Vineyard Pruning, Hafner Vineyard, Alexander Valley, Sonoma County, California, USA.

Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.   John 15:1-3.

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Apart from a time when I got lost in a foreign country and found myself wandering through a vineyard in search of habitation, I have never encountered a vineyard. That first time I was too panicked to notice the vegetation, but last year I was in Sonoma County, California, and saw vineyards from the car. It was early spring. When I saw the vines I thought they were all dead! Look at the picture above and tell me (if you know nothing about vines) if you might not think the same. Look at those poor bushes, pruned down to what seemed to me to be death’s door! Nothing but stumps! Now look at the quotation above from today’s gospel and apply it and the picture to yourself…. Oh my. Once again, Jesus’ knowledge of the countryside, so close to everyone back in those days, and so far from most of us today, means we might not be too sure of his meaning. Now take a look at the information on the picture’s  link. Additionally, let me quote from the Hafner Vineyard blog:

“Pruning is vital. First, it aims to restrict the vine to a certain space. Otherwise it will sprawl as any vine would. Second, it focuses the fruit into a narrow zone. This helps encourage uniformity in the grapes through consistent exposure to the elements. We call this the “fruit zone”. Third, pruning controls the amount of fruit that can grow. Grapevines’ tendency is to focus on growth of vegetation not fruit production – territory over reproduction. It’s up to us to restrict that growth but encourage just the right amount of vigor to ripen the crop.“ 

Knowing zero about anything to do with the making of wine (unlike the knowledge of what happens once the wine emerges from the bottle), this was an eye-opener. Key words: restrict, sprawl, narrow zone, uniformity, consistent exposure, natural focus of vines on vegetation not fruit production. Looking at all those, it is quite clear why Jesus took this as a model for human life set on God. It seems they can all be directly applied to normal human life, but a normal life set on God. For example take “Grapevines’ tendency is to focus on growth of vegetation not fruit production”. Left to ourselves, without God’s guidance or having rejected God’s guidance, might we not begin to feather our own nest, or concentrate on money more than anything or anyone else, or build a power base so we can look down on people? In other words, a world where we are god. Vines in a vineyard are restricted to a certain space to prevent sprawling everywhere. Aren’t we all supposed to concentrate on the gifts God has given us to get through this world? Pretending we have other gifts which in fact are not ours, will lead to one unhappy, disappointing and frustrating life. We should be happy and content with what God gifts has decided to give us, develop them and use them in the service of our neighbor.

Etsy, Grapevine Watercolor, Grapes in the Vine Art.

I remember a project I gave my students once, to interview their parents and their parents’ friends to find out if they were happy with their jobs. The results were very interesting. Most of those who were questioned were very happy with their occupations. In that case, the students were to ask “Why?” The overwhelming majority of answers stated the satisfaction the job gave because they helped other people. One man however admitted to his niece, my student, that he was desperately unhappy. It was an effort for him to get out of bed on a Monday morning. He hated his job. My student was astonished; this man was the wealthiest member of her family. He worked in a high-powered Wall Street firm, but hated it. The youngster had been told, in such a case, to carefully ask “why?”. The answer was because he had always wanted to be a chef! The Wall Street job was offered, and everyone he knew pressured him into accepting it. He could not change now – a chef’s income was nowhere near his present income, and his family responsibilities prevented any such move. She concluded her report saying she now knew why, at family cookouts, he would be there, with his chef’s hat, beaming with happiness, doing what he had always wanted to do, serving others in a special way. Clearly he had multiple gifts for such professional success, but God was calling him to one particular different field, and he had rejected that field in favor of another – which brought in more money. That is the power we have, to ignore God’s callings, to refuse, as it were, to be pruned by the vineyard keeper, and sprawl out in another direction resulting in desperate unhappiness. 

We are certainly special, different vines! Willful, you might say, perhaps thinking we know much more than the vine master, until we realize the truth. Look at today’s first reading. The pharisee Saul (later called Paul) was intent on destroying the early heretic Christian/Jewish  sect, and was increasingly successful in doing that, until challenged by a vision of the Lord on the road to Damascus. The vision changed his life and he became the greatest of the Lord’s disciples spreading the word of salvation, but forever brooding on his early life of destruction and obliteration. And the result of doing God’s plan for each of us? Well today’s second reading sums it up beautifully: “Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts before him in whatever our hearts condemn, for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.” The vine dresser knows everything! We have to allow the vine dresser to do what he will with us, knowing that the fruit of our labor will be all the more bountiful, rich and successful than without him. So prayer, reflection, realistic evaluation of our gifts and experience and sound decision-making based on that should guide us into the pathway God has designed for each of us, and God will sustain us through to that moment when we hear “Well done, good and faithful servant….”

Farmer Gathering Crop of Grapes on Ecological Farm, Freepik.

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