This is what happens when you don’t water a plant for several weeks. (Place dried plant on pulpit). This one still looks green in most places. But it is crisp, easily disintegrates when you touch a leaf, and it is done – not coming back, even if I water it now.
As I read this week’s scripture from the gospel of John, I thought of this plant that I found upon return from my holidays (sitting in a place that no one would have thought of watering it – oops!). The image Jesus gives is just as clear as this dead plant. He says, “A branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it is connected to the vine – neither can you bear fruit unless you are connected to me.”
Think of the grape vine – the vine carries nourishment and moisture from the roots and spreads it out to the branches that in turn deliver it to the grapes growing on the vine. Or imagine tomatoes growing on their stems and branches. I have huge tomatoes growing along my garage this summer – they have loved the heat. Sometimes, when I go to pick a tomato, I accidentally break off the branch that may have several green tomatoes along with the lovely ripe one I intended to pick. Once I have broken off that branch, there is nothing I can do. The green tomatoes are cut off from the roots, the vine, the stem. They may ripen if they are far enough along in their growth cycle, but if not, I have cut them off from their nourishment and moisture and that is it – they can not grow.