The Branches and the Fruit

Shortly after Judas left the apostles on the Savior’s last night in mortality with them, Jesus gave the 11 this powerful message: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”  We only have true life if we are connected to the Savior; as soon as we cut ourselves off rom Him, like branches broken off of a tree, we become “withered   and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (John 15:4-6). While Jesus was teaching them this, Judas was in that very process of cutting Himself off from the Savior as he sold him to the Jewish leaders.  Judas was the example of precisely what Jesus was talking about, and as soon as he cut himself off completely, he became exactly as the Savior taught his disciples: “And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself” (Matt. 27:5).  Just like a branch cut off from a tree that immediately stops growing and within a few days is withered and dead, so too in a matter of hours after cutting himself off from the Savior through his betrayal, Judas likewise had spiritually withered and literally died.   

             In the same discourse the Savior taught the apostles, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:2).   This verse is really a surprising one; after reading the first part, we would expect the second part to be something like this: “and every branch that beareth fruit, he causeth to continue to grow.”  But this is not what it says; if we don’t bring forth fruit we will be cast off, but if we do bring forth fruit we will be “purged.”  The Lord is working to make us perfect, and so as soon as we bring forth some spiritual fruit, He will work to make us bring forth much more.  The Lord won’t be satisfied with us just making some spiritual progress; He will continually seek to purge and purify us in order to help us bring forth more.  I wonder as well if we can’t see verse two in the context of the Savior Himself.  The he in the verse is clearly the Father (husbandman) from verse 1, and so perhaps we could consider Jesus as the branch who “beareth fruit,” and the Father “purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”  Jesus brought forth fruit in His lifetime, but through the experience in the garden and on the cross that He was about to have, He was indeed “purged” as He suffered infinitely so that He could “bring forth more fruit,” even the salvation of the whole human race.  And now He seeks to make all of us to bring forth fruit, to find eternal life with the Father through His great atoning sacrifice.