Homily: Allegory of the Vine and Branches

By Fr. Joseph Pampackal, SDB | Institute of Salesian Spirituality, Berkeley CA
The allegory of the vine and the branches in today’s reading from St John’s gospel is certainly one of the most rich and meaningful and at the same time the most difficult to interpret in the entire Bible.

Notice first of all that Jesus speaks of himself as the true vine: "I am the true vine." Jesus wants that He be the source of all our sustenance for living. It's amazing how people would have other vines in their life from which they seek their resources. Some people think their vine is their bank account. Other people think their vine is their education. Other people think their vine is popularity, fame, personal skill, connections, possessions, persons, relationships.

After declaring himself as the true vine, Jesus speaks of the Father as the vine dresser, who cares for the vine and the branches. No doubt it is representing a beautiful relationship. The Father cares for the vine, Jesus, His own Son as well as the branches, ie. we His children by faith.

A vinedresser has two special duties to perform:

First of all, he is responsible to cut off the branches that do not bear fruit. So, the first ministry of the Father to the branches is a ministry of punishment. The Father removes the branches that bear no fruit. He removes them. He doesn't fixes them up, He takes the extreme step, He cuts them off. Verse 6 says, "And after that, they are thrown into a pile, men gather them and burn them." This is a verb that is final, they are cut off and that's it. Jesus here is certainly referring to a category of people who refuse to be his true disciples. In the context, Judas is a case in point.

The second duty of the vine dresser is to constantly prune the branches that do bear fruit, cutting off the unnecessary and the superfluous so that none of their energy is dissipated and they are able to concentrate on bearing more fruit. The fruit bearing branches are representing the true believers. God, the Father, is constantly at work on the believers so that they bear an abundance of good quality fruits.

It is not some of the branches, it is all the branches that are pruned, purged, chastened. The Father does a lot of spiritual pruning on all of us, removing all that would hinder our fruit bearing.

Now one of the best ways, if not THE best, is through suffering or trouble or problems. It may be sickness, hardship, the loss of material goods, slander, persecution, the loss of loved ones, grief in relationships, or war... All these things are talked about in the Bible as troubles that beset the believer, God-ordained troubles to prune off all the little things that get on our lives that drain away our energy and rob us of fruit-bearing capacity. We are purged in order that we might partake of His holiness and fruit bearing.

In the second part of the gospel passage, Jesus invites us to abide in him. He wants us to abide and rest in union with Him – only then we will be able to produce “much fruit” for the Kingdom. Think of a branch in relation to a vine. The branch cannot produce godly fruit apart from being attached to the vine. The branch actually does not have to “do” something to produce fruit – what is needed is only to “be”. It does not have to strive or struggle to produce fruit – all that is required is to abide – to be at rest, to be still, to wait upon (patiently), to be in a state of peace and joy. The emphasis is on the “being” – on the resting and trusting in Him and not so much on the doing.

To all of us who are task and goal oriented people this is a difficult calling. We need to relax, letting go of our self-pressures to perform, our anxieties of measuring up, and our concerns in getting everything done – when we let all of that go we will truly find our rest and joy in Him. In this state of joyful fellowship with Him, He will produce fruit in us and through us.

In conclusion we can truly say that the passage on the Vine and the branches is one of the most outstanding in the whole New Testament on living the Christian life. It contains the basics, the principles, the concepts of Christian living” : it is that if we are to be good Christians we need to abide in Christ and bear fruit.