The season of harvest has already begun. Every year we begin celebrating this season and for many people, it is a favorite time of year. Harvest is a time to gather what has been planted. We work hard all year through, then we enter a season where we expect our hard work to yield something meaningful and fulfilling. This is the great thing about a season of harvest, when what we’ve planted is good, we can always expect that a good harvest is guaranteed. It’s as simple as the example of a savings account at the local bank. Most of us never question that our investment will grow. The bank tells us what kind of yield we can expect, and we put our money in the savings account with absolute confidence that we’ll get a return. In many aspects, life works the same way.
John 15 tells us the record of Jesus Christ sharing the last supper in the upper room at some location in Jerusalem. Afterwards, they started a journey that would ultimately land them in the Garden of Gethsemane. As they embarked upon their journey, it is believed that they passed through the temple gates. It was customary to leave these gates open all night during the Passover season. This way, anyone that wanted to come in and pray could do so. These gates contained carvings of clusters of grapes, and these carvings conveyed God’s purpose for the nation of Israel. He wanted them to be a fruitful vine, and throughout the Old Testament, God referred to the children of Israel as a vine. He wanted them to bear much fruit for His Kingdom and glory. Some have suggested that Jesus and his disciples were passing by these very gates and having the visual of them prompted him to say in John 15:1(NIV), “I am the *TRUE vine, and my Father is the gardener.”
God’s heart was to give much to His people living in Old Testament times. He wanted to bless them and take care of them, but we can’t miss the connection that He has made so clear in His Word. God’s people must be in the fruit-producing business. Many of those in whom Heavenly Father had high hopes did not follow through on the plan. In Matthew 21:33, Jesus Christ gave a parable about a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress, and built a watchtower. He then rented this vineyard to some farmers. The landowner moved to a different location after this. Harvest time approached, and of course, given that he had been diligent to set up everything appropriately, the landowner expected a great harvest.
Matthew 21:34-39 says that the landowner sent some of his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit, but the tenants behaved terribly. They beat one of the servants, killed another and stoned one as well. The landowner, a fair person, dispatched another crew of servants to collect his fruit. They were met with the same treatment from the tenants. The landowner then sent his son to collect the fruit, thinking surely the tenants would not disrespect his own son. But when the tenants saw his son, they plotted against him in the most evil way. They sought to take the son’s inheritance for themselves. They said, “Let’s kill him!” Then they took the son out of the vineyard and did just that; they killed him.
The same question that Jesus asked the disciples, we must ask ourselves, “What should the landowner do to those tenants?” The logical answer is that of course he must handle business and make sure those tenants are cut off from anything that he has. He will then rent the vineyard to tenants that are diligent and will give him his share of fruit when harvest time comes. Those descendants of Abraham and Jacob, who the Father loved and blessed, turned their backs on Him. When He sent His Son to the earth to collect the fruit, they crucified Jesus Christ, but our loving Heavenly Father had a plan. Because of what our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, accomplished, God allowed us, the new tenants, to tend to the vineyard of this earthly plain. We now have the privilege, honor, and duty to produce fruit for the Father.
In John 15:4-5(NIV), Jesus Christ said, “4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.5 “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.” To remain in Jesus Christ is to live as he lived. It is to do the things in life that he did, because he always pleased the Father. We are the branches, and if we get separated from the vine, we will soon wither and die. We need to be connected to the Source of all good things through Jesus Christ. Then, we will bear much fruit.
The fruit that comes from our lives should come from the seeds that we plant. We plant these seeds as we bear witness of God’s Word and as we live it every day. In Isaiah 55:11(NKJV), God said that His Word never returns to Him void. As we speak it forth, it will accomplish whatever He wants it to accomplish. He said, “it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
Many of us complain about this time of year. Some even say they can’t wait for it to be over. No one who understands their purpose would think this way. We are on this earth to bear fruit for the Kingdom. Jesus Christ said in John 15:8(NIV), “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” Instead of complaining, let’s be sure that we are planting seeds of God’s Word into the hearts of others. He said if we do this, He will receive the glory, and we will reap a true harvest, for we will have planted seeds that will never stop growing. Then we’ll celebrate during the harvesting season, because we will have pleased the Landowner by bringing Him much fruit. ■
(* emphasis by the writer)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
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