Ezekiel 15 | Wayfarer

“Son of man, how is the wood of a vine different from that of a branch from any of the trees in the forest? Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful?”
Ezekiel 15:2-3 (NIV)

I come from a family of carpenters and craftsmen. My father has my great-grandfather’s tool box. My grandfather told us that his father began by making wooden dowels by hand that were used as fasteners before metal nails and screws were widely available. It is believed that he worked his way up to building boats and ships before he came to the States. He worked as a carpenter before starting his own Hardware Store.

For the record, I did not inherit those genes. Though I have spent a lifetime around my father who can still make just about anything out of available scraps of wood that happen to be lying around. And, I’ve watched my brother, a luthier, turn different types of wood into fine handmade guitars.

In today’s chapter, God gives Ezekiel a prophetic metaphor in which God’s people in Jerusalem are compared to a vine. It’s interesting to note that both Isaiah (5:1-6) and Ezekiel’s contemporary, Jeremiah (2:21), also use the same vine metaphor. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah describe God’s disappointment with His “vineyard” not producing good fruit. Ezekiel, on the other hand, expresses that the vine is utterly useless. To his point, my father could not use the wood of the vine to craft a frame for his stained-glass, nor could my brother make a guitar out of it. Therefore, if the vine is fruitless it is useless except to be used as fuel on a fire.

When Jesus arrived on the scene, He takes the metaphor of the vine to another level. He tells us that He is “the True Vine” and as His disciple, I am a branch on that Vine. The goal is the same as it ever was: to bear the good fruit of God’s Spirit which is love in all of its facets. Jesus then talks of me being pruned along the life-cycle in order to produce more pure, deep, and abundant love. I only become useless if I produce no fruit and am cut-off from the Vine. Then, Jesus says, the outcome is the same that Zeke proclaims: the burn pile.

The truth on which the vine metaphor is established is that I was made with a purpose, just as God called His people with a purpose. I’m not useless. I’m called to be a life-giving organism producing the fruit of love and bringing God’s Kingdom to earth through that love. When I remain connected to the True Vine, I allow the Living Water from the root structure to flow through my branch and leaves spreading all of the vital nutrients of Word, prayer, relationship, and witness to have its life-giving, fruit-producing effect. The prophetic warning only comes if and when I fail to interact with the Vine. Then I will slowly, day-by-day, decision-by-decision, step-by-step, spiritually dry-up. My leaves wither. There is no joy, or peace, or love.

As I head into a new work week, I am thankful for purpose. I was lovingly made. I am grafted into a True Vine. I am called to produce the fruit of God’s Spirit, and thus bring God’s Kingdom to every one, every day.

Yesterday, Wendy and I spent time in worship with our local gathering of Jesus’ followers. We sang a song that welled up in my head and heart as I meditated on these things. I share it with you as I head into my day. May I always be mindful that I was made for more.

I wasn’t made to be tending a grave
I was called by name
Born and raised back to life again
I was made for more
So why would I make a bed in my shame
When a fountain of grace is running my way
I know I am Yours
And I was made for more

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

In January of 2012 we had an unusually warm week and the dead vine in our backyard had enough life in it to sprout a single bloom.

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, how is the wood of a vine different from that of a branch from any of the trees in the forest?”
Ezekiel 15:1-2 (NIV)

I have written on occasion about the majestic old oak tree that stood sentinel outside our house in Pella. During our decade living there, Old Man Oak would occasionally drop a branch on the driveway. The branches were heavy and the solid wood would have been useful for any number of projects had I been a wood worker inclined to make something useful from the fallen limb.

In the backyard of the same house was a climbing vine that would perennially climb a trellis set between our and our neighbor’s yard. It was gorgeous in the summer when it wove its way up the framework of the arbor and blossomed in fiery orange blooms. In the autumn, however, the vines died and became ugly brown sinews that had to be painstakingly cut and pulled from the trellis. The remnants of the vine were dead, ugly, tangled, and absolutely useless for anything other than nature’s own recycling system.

That is exactly the word picture Ezekiel makes about the people of Jerusalem in today’s chapter. God’s people had once been a fruitful vine but had grown spiritually lifeless, tangled up in idolatry, and useless. As such, the result was to be thrown on the burn pile – a prophetic word picture of the coming Babylonian siege of Jerusalem and its destruction.

I’m reminded this morning of Jesus’ own take on the same metaphor:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:5-8 (NIV)

Today, I’m find myself a little introspective. Ezekiel’s prophecy and Jesus’ metaphor begs the question: “What good am I? Am I fruitful? Am I useful? Is there Life in the limbs of my existence, my labor, and my relationships?”