People who enjoy the art of bonsai would find it requires a lot of time and patience. Day in day out, they admire the tree, have in mind what shape they want the tree to grow up like, bending and pruning it accordingly. Above all, it is an art that requires passion. The parable of the vine and branch expresses God’s interest in us, he spends time for us, caring for us to make sure that we are fruitful and that we are totally dependent on Him as our source of life. This intimate relation is a life giving one.
The image of being ‘pruned’ perhaps is not a comfortable one, being cut or reshaped is a painful thing. The word of God by which we are pruned is not meant to make us feel comfortable or be pleasant to the ear. How often Jesus’ disciples gave up following him because they found his words were irritating and difficult to swallow! The word of God challenges us to die to our own will so that life in God can be brought forward, “you are already pruned because of the word I spoke to you”. Being pruned by the Father is to let our self be formed according to the will of the pruner the Father’s. The word of Jesus is the means God uses to prune us in accordance to His will and image.
Just as the branch can not survive on its own but depends on its connection to the vine for its life, so do we depend on our connection to God, the source of life. This symbolism of connection expresses our total vulnerability and dependency on God the fountain of life from which we draw our energy and life, because “without me you can do nothing.”
Life in Christ must be a radical choice, to bear fruit or be fruitless. If fruitless, it will be cut away by the Father. There is no neutral stance in discipleship; it is a radical call to discipleship that one has to make his/her choice, either for God or not for God, between life and death. In following Jesus, we choose to connect ourselves to his life and energy and to no where else. A life giving discipleship can find its source in God only. A radical choice has to be made.
How and where is our source of life and energy? How often do we revolve our life around those seemingly meaningful or satisfactory ways of life but they turn out to be an illusion? Our obsession with individualism or consumerism often misguides us to a culture of death disguised under the false sense of satisfaction and fulfilment. On what do we centre our life?
By the parable of the vine and the branch, Jesus emphasises that he is the Life and it is only in him alone and by connecting ourselves to him that we can draw life. Easter reminds us of new life, the new life that God offers to those who choose to connect to Him and remain in Him. We will not only live but live life to its fullness.