We Can do Nothing

“... for without Me you can do nothing.”

John 15:5b NKJV

Harvest time. If you walk through the hills or the countryside, you will notice rows of vines laden with fruit and ready for harvest. A devout heart will find food for thought in this, allowing the words of the Gospel to take shape: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ... I am the vine, you are the branches.” This rural vision projects us into the spiritual dimension. We are the branches and Jesus is the vine on which we should always depend, because, as the Master says, without Him we can do nothing. This is something more deeply rooted than a relationship; we are faced with a real dependence, not to say essentiality. If you are questioning the purpose of your life, these words can give you a new awareness, namely that without the Lord you must not (and cannot) do anything. First of all, you cannot live by your own light, because life comes from him. Just as no branch can live apart from the tree, we have no spiritual life without the vine of Christ. We will not be able to produce any lasting fruit if we rely on ourselves. That is why we must remain attached to the vine. Spiritual growth requires community, being part of a vineyard/community where we can receive the loving care of the vine-dresser, whom Jesus describes as having calloused and expert hands.

Jesus chooses the simple and familiar figure of a vine-grower to present God the Father to us. A farmer who cares for the branches with the rough hands of one who has known the earth since creation. It is moving to think of a God like this, who prunes me so that I may produce juicy fruit and not wild grapes. The vine-grower's desire is that we be able to produce grapes that make wine. At the Last Supper, wine symbolizes the blood of Jesus. The grapes from which wine can be produced are the same ones that are ready to give their lives for others, to die for the Lord's vineyard. Those who have been planted and cared for have His life, and they will not keep it for themselves, but will be ready to give it. None of us, not even the church, will ever be a perfect vineyard. Only Jesus can be the “true vine,” and at the same time He sees us as part of Himself: “you are the branches.” You and I are branches of the same plant, with one root and one lifeblood. It is impossible to think that we are independent vineyards; we remain branches. “We are an extension of that stock, we are composed of the same matter, like sparks from a brazier, like drops from the ocean, like breath in the air.” Without Him we can do nothing, because we wither like a branch detached from the vine.

No one should delude themselves into thinking they can do anything, even a little. Scripture is categorical: nothing! And those who think otherwise are climbing a cliff or inflating themselves with empty words. The most we could do is become wild. Isaiah's song (5:1-7), however, describes how the vineyard is reduced to a desert. God is capable, however, of tracing a path in the desert and transforming it into a garden. Perhaps the most difficult thing is to wait as the farmer does when, after sowing, he waits confidently for the harvest. We need the humility not to detach ourselves from the vine and to allow ourselves to be pruned in due time. I am sure that God wants us to be lush, and I cannot be afraid of Him, who wields the hoe and sits on the wall of our vineyard. With his hands, he is there to stimulate my growth. In fact, “every branch that bears fruit he prunes so that it may bear more fruit.” His pruning, even if painful or misunderstood at the moment, is not intended to mortify; it means removing the superfluous and strengthening, eliminating the old and giving birth to the new. My “farmer” God cares for me and prunes me with a single goal in mind: my flowering. My Lord does not ask me to stand still, but to remain in Him.

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Weekly Bible Reading Plan #39

September 22,   Ecclesiastes 10-12; Galatians 1

September 23,   Song of Songs 1-3; Galatians 2

September 24, Song of Songs 4-5; Galatians 3

September 25, Song of Songs 6-8; Galatians 4

September 26, Isaiah 1-2; Galatians 5

September 27, Isaiah 3-4; Galatians 6

September 28, Isaiah 5-6; Ephesians 1