Da Vine Intervention
Chicago fans know the chant by heart: “Daaaa Bears!” It’s more than a slogan—it’s a cultural shorthand, a rallying cry, a way of saying, “These are our people.” But imagine a different kind of mantra echoing through the Church today. Not Da Bears, but Da Vine.
Not a team.
Not a franchise.
A Person.
Jesus’ words in John 15:1–5 cut through our noise with a clarity no stadium loudspeaker could match. He declares Himself the true vine and His followers the branches—our identity, vitality, fruitfulness, and future all flow from Him.
The Only Source of Life
In a world obsessed with self-made success, Jesus’ claim is profoundly offensive. Branches don’t congratulate themselves for producing grapes. They don’t strategize their way into fruitfulness. They don’t white‑knuckle their way into spiritual productivity.
Branches receive.
Branches abide.
Branches depend.
Jesus says plainly that apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). The life is not in us. The life flows to us.
And He doesn’t soften the contrast. There are only two kinds of branches:
- Those that bear fruit, because they remain in Him (John 15:2).
- Those that wither, because they refuse His life (John 15:6).
It’s not a spectrum. It’s a fork in the road.
The Warning We Prefer to Skip
Modern discipleship often wants the comfort of John 15 without the severity. But Jesus doesn’t whisper the warning; He states it plainly. Branches that do not abide in Him dry up. They become brittle. They lose the capacity for fruit. And in the end, they are gathered and burned (John 15:6).
This isn’t divine pettiness. It’s divine honesty.
A branch severed from the vine has no future.
A soul severed from Christ has no life.
The fire imagery echoes other warnings Jesus gives—such as the tree that bears no good fruit being cut down (Matthew 7:19) and the fate of those who call Him “Lord” but refuse obedience (Matthew 7:21–23).
Can Wilted Branches Become Fruitful Again?
This is the question every honest disciple eventually asks. Because let’s be real: most of us don’t feel like lush, bursting clusters of spiritual grapes. We feel brittle. Tired. More like spiritual kindling than spiritual abundance.
So can wilted branches become fruitful again?
Yes—if they are still connected to the Vine.
Jesus never says, “Once you start to dry out, you’re done.” Instead, He invites the weary to come to Him for rest (Matthew 11:28–30) and promises that those who remain in Him will bear much fruit (John 15:5).
Wilted branches aren’t condemned; they’re invited.
They’re not thrown out; they’re tended.
They’re not mocked; they’re restored.
The only branches that face the fire are the ones that refuse the Vine altogether—those who insist on spiritual independence, who cut themselves off from the very life that could revive them.
How Wilted Branches Become Fruitful Again
Jesus gives the pathway in one word: abide (John 15:4).
And if the reader wants to explore what abiding really means—beyond clichés, beyond performance, beyond fear—they can dive deeper in the Hippocratic Party article “Whoever Believes” at
https://hippocraticparty.org/whoever-believes.
Not perform.
Not pretend.
Not produce on your own.
Abide.
Here’s what that looks like in real life:
- Return to His Word — Jesus says His words must remain in us (John 15:7).
- Let His love define you again — “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you” (John 15:9).
- Obey what He shows you — obedience is how we remain in His love (John 15:10).
- Stay in community — the New Testament repeatedly warns that isolation leads to spiritual danger (Hebrews 10:24–25).
- Pray honestly — Jesus promises the Father hears the prayers of those who abide (John 15:7).
Abiding is not a spiritual performance. It’s a spiritual attachment. Fruit is not the result of trying harder; it’s the result of staying closer.
The Father is a patient gardener. He prunes fruitful branches—not to punish them, but to make them even more fruitful (John 15:2). He restores the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18) and revives the crushed in spirit (Isaiah 57:15).
Wilted branches don’t need shame.
They need sap.
And Jesus is still offering it.
Fruitfulness Is Not Optional
Fruit is not a bonus feature of Christian life.
Fruit is the evidence of Christian life.
Paul’s list of the Spirit’s fruit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control—flows directly from the life of Christ within us (Galatians 5:22–23).
Jesus says that bearing fruit glorifies the Father and proves we are His disciples (John 15:8).
Abiding Is the Intervention We Need
We often pray for divine intervention as if God must break into our world from the outside. But Jesus offers something far more intimate: Da Vine Intervention—the life of God flowing into us from within.
Abiding is the daily, deliberate choice to remain connected to Christ—through His Word, through prayer, through obedience, through community, through surrender.
It is the posture of a branch that knows its place and delights in it.
A Final Word for the Wilted
Some readers feel fruitful today. Others feel brittle, exhausted, or spiritually dehydrated. The good news is that Jesus never shames wilted branches. He restores them. He invites them back into the life they were made for.
The only hopeless branch is the one that refuses the Vine.
So let the Church reclaim the chant.
Let it echo in our hearts and homes.
Let it become our identity and our hope.
Daaaaa Vine.
Daaa Life.
DA SAVIOR who holds us fast.
And may His life flow through us until the world tastes the fruit and knows the Vine is good.