Pruning Shears

Today's Scripture

I have to admit that today's Gospel can leave you wondering who is wielding the pruning shears. First we hear: “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 everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit." Ahhh - so the Father does the pruning. OK.

Then we hear this: "You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you." Oh, so the Word prunes us?? Well it is sharper than a two-edged sword, soooo... As the answer often is when it comes to God - both/and. Here is one way to consider it, there are others and some certainly may be better.

The Father prunes us by taking away some things that might not be good for us. Most often, we don't realize that they are not good for us. He can do this through His active will - something that He causes to happen, or He can do it through His passive will - something He allows to happen. Whether we grow and bear more fruit because of this pruning is up to OUR WILL - our free will (which we only have because of His will). This does not just mean that we smile in the face of adversity, but that when we consider a path forward, we ask ourselves how God would want us to grow from this. There are literally millions of stories, some told, some not, about people who have grown from difficulty, loss, and tragedy. I dare say that many of you carry a story of pruning and growth.

The Word prunes us also. This pruning is a little different. The Word prompts us to want to be pruned. We want to cut something out of our lives. Why? Because the Word reveals to us that it is not good for our growth. This can feel a little like self-pruning. That doesn't even sound pleasant. It sounds like surgery on ourselves, it sounds painful, and it can be. Habits are hard to break, toxic relationships are hard to break from, addictions are, well, addicting. But Jesus doesn't just say The Word - He IS The Word! So sometimes we have to hand the pruning duties back to Him. Lord, I can't seem to prune myself, so I hand the shears back to you and tell you to prune according to the will of the Father.

Both of these methods require prayer on our part: Prayer that we will see in the difficulty we face an opportunity to grow closer to God; prayer that we God will give us the strength to follow The Word and leave behind that which is not of Him. The prayer that hands the shears back to Him. But it requires more than prayer. The key is what Jesus says in the middle of this passage: "Remain in me, as I remain in you." He has given us a very specific way to do this - literally, physically: His Body. He gives it to us for this purpose. That we might remain in Him and He might remain in us, and therefore that we would bear fruit. Not just as individuals but joined by the vine to all other branches becoming the mustard tree sprung from a tiny seed and encouraged by the pruning done to us and done by us through His Word.