OUR LIFE IN CHRIST:
VINE & BRANCHES I am the Vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.
John 15:5 by Richard Beinert
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bout seven years ago, I finally figured out how to graft. I had read about it, fascinated with the wide variety of different apples, plum, apricots, and even pears that you can grow across the Canadian prairies. Why buy a tree when you can order a stick and then graft it onto an established stem? And as a bonus, once fully grown you could have a single tree with many different varieties of fruit, with apples ready to harvest from early August all the way into the later fall. Needless to say, one tree turned into several, and each spring offers a new opportunity to try adding a new variety or seven. There is something to be learned from this ‘hobby’ as we listen to the words of our Saviour in John 15. Sure, we know this passage and often quote it—but outside of an active interest in fruit tree grafting, the details sometimes blow past us without really sinking in. You see, without the Vine, the branches have no life. We know that; but how often do we live that in our spiritual lives? In a real sense, Jesus is talking here about the relationship between faith and works. Martin Luther picks up on this in his commentary on John 15, pointing out that works without faith are not really good works at all—and, more importantly, that works without faith can never save us. But the flip side is one that we ought to pay attention to as well. Faith without works is likewise dead. Certainly, this is what
