6th Sunday of Easter, 2022 - Pruning

 The central theme in Jesus’s metaphor of the vine and the branches is fruit – fruit, more fruit, much fruit, fruit that will last.

The secret to producing fruit is abiding — staying connected to the vine (Jesus) so that the life of the vine flows in us and through us. “Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

The Father wants us to bear fruit. Fruitlessness is not tolerated. “He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit” (John 15:2a). The Father works in our lives so that we will bear fruit. “Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit” (John 15:2b). The Father, through the Spirit, deals with those things in our lives that keep us from bearing fruit. He prunes us. He prunes us so that we can bear more fruit.

Pruning is an essential part of bearing fruit. It involves cutting away that which saps the life of the vine. It involves cutting away that which blocks the flow of the life of the vine. The Spirit addresses those things in our lives that hinder our connection with Christ. The Spirit confronts those things in our lives that limit the flow of Christ’s life in us and through us. The Spirit challenges those things in our lives that keep us from loving as Jesus loved.

Those things that limit our fruitfulness are old patterns and habits, old ways of thinking, old attitudes, unaddressed issues, unresolved hurts and harbored anger, bitterness and resentment, the unwillingness to forgive. They are places where we are stuck, where we have not grown emotionally-relationally-spiritually. They are issues we have ignored and pushed out of our awareness in our shadow.  They are the issues not addressed in most institutional church life.

The Father prunes these things from our lives out of love. The pruning is not malicious or punitive. The Spirit’s pruning work is so we can grow emotionally-relationally-spiritually. It is so the life of Christ can flow freely and fully in us and through us. It is so the Father can give us whatever we ask in Jesus’s name (John 15:7, 16). It is so our joy might be full (John 15:11). It is so we can bear fruit, more fruit, much fruit, fruit that will last. It is so we can experience the Father’s life and love flowing in us and through us in the Indwelling Christ. It is so we can love one another (John 15:12). It is so we can love as Jesus loved.

This thinking makes me wonder: what does the Spirit want to prune out of my life today?