“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
— John 15:5-8, NIV

When we read this passage, we spend a lot of time on the fact that if we don’t stay connected with the vine—Jesus—we cannot bear fruit. There’s actually more to it than that, though. When we don’t remain in Jesus and are not connected to the vine, we will not only be fruitless, but also thrown away, withered, gathered up, and burned. When we remain in Him, though, we bear much fruit, John 15 says. 

Traditionally, we focus most on Jesus and ourselves in this illustration. Verses 1-4 show us where God the Father exists:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
— John 15:1-4, NIV

Jesus is the vine, and God the Father is the gardener. When we read through this passage, we see that it’s not just that unhealthy branches wither away by themselves. They are actually cut off from the vine by the Father. He cuts off those that bear no fruit, and He prunes those that do, in order to keep them healthy.

I’ve recently thought more and more about this passage. Several years ago, I planted a grape plant in my yard. Since then, it has grown some during the summer and returned to a dormant brown every fall and winter, and never produced any fruit. This summer, #4, I believe, is different. My little plant that grows a smidge every year has doubled in size. Its vines reach outward, tiny tendrils of new growth twisting around the grass in my yard, and the last time I looked, four bunches of grapes.

I’m no gardener, and if I’d pruned it properly, maybe my plant would have already produced fruit. Now that it is, we’ve been impatient to taste the fruit! However, when I asked the internet how long it would take them to ripen, the answer surprised me.

• Grapes take a long time to ripen from flower to harvest (100 to 120 days)
• Grapes do not continue to ripen once they are picked from the vine

What I’ve learned is that the vine works long and hard to grow healthy branches. So, in Jesus’ illustration from John 15, Jesus works long and hard to grow branches (us), and it takes even longer to produce fruit (an outward expression of a life connected to Christ). If we look at the grape itself, the fruit, it’s interesting to learn that picking one too early can be disastrous. When you pick a grape before it’s ripe, it will never be ripe. If you pick it while it’s bitter, it will never grow sweet. If you pick it for someone else or let someone else pick it before it’s meant to be eaten, it will never be good for food.

These facts also apply to olives, which some people believe Jesus could have referred to when speaking about vines and branches. Olives and grapes take a long time to produce edible fruit, and if the fruit is disconnected from the plant before it’s ready, it will never be ready.

The Takeaway

The fruits of your relationship with Christ may not be ready to share with the world yet, and judging others based on their unripe fruits during their walk with God is unfair. The plant Jesus used in this illustration requires three things to bring healthy fruit to harvest.

1. There must be a gardener who prunes the healthy branches and cuts away the unhealthy (God the Father).
2. The vine and branches must abide together (Jesus and us).
3. The fruit must remain connected to the branches until completely ripened (in the case of grapes, ripening causes a softening, a sweetness, and transparency).

Great image, right? Jesus knew exactly what He was telling us, but have we really listened?

Read all of John 15 and let the Holy Spirit answer this question: Am I abiding with Jesus? Am I patiently waiting for my ripening? How do I feel about pruning going on around me?