A few years ago, my wife and I were on vacation in Virginia enjoying one of our favorite vacationing activities, wine-tasting, when one of the tour guides began to tell us the story of Thomas Jefferson and his many attempts to transplant French vines at his Virginian vineyard.  You see Jefferson loved several French wine varieties and was determined to grow French vines in Virginia’s rich soil in the hopes of profiting from the burgeoning wine markets of North America.  However, shipment after shipment of French vines ended up dying, and no matter how much care was taken, the result was the same, wilting French vines planted in the fields of Virginia.  Despite all his efforts and means, Thomas Jefferson was never able to get those French vines to grow in America, and this unsuccessful pursuit contributed to his financial undoing.

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          Almost 50 years after Jefferson’s death, someone came up with the idea of transporting American vines over to Europe, and the results were devastating to the vineyards of Europe as they were decimated by something unknown.  During the period of the “Great French Wine Blight”, nothing seemed to be able to stop the complete destruction of French vines and vineyards until someone identified the culprit, the grape phylloxera, which is a type of plant lice.  So, now that this little critter had been introduced to Europe, the desperate hunt was on to stop it and protect the vulnerable European vines which remained, and so it was that someone thought of an obvious answer: grafting.  In other words, since American vines had roots which were already resistant to these miniscule little bugs, the solution seemed to be to graft the French vines into the rootstock of an American vine variety.  And it worked!  The French vines produced the French grapes and wines that everyone loved, and the American rootstock endured the futile attempt of those little sap suckers from destroying the French wine industry.

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          In my fascination with this story, I realized that I had to learn more about the grafting process.  After some study, what I discovered was that both the vine rootstock and the branches go through three distinct phases.  First, the vine is cut-off from developing any new growth, and then additional wide cuts are made into the vine where the trimmed branches will be affixed.  Afterwards, the branches are placed into each cut and carefully wrapped to protect both the vine and the branch until they mutually “receive” one another, and the graft has “taken”.  During this time, the vine will ooze sap over the joint where the branch has been connected to the vine, and it will begin to grow over the joint to strengthen this connection.  In this process, the vine, and its rich, nourishing sap flow for the sole benefit of the grafted branches, and the vinedresser’s full attention is focused on the successful union of the vine and the branches.  Once this joint hardens, the connection between the vine and the branch is set.

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          The next phase is the most critical and is one in which the vascular systems of both the vine and the branch begin the process of merging together.  These small plant “blood” vessels carry the sap up from the vine into the branch to sustain the life of the branch.  While desperate for sustenance, the tissue of the branch seeks to establish new vascular growth in the joint to draw up all the sap that it can for its own survival.  Regardless of the outcome, the vine will survive this step, however without this effective bonding, the grafted branch will wither and die.  Once dead and dry branches present themselves as signs of failure, all that remains is to cut away the branch and try again.  At this point, the vinedresser is looking for the sign of new budding growth on the grafted branch which indicates that the sap from the vine is now flowing through the branch’s vascular system up to this point of growth, and indicates that the branch is now ready to produce fruit.

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          With all the work that has been done so far, you would think that the branch should be left alone, right?  But this is exact the moment that the vinedresser has been waiting for, and he cannot contain his excitement.  And so now, just as the branch thinks that it can rest, the vinedresser prunes back the branch and its old rotting system up to the point of the tender bud.  The result is an explosion of new growth, mostly in fruit, as grape after grape and cluster upon cluster, seem to crowd one another for space, on the spindly branch.  In tandem, the vine pushes as much sap through the previously anemic branch to the fruit beyond, so that the branch can produce as much as it was designed to carry.  Now the vine is full of fruit, grape clusters are everywhere, and the branch is hardly noticeable except for the thin, stringy wooden lines that hold the massive clusters in their place.  The vinedresser cannot contain his great joy as he witnesses the procession of miracles that have originated from such simplicity.

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          In John 15: 1-6, Jesus said this, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”  Jesus like an American vine rootstock has been firmly planted in the soil of heaven, and the holiness of God is not hostile to Him.  It is His home and He is accustomed to this heavenly realm.  But if we think that our “goodness” gives us the right to attempt to plant our roots in the soil of heaven, the result will be much the same as with those early farmers who tried to plant foreign French vines in North American soil – calamity, death and loss.  For the holiness of God IS hostile to the frailties of the human condition, and our worth, no matter how good it may be, falls woefully short of God’s standard.  So, we MUST be joined to the good and firmly planted “rootstock” of Christ if we are to flourish in the holiness of heaven.

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          But how can we know that we are “in” Him?  First of all, what Jesus said in John 15 provides a few clues which should be evident in us and to the world around us, and this begins with being both attached and resting in Him.  By abiding in Him, and not striving, characteristics are produced in us which we cannot manufacture on our own.  They are that His words are precious to us, and are at work in us governing our mind, our heart and our actions; His fruitfulness and spiritual abundance brings with it a contentment and peace that this world cannot comprehend; His commandments provide protection from the entrapment of the world’s systems and ways, and insure that His love is productive in us; and His love becomes a fruit in us that produces life to those that are dying all around us – dying to know this great love.  What great joy overtakes us as we live out our designed purpose in a life dependent on this True Vine!

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          Also, there are signs that can be found in the lesson of grafting between the vine and the branches.  Are we dependent on what we, the branch, can provide for our own “survival”, or are we completely desperate for sustenance that comes from the Vine?  When difficulties come and we know that we are being pruned back to produce a more fruitful life, do we really trust the vinedresser that He is cutting back the old useless dependencies that we have had in our lives to force us into ever-increasing dependency on the Vine which, in turn, has been cut-off and has given up everything to focus on our “fruitfulness”?  Are we more interested in drawing the attention of others to our place in the sun, or are we willing to become invisible and focus our attention on the growth and development of others, much like the branch supports the grape clusters as they are given sweetness from the light of the True Vine?  In the end, the good branch is satisfied in being a vehicle through which nourishment travels from the Vine to produce delicious grapes, fit for a king and is content in the knowledge that it belongs completely to such a True Vine.

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