Jesus says that some of His followers are fruit bearing branches of Himself; others are useless because they bear no fruit. So, who was Jesus thinking of when He spoke of fruitless branches?
First, He was thinking of the Jews. They were branches of God’s vine but they refused to listen to the prophets, they refused to listen to God thus they became withered and useless.
Second, He was thinking of Christians, Christians whose Christianity consisted of very nice words of profession but words not followed up with deeds. He was also thinking of Christians who heard the message of Jesus but fell away.
So how can we become the vines that produce fruit first? We can be individuals who abide in Christ. The secret of Jesus’ life was His constant communication with God the father. He would again and again withdraw to a solitary place to be with his father.
We are called to be in constant contact with Christ. It means creating time to be in prayer as often as possible.
Being a vine that produces good fruit is also about being a good disciple. By being a person, whose life reflects the life of Christ, to do as he did, reaching out in compassion to those who are most in need.
The greatest thing that we can do as a Christian is to help others to better know of Christ’s presence because of the example of our lives.
The new Spring growing season has begun. For anyone who is involved in planting flowers, or a vegetable garden, you are aware of the hard work and attention that is necessary for the garden to be successful.
In building the Kingdom of God, there is also much hard work that is involved. We realize the Kingdom of God ‘s compassion and peace, when we look after each other.
In our work of digging and planting we realize that we are indeed branches of Christ the Vine and that we are connected to one another.
This Spring let us not be afraid to get our hands dirty in the work of creating the Vine that we are all a part of.