John 15

2 Any branch in me which does not produce fruit He lifts up,*The Greek verb here covers a considerable semantic area. The familiar ‘takes away’ is one of its basic meanings, but ‘lifts up’ is another of its meanings and makes better sense here (the cutting off comes in verse 6). People plant (or buy) vineyards because they want grapes, and you can’t have grapes without branches, so you don’t destroy them without reason. When it’s blossom time you go down the rows looking for any branches that the wind and rain have knocked down—a branch on the ground won’t produce. You lift them up, shake off the dirt and fasten them up, to give them a chance. I take it that’s the picture here—if we have fallen, the Father picks us up, brushes us off and gives us another go. Of course if we never produce, then we are suckers, and He goes ‘snip’ (verse 6). and every one producing fruit He prunes, so that it may produce more fruit.*I understand that a given stretch of vine or branch only produces grapes once, it is only the new growth that produces grapes, so if you want to increase production you must cut the vine back.