Be a Grape?

What does it mean to be a grape?

When looking at the teaching Jesus gave us when He spoke on the true vine in John 15, we get a powerful revelation of our role by understanding more WHAT we are. Jesus uses a grape vine as an example to illustrate purpose by design. Using the analogy of fruit, a grape vine, and a vine-dresser, He provided an analogy that His listeners would have understood well, especially the pharisees, considering the many old testament verses dealing with this very concept. For them, Jesus usage was offensive. For us it is liberating!

First, what opens the mind for revelation for many today is when we take a deeper look at both verse 2 and then next understand more about grapevines and their cultivation (a concept many of us today are not as familiar with).

*At this point you may have noticed your bible version does not use the words ‘lifts up’. The greek word that is used in the bible here is airo, and one of its translations means to ‘lift up’. I have heard several teachers on this subject and tend to agree with their interpretation that this is the meaning intended here when looking in context at what Jesus said before and after. While I could go into those theological reasons in greater detail in this article, I will instead point you to this article that explains things beautifully. Also see this Thayer’s Greek Lexicon reference here. If for now you could look at this verse in this way I think my points below will be as profound for you as they were for me.

Noticing here the usage ‘lifts up’ really paints a better picture of a good vine-dresser and fits more in line with love, which we know the Father to be. It’s my stance that at a insufficient interpretation our enemy quickly comes in and suggests to our mind’s hearing that we read the oft used translation ‘He takes away’ in an angry and/or disapproving tone. Takes away? No, that doesn’t seem to fit here to me. My Father is not an angry God. But, to drive home this point a bit further we need to better understand the business of vine-dressers and vine cultivation (unless of course perhaps this happens to be your profession).

A master vine-dresser, or viticulturist, employs various strategies to care for a grapevine that isn’t producing much fruit. Here quickly are some of the most common practices vine-dressers use to ensure the best fruit production:

• Training and canopy management – Training the vine and managing the arrangement of leaves and shoots for optimal sun exposure. Taking branches that are low to the ground and lifting them up to prevent rot, disease, and no fruit.
• Nutrient management – Ensuring the vine receives the appropriate nutrients. Soil and fertilizers.
• Water management – Constant and appropriate irrigation is vital.
• Pruning – Pruning is crucial for encouraging fruitfulness. This allows the plant to concentrate its energy on developing quality fruit.
• Disease and pest control – Addressing disease and pests promptly for maintaining health of the whole vine.
• Stress management – Carefully balances stress to encourage fruitfulness.

I see the Father in all of this list! Specifically looking at the first one on this list however, training and canopy management is exactly what we are talking about here! It would be a poor vine-dresser indeed that just started hacking away all the non-producing branches, especially since they were unproductive due to poor care. That doesn’t sound like my Father either and I doubt that is what Jesus was talking about here. It was this revelation that helped me to see that He is caring constantly for the branches. He doesn’t will that any should be lost! In the context of John 15 I am the fruit of this labor. That makes me a grape.

Once I knew I was what I was, due to now being connected to the vine and and at the hands of a good vine-dresser, I felt incredibly free. I don’t have to worry and act like I am the vine, nor do I have to worry and act like I am something else, I can simply be the fruit; all the stress of being is on the vine and the vine-dresser, not me! He produces good fruit! I just have to be that good fruit!

So, in plainer context, I don’t have to worry about things like if I am praying for someone correctly, if I have enough faith, that the outcomes are dependent on me, and what/how I do. I just have to be what I was created to be. I just have to allow myself to be a conduit for what the Father is doing with the vine, for the benefit of maximum fruit production in the vineyard that I am in. I am just a grape. You are just a grape. Just be a grape!