself too thin - even if everything you’re involved with is good - can ultimately do more harm than good.

In our reading for this morning, Jesus teaches a similar message with a much more broad implication for our lives. He tells us that branches that are connected to the Vine will be pruned, that the Father will take an active hand in shaping Christians who are connected to Jesus. And a lot of times when we think about being “pruned,” we think about some of the bad things in our lives that the Holy Spirit might work to remove - bad habits we have, bad influences around us, and situations that could lead us down paths we ought not tread. But the thing about pruning is this, it’s not just the bad parts of the plant you trim away. Sometimes you cut away good, healthy growth to let other parts of the plant flourish even more. As Christians striving to reflect the image of Christ, we need to be aware that the Holy Spirit will work to remove bad things from our lives and sometimes the Father will opt to remove good things from our lives, which hurts in the moment, for the sake of our ultimate good and for the ultimate good of the entire plant.

Staying Connected

And you might ask, “what do you mean the entire plant, isn’t this just about me and my connection with Jesus?” Until, of course, I say that out loud and hopefully you immediately think, “wait, that doesn’t sound quite right.” You see, Jesus is the vine and we are the branches - that means we are all connected through Jesus as part of this same metaphorical plant. In fact, the only time a branch is left on it’s own is when it’s cut off and dead - which really puts a dent in the idea that you can be a Christian and not connected with a community of Christians (a church). We’ve gotta stay connected to the vine and that means we’ve gotta stay connected to each other too.

It actually reminds me of an activity in my favorite video game - and if you aren’t into video games don’t tune me out, I promise this will still make sense. Anyway, in the game Destiny 2 there is an activity called the Blind Well. You make your way into this massive room, it kinda looks like what might happen if you made a giant cave into a cathedral but still left most of the walls bare. In the center of the room there is a sunken area with a pillar in the center - the Blind Well. When you activate the activity, a fog descends on the room except for a bubble around the well. Everything is just fine, until you step away from the well. Then you find out that you have a buff (that means you have a bonus or a benefit) called the Touch of the Sky with a timer counting down. If that timer hits zero before you return to the bubble, the fog in the room gets even darker and you are killed by something called the Touch of the Deep.

I like this example for a few reasons, but the most important is how direct it is. If we are connected with the well, the vine, Christ we are given the gift of life - the Touch of the Sky could even be a way to describe heaven. If we are disconnected from the vine for too long and don’t get reconnected with it, we are killed by the Touch of the Deep. Our most precious gift as Christians is that we are connected to the true Vine. We know that because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, we are forgiven and set right with God so that, even if we die, we will live forever in a perfect paradise with Him.

Bearing Fruit

So you’re connected to the Vine that gives us life, God is actively working in our lives for the ultimate good of the plant, and then what? Well, Jesus talks about us bearing fruit and he talks about it as being a natural result of being connected to the vine. This idea of action being a direct result of connection warrants one more illustration.

If you are a Angels fan, which I know is a huge stretch for some of you Padres or Dodgers fans, but I don’t care - we’re running with this example. So you’re an Angels fan and you are connected to the team. So if you wear a baseball team’s t-shirt, what team is going to likely be on it - the Angels. If you have a logo tiled into the bottom of your pool, what team is likely going to be on it - the Angels. If you’re watching a game on TV, what team are you rooting for - the Angels. If someone gives you free tickets to the Angels, you’re probably going to go. If you can get tickets, you probably will at some point because you’re connected to the team. As an angels fan, you probably resent the Dodgers and (according to Google search about team rivalries) the Oakland A’s. You are connected to the team and that results in you presenting yourself a certain way, acting certain ways in certain situations, and avoiding things that your team hates.

You are connected to the Vine and that should result in you presenting yourself at all times as a Christian, acting a certain way, and avoiding the things that Christ tells us to avoid. As Christians, we are blessed by the Father who prunes us for our good, by the Son who gives us life as the true Vine, and by the Holy Spirit who works in our lives to help us bear fruit in keeping with the Gospel. Accept the pruning, stay connected, bear fruit. Amen.