How the Father Lifts You

It was a cold night when they left the Upper Room,
cold enough that later the guards
would warm themselves by a fire.

As they stepped into the darkness,
they sang the Hallel-
psalms celebrating the coming Messiah (Psalms 113-118).

Jesus had spoken of His death.
They didn't understand,
but felt the weight of His sorrow-
a storm cloud settling over them.

And there, in the shadows,
the Messiah and His eleven somber men
sang psalms about the coming Messiah-
psalms the Spirit of Christ
had inspired (Romans 8:9).

Pause and ponder the scene-
On the night He was betrayed,
Jesus sang ancient words-
words He inspired
a millennium before He fulfilled them.

Singing, they walked past Herod's golden vine
shimmering above the temple gate-
Israel's symbol of fruitfulness
that only Jesus would fulfill.

Then they descended into the Kidron Valley,
where terraced vineyards clung to the slopes
between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives.

There under the stars,
Jesus paused and taught His disciples-and us-
a transformational truth.

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit
He lifts up,
and every branch that does bear fruit
He prunes
so it will bear even more."
John 15:2

When He said the Father "lifts up"
every fruitless branch,
He used the word airo-
the way a vinedresser lifts a sagging branch
from the dirt into the sunlight
so it can bear fruit.

A fruitful branch is pruned.
A dead branch removed.
The vinedresser knows the difference.

With His hands,
the Father lifts the sagging branches,
secures them where they can grow,
and turns them toward the light
so they can bear fruit.

You may not know this about Jesus:
in His Greek, the Father lifts up the branches that fall.

Where have I slipped into the dirt
and need the Father
to lift me into His light?

Many fear this verse,
thinking the Father cuts off struggling believers.
But that fear comes from English,
not from Jesus' Greek.

The leading lexicon defines airo as "lift up"-
showing a Father who raises fallen branches
back into His light.

Father, lift me from the shadows.
Let Your Son's life flow through me today.
In Jesus' name, amen.