God Needs Us

The reading this Sunday is the beautiful passage from the Gospel of John about the Vine and the branches. You know the one. Jesus tells His disciples that He is the Vine, and they are the branches. If they remain in Him, they will bear much fruit. It will be fruit that lasts. I am a firm believer in the saying that a picture is often worth a thousand words. So, I share with you a picture.

 I like this picture because it gives a visual of a concept that is very hard to grasp in words. Jesus (the Vine) is rooted in the Father. We (the branches) are joined to Jesus. We take our nourishment, our lifeblood, from Him. The result is the fruit, which is the point of the union.

There is no part of this relationship that is non-essential. A root that never sends forth a vine cannot in and of itself produce fruit. Perhaps a non-conventional way to think about this is God needs us. We have heart knowledge that we need God, but often we miss the point that in a relationship, it is a two-way street, even with God. God needs us just like He needed Jesus.

Jesus, the Vine, sent from God to live and be among us. He is one with us. Yet, a vine without branches cannot produce succulent fruit. Jesus, one with God, comes to link us to the Father. That is the Covenant.

We, the branches, remain connected to Jesus, the Vine. If we do not stay connected to the Vine, our spiritual life dies, and we fall away. We are unable to produce fruit.

I like to think of the Holy Spirit as the nutrients in the soil, the sun, and the rain. It is this beautiful image that gives us “the fruit of the vine and the work of human hands, that become our spiritual drink.” Jesus was able to use what we can understand to create the mystery that sustains us. 

The Fruits of the Spirit are these: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. All good things. All things we seek to both receive and to give. 

The winds and the doubts of life will come and try to rip us from the Vine. We must hold tight in those times when we are tempted to give up. We can only be nourished by the Fruit of the Vine if we remain connected even in life’s storms. We pray for one another that the storms of life within our families, in our country, and our world may not tear us from the Vine but strengthen our hold onto Jesus. 

We pray the fruits of the Spirit will grow ripe in us. May we willingly and graciously share them with the world.

In God’s Unending Love,

Gwen