Pruning is Biblical

My husband is a pastor and he points out to others all the time that I say, “pruning is Biblical.” I do say that. A lot. I say it because I believe it and honestly, it is a core value that guides my leadership style. Nothing is meant to last forever. It makes me sound callous or harsh to some, but I have seen the positive future impact of pruning things from my own life that weigh me down, preoccupy me, or make me unproductive. I have seen the value of restructuring an organization to free it from destructive patterns of behavior or practice. Each time it allows for a new life, creativity, and energy to grow again.

I don’t do it lightly, I don’t even say it lightly. It is a painful process. But, when so much of our time and energy is spent on talking about why something is toxic or not working - it is exhausting. It is a misplacement of our energy and resources. It is draining.

Seeing new growth energizes people, as does seeing the life-changing impact of an organization when it makes bearing its missional fruit a priority.

I would like to make clear that Biblical pruning is not empty or done without thought, prayer and purpose. It is done in an effort to get our noses out of our navels and point us back to the Creator God. Biblical pruning is a form of discipline, not punishment and as the gardener, the leader, it should be approached as such. These are things, as a non-profit leader, that I think often. So, when today’s Scripture lesson popped up, it was of course the first place my mind went.

Then, I listened to my husband, also the pastor of the church I attend, approach today’s scripture from a different perspective.

The lesson: Isaiah 5: 1-7

The Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard

Let me sing for my beloved

    my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
    on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
    and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
    and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
    but it yielded wild grapes.

3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
    and people of Judah,
judge between me
    and my vineyard.
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard
    that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
    why did it yield wild grapes?

5 And now I will tell you
    what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
    and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
    and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a waste;
    it shall not be pruned or hoed,
    and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
    that they rain no rain upon it.

7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
    is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
    are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
    but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
    but heard a cry!

New Revised Standard Version

reflection

In this lesson, God has done all that God can do..and the people of Judah continue to disappoint. If we read only this lesson today, we could easily believe that God will and does abandon God’s people. Living in the midst of a pandemic makes this a much easier leap. I dropped something off at my child’s school a couple of weeks ago and standing on the porch in masks a woman I have never met turned to me, unsolicited, and said, “God is mad at us.” I was completely taken aback. I stumbled for a moment, and said, “sorry?”

“God is mad at us, that is why all this is happening.” At the moment, all I could get out was, “you think so?”

I left there kicking myself. And as I heard the message this morning it reminded me of that missed opportunity. Since the beginning of human life, we have disappointed our God. We have turned away, mocked, murdered, lied, cheated, worshipped false idols, oppressed those not like us, and hurt others. We have put otherworldly gods before our Creator God. This is not new friends. We aren’t all of a sudden bad - we have always been and continue to be people who live in sin.

And while, if it were up to me, I would just close up the vineyard and wash my hands of us all, it is not up to me - or you - or anyone else. It is up to God - and God doesn’t do that. What does God do instead? God bends down. God comes down. God extends the arms of Jesus - God’s only Son - on the cross and says, I love you. You belong to me. You are worth pruning. You are worth saving. You are worth the ages I’ve spent trying to save you, and I did not and will not give up on you. When we can no longer bear missional fruit, we have a God who does - a God for whom WE are the mission - our redemption and salvation is God’s mission.

Fellow turtles - you mean more to God than a vineyard. God has not given upon us. God has not left us. Thanks be to God.

Additional readings for today’s Gospel are below.

Matthew 21: 33-46

The Parable of the Tenants

33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower.Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants,who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes’[a]?

43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”[b]

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them.46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

New Revised Standard Version