As Jesus teaches His disciples in John 15, there are many branches connected to Jesus (i.e., God the Son), but God the Father takes action to help the productive ones be more fruitful.
He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
John 15:2-3 NIV
To understand this, let’s start by establishing who the “branches” are, here. Jesus says “you” to His disciples (those that were still present, with Judas having left previously), and I think that we can see extensions of His commands to them as they apply to us, as well. So, these branches are disciples of Jesus, both those who were present when He first spoke these words, and others who seek to follow and emulate Him, even today.
There are two actions mentioned here:
A branch that is not producing any fruit gets cut off entirely. We have a tree outside of our house, on the other side of a window from our kitchen table. Although my wife cut off a major branch that wasn’t doing it’s job (and spray-painted the stub purple…because that was the color of paint that we happened to have on hand), there are now a bunch of shoots growing out from the trunk. Sometimes, while sitting at the table, I want to grab a hatchet and whack off those freeloaders, but I’m not the gardener in our house, so I yield to the expert.
There are debates as to what exactly it means to be cut off as an unfruitful branch in this particular lesson from Jesus. However, given the opportunity to be a fruitful member of God’s family, I don’t want to be a useless, dead branch anyway, regardless of the consequences. I hope that you feel the same way, with the goal of being a productive member of the body of Christ.
A branch that is producing fruit gets pruned (or cleaned). If a branch of a grapevine is starting to produce a healthy bunch of grapes, other buds of grapes on that same branch may be pinched off so that the main bunch will be as big and healthy and tasty as possible. Although Jesus isn’t limited in His power like a grape vine is, we – as the branches – can spend a lot of time and energy on thoughts, actions, and behaviors that aren’t producing good fruit from our lives.
Note what this pruning or cleaning looks like for the disciples: They are clean because of the word of Jesus. This message has the power to get rid of the junk in our lives. The teachings of Jesus – when we follow them – allow us to be branches that are focusing on producing good fruit, and not wasting effort and time on what doesn’t matter. (And, in addition to Jesus’ word, His followers also have direct guidance from the Holy Spirit, to help us even further.)
For instance, I think that the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is just chock-full of teachings that help us identify and remove bad choices, while filling up on God-honoring decisions. Some of those instructions are challenging to follow, but the result is far better than just going along with the crowd, or doing whatever we feel like.
Do you want to produce good fruit for Jesus Christ? Fill up on His word, and follow it. May you and I let God remove from our lives whatever is keeping us from being our best, and focus on where He wants us to invest, so that we can produce the optimal harvest.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for January 28, 2024
References:
- The Lookout, January 28, 2024, © 2024 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – John, by Beauford H. Bryant and Mark S. Krause. © 1998 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 