Did you ever watch a tree or a flower, wither and die? Or a gardener prune a healthy flower or tree to the point where it looks like it is dying? Or did you ever watch a city crew taking down a graceful old tree on the boulevard? At one time it may have been very alive and healthy – beautiful, colourful, strong and healthy, giving joy to people who simply admired it and found peace in it just being there. Even if it was only being radically pruned, it still looked dead.
And we probably asked: “Why take it down? Why such drastic pruning? Was it really diseased? Would it have ever come back to live again and bear fruit or flower? For some unknown reason, someone with a greener thumb than me, with more knowledge and experience than me, decided that tree was no longer healthy or useful or even desirable, or, by pruning, could become even more beautiful. In Chapter 15 of the Gospel today, John writes, “… “I am the true vine and my Father is the vine grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.”
And, as with the example of the flower or tree, we ask: why this tree and not that one? Why was that tree not pruned instead of being cut down? Maybe it could have been saved? The Gospel continues with some hope: “I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit…”. But then the Gospel goes on to say, “whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch…thrown into the fire and burned.” Again, not so encouraging, or is it? Well, all of it is part of the “Good News”. If I am faithful to God and abide in God, John says, “ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
The real Good News is in verses, 9-11 (not in our Gospel today). “As the Father has loved me, so I love you; abide in my love." Today’s 8 verses are not meant to frighten us: Jesus tells us his purpose: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” So, as I think about God “pruning me”, I know he does it to abide in me. As always, in the midst of pain, there is no immediate answer but only gradually I experience a sense of gratitude for so many gifts received. How have I experienced God abiding in me in a tragic moment – maybe during this year of COVID? Sit with the Spirit of Jesus. Where is God’s lifegiving fruit of joy in my life? Difficult questions in hard times, but in love the answer, the comfort, the joy will come.