THE MYSTERY OF THE UNFRUITFUL BRANCH

John 15:1-8 is one of my favorite portions of Scripture. I find something very appealing and comforting in the picture that Jesus painted. His Father is the husbandman/vinedresser, Jesus is the vine, we are the branches, and the vineyard is the Kingdom of God.

I must admit, however, that a couple of things Jesus had to say in the first three verses were a mystery to me. One statement seemed to be contradictory and harsh and the other did not seem to fit in the flow of the passage. So, like any good Spirit-filled believer, I just ignored those statements and pretended they were not there!

The first statement that bothered me was in verse 2: “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away.” I could not begin to count the number of times I have heard preachers say that this is God’s purging of unfruitful branches, that if you do not bear fruit, He will cut you off! I find this thinking to be contradictory to verse 5: “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.” How can one verse say that a branch in Him that does not bear fruit will get cut off and another say, categorically, if you are in Him you will bear fruit? To take both of those statements at face value could cause me to be more schizophrenic than I already am!

The second thing that troubled me was verse 3, which to me seemed like it was a parenthetical statement. The verse says, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” This is a powerful statement but what does it have to do with an unfruitful branch of the previous verse? It seemed to me that this very clear and strong word just somehow did not belong in this passage.

Let’s see if we can unravel this mystery!

Bruce Wilkinson is the founder of Walk Thru the Bible Ministries and is probably best known for his incredible book The Prayer of Jabez. In one of his other writings, Wilkinson tells the story of being at a pastors’ conference on the West Coast. After one of the sessions, he was approached by a man who had a question for him: “Do you understand John 15?” Bruce responded, “Not completely.” The man then told him, “I own a large vineyard in Northern California and I think I may have some insights that would be helpful.” The two men arranged a time to meet and talk.

Sitting at a table in a nearby restaurant, Wilkinson and the man began to talk about the life of a grower and the work involved. The vineyard owner explained, “New branches have a tendency to trail down and grow along the ground but they do not bear fruit down there. Growing along the ground, they get covered in dust and dirt, and if it rains they get muddy and often become mildewed. Also, these ‘on the ground’ branches become sickly and useless.”

“What do you do then?” Wilkinson asked. “Do you prune them, cut them off and throw them away?”

“Oh, no, these branches are much too valuable for that,” the owner explained. “We are constantly in the vineyard looking for branches that have grown down and are trailing along the ground. When we find one, we lift it up, take clean water and wash it off and then secure it back up on the trellis. Before long the branch is growing and bearing fruit again.”

As I read this account, I had a “revelation moment.” Suddenly I understood verses 2 and 3 of John 15 in a brand-new way. Isn’t that just like the Father and the Son to say to us, “You have been growing along the ground and gotten dusty, dirty and mildewed! I will pick you up, clean you off, and put you back where you belong! It won’t be long before you are fruitful because Life will be flowing through you!”

The old English phrase, “He takes away,” does not carry well into our time. The original language for this phrase means “to lift up, to elevate, to move from where it was” and does not refer to pruning or purging. Jesus does go on in verse 2 to say that He will prune branches that are bearing fruit. He will cut off old growth that is now dead, so that the branches can again bear fruit.

In verse 3 Jesus says, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” The word clean used here is the root word for cleanse as it is used in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Cleanse means to be free from the defilement of sin, faults and wickedness.

God is the Lord of the vineyard but not only is He the owner, but He is an active owner, the husbandman/caretaker. He is personally extending care to us; He lifts us up when we have fallen and He restores us! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We Pentecostals are far too cool to jump, dance and shout anymore but I think I feel a shout of praise coming on! Can I hear a witness?