Reflections from The Hill – Going Wild (John 15: 1-8)

Don Burke, that doyen of TV Garden Shows (until Costa Georgiadis came along, that is) reckons that the Convolvulus mauritanicus is a good plant for rockeries, ground cover and the like.

Wrong. I reckon this little climber is a nuisance. Its common name is “Bindweed”, which ought to tell us a lot, for starters. Even though it covers itself in a swish purple cloak (the colour for depressives), its profligacy well outstrips its beauty.

On the other hand, the Pyrostegia venusta has got a lot going for it. It’s vigorous, too, but it is spectacularly showy in the early summer. Its common name is “Golden Shower”, a name that says it all. You’ll see examples on fences all over Queensland and beyond, lighting up the world with its golden joy.

Whether or not you plant these two side by side is a matter of wisdom, because what gardeners look for are results. They want to see flowers (or fruit) on their vines and if that doesn’t happen, then out come the secateurs and shovels.

Left to itself, a vine will grow where it wants to or can but critical to its fruitfulness is its trainability. Without the snip and tuck of training, a vine will go pretty much anywhere, more than likely with little produce.

To not put too fine a point on it, it’s the same with us. Take the pruning and the shaping out of the portfolio and all that we’re left with are the dangly bits. Fighting, quarrelling, anxieties never brought in the Kingdom of God, ever.

There’ll be plenty of words spoken this weekend about vines, the True Vine and the Seven “I Ams” from John 15 (where the Gospel Reading is from) but if we miss the connectivity between pruning and growing, we’ve missed the boat.

It ain’t easy to prune, especially when you’ve watered and nurtured and sung to your favourite plant and the results have been eye-popping. I have a couple of potted Ficus and an Ixora coccinea that fit that picture.

The alternative is to consign these little beauties to a miserable future. Aw, they will grow well enough and display their wares but this will not bring any joy to those who cast their eyes on them and will tell the world just how terrible the gardener is.

If the pruning and shaping doesn’t happen, the crop will not yield well. We end up not being a good look, and certainly the world will see an amateur-ish Gardener. Maybe that’s a reason why people aren’t disposed to spiritual things

If we go wild, we will grow willy-nilly, and won’t put much of our energy into producing the fruits of the Kingdom. Following Jesus means being trained, directed and being led to grow in the right way.

Our energies get directed to grow charity, forgiveness, justice, peace and all that and are not to be wasted on quarrelling or petty anxieties.

As we look to the kind of life Jesus call us to, how much of it is spent going wild? And how much are we letting ourselves be trained, guided, by the Master Gardener?