15. The Cleansing—

John 15:2 (NRSV) — 2b … Every branch that bears fruit he prunes 

to make it bear more fruit.

There are two remarkable things about the vine …

(i) There is not a comparable plant of which the fruit has so much spirit in it that can be so abundantly distilled as the vine;

(ii) and there is no comparable plant which so quickly develops into wild wood, thus hindering its fruit, and therefore requiring the most merciless pruning.

Some trees need occasional pruning; others bear perfect fruit without any pruning at all. But the vine must be pruned. Our Lord tells us at the very outset of the parable, that the one work the Father does to the branch that bears fruit is: He cleanses it so that it may bear more fruit.

Consider a moment what this pruning or cleansing is. It is not the removal of weeds or thorns, or anything from without that may hinder the growth. No—it is the cutting off of the long shoots of the previous year, the removal of something that comes from within that has been produced by the life of the vine itself. It is the removal of something that is a proof of the vigor of its life. The more vigorous the growth has been, the greater the need for the pruning. It is the honest, healthy wood of the vine that has to be cut away.