Vine

Yesterday in worship, Pastor Deb preached a sermon on the parable at the beginning of Luke 13, where a man has a fig tree growing in his vineyard...a fig tree that, after three years of using up soil and light and water had not produced any fruit. So the man told his servant to tear it down. The servant, however, asked permission to fertilize it one more year, give it one more chance, and if it didn't produce fruit then, it would be destroyed.


That parable made me think of what I did over the weekend. In my back yard, there was a grapevine, planted by the previous pastor, that, every summer, would sprout vines and leaves along our chain link fence. And every summer, I would tend to it, and check it, to see if any grapes had emerged. I had visions of freshly squeezed grape juice, of being able to come into worship one morning proclaiming, "My grapevine has provided the communion juice for today!" But it never happened. Instead, we just got vines and leaves. One year, about two years ago, we got the beginnings of grapes. Little, tiny, round green things that I watched all summer, hoping they would turn into grapes. But instead they shriveled and died. That's the closest we came.


So, this fall, I decided seven summers was enough time for the vine to produce fruit. Besides that, the vine was really embedded in the fence and threatened to tear part of it up. So I got out my trimmers and my saw and took the vine out. It took a lot of pulling, pushing and cutting, but now I have a stack of limbs by the street for the street department to pick up, and where there was once a vine, there is now a stump. And a clean fence.


Both Jesus' story of a fig tree and my vine remind us that we are called to bear fruit, and if we don't bear fruit, we are not doing what we are called to do. Instead, we are useless to the kingdom, taking up space and resources that could be used elsewhere. That's the harsh truth of the parable, but it's not meant to be simply judgmental. It's meant to call us to examine our hearts. It's meant to challenge us: are we producing fruit that will last (John 15:16)? And that's not about racking up numbers of church members or buildings or anything like that. Paul says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance [patience], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23). Is your life becoming more like Jesus, producing the kind of fruit that will truly make a difference in this world?


Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some other plants in my backyard to take a look at...maybe there are some that need some fertilizer this year...

Comments

  1. This is also a great example of relationships. Perhaps we should also be willing to give people time, nurture them when they are weak, care for them when they are in need before we cut off the relationship that is there.

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  2. What you did to the vine maybe just what it needed. With various vines the need to be trimmed back is needed to improve the fruit output. Aren't some people the same way. They need to hit rock bottom before they can be built back up to produce fruit and trimmed once in a while so that they produce more and learn.

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