The Vine and the Branches: A Parable

There was once a little branch.  The little branch had been a branch for as long as it could remember.  Day after day the little branch produced fruit that fed people.  Day after day the little branch, being fed by the vine to which it was connected, remained strong and healthy and was able to produce an abundance of fruit.  Day after day the fruit produced fed hungry people.

“Isn’t it great that we are able to help people by the fruit that we produce?” an old, big branch said to the little branch.  “It is so wonderful,” the big branch continued “that the vine feeds us and because the vine feeds us we can feed others.”

But the little branch wasn’t so sure.  “What do you mean, it’s great?  We’re wasting our time here connected to this vine.  We are the ones producing fruit after all!  That vine is just holding us back!  I don’t need the vine to produce fruit!  Besides, I don’t see your fruit!”

The little branch, being quite small, was unable to see the abundance of fruit that the big branch produced as the fruit of the big branch far away at the end of the big branch.  The big branch was, unknown to the little branch, producing an explosive abundance of fruit.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about” continued the little branch to the big branch.  "I don’t see you producing fruit.  You just want to hold me back and keep me stuck to the vine.  Well I don’t need the vine!”

The big branch responded with concern in his voice, “You don’t know what you’re saying.  There is not life apart from the vine.  Apart from the vine you can do nothing.  Apart from the vine you can’t bear fruit.”

“How would you know!” arrogantly shot back the little branch.

With a serious tone, the big branch responded.  “Because once, I thought as you do.  I was small and started producing fruit and I was proud of the good fruit that I was producing.  I thought that I was the one responsible for all of that fruit and that the vine was holding me back.  If figured that if I could just get away from the vine, I could do so much more.  I figured that I didn’t need the vine to produce fruit.  I thought that I didn’t need the vine at all!”

“So…one night I pulled myself away from the vine.  I fell to the ground and laid there, unable to go anywhere on my own.  But, I thought that I finally had my freedom, that now I could finally be free from the vine and that I’d keep on producing fruit just as I always had.  And for a short time, while the food from the vine was still in me, I did produce some fruit, but it was not nearly as good as it had been.  And it wasn’t long before I wasn’t producing any fruit at all.”

“And worse yet,” said the big branch, “I was dying.  I was as good as dead because I wasn’t being fed by the vine.  I wasn’t able to feed myself.”

“But you didn’t die!” said the little branch.  “You didn’t die! I know, because you’re right here right now!”

“That’s true,” said the big branch,  “that’s true.  But I’m only here, I’m only alive, I’m only able to produce fruit because the farmer found me, picked me up, and spliced me back into the vine.”

“Ouch! Didn’t it hurt when he cut you in order to reattach you to the vine?” asked the little branch.

“Oh yes, it was extremely painful.” Said the big branch, “but without that cutting, I would be dead.  And it wasn’t the last time I was cut by the farmer.  From time to time, when I have bad growth, the farmer prunes me.  He cuts me back.  It is never pleasant, but afterwards I am able to produce so much more fruit than before!”

“I don’t want the be pruned!” said the little branch.

“No one does,” replied the big branch.  “But the farmer does it for your good.  And for the good of those who need your fruit.”

The little branch was quiet for a bit.  “So...I need the vine,” he finally said in a quiet voice.

The big branch affirmed, “Yes.  You do need the vine.  There is no life apart from the vine.  But as long as you remain connected to the vine, you have life.  As long as you abide in the vine, He feeds you and gives you all that you need.  As long as you abide in the vine, you will produce fruit to feed people.”

The little branch was quiet once more. After what seemed like an extraordinarily long silence, the little branch finally spoke again.  “Do you like being connected to the vine?  Do you like that farmer?”

The old branch wisely responded.  “I do not simply like being connected to the vine.  I love the vine.  I love that the vine feeds me and gives me life.  I love that the vine gives it’s life to keep me alive.  I love the farmer who loved me enough to connect me to the vine and to prune me, even though it hurts, so that I can produce more fruit for people to enjoy.”

The little branch no longer wanted to separate from the vine. “I love the vine too,” he told the big branch.  “And the farmer.”

Jesus said, ¹“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ²Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.