I have had the rare privilege of standing in the Garden of Gethsemane in the Holy Land. I found it to be an astounding encounter with holy history. That was more particularly true when I learned that the roots of those olive trees were there at the time of Jesus praying in that place. Oh, trees have come and gone, but the roots remain even to this day.

Jesus was addressing the reality of that phenomenon when he spoke to the role of the roots in a vineyard. We read of this in John 15.5-6: ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.’ Nothing works without the right roots!

The roots of our faith go deep into the soil of our relationship with the Lord our God. One artist envisioned the faithful person being rooted into the deep heart of Jesus—I believe there is more truth to that reality than we care to imagine. There is no fruit possible without the roots playing their proper role—the avenue of life.

Jesus continues with his root analogy: ‘If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.’ There is no fruit without the life source, and the source of our faith life is the root to which we are strongly bound. Our walk with Jesus allows for us to bear much fruit—to be fruitful branches of him!