Where Do We Fit in the Vineyard?
An exciting key part of our discipleship and as members of the Church of Jesus Christ is to labour alongside the Lord in His vineyard to nurture and preserve this “mother tree” of Israel. (Jacob 5:60-61) This is sometimes referred to as the gathering of Israel.
Being a part of the gathering of Israel sets up an interesting dynamic. As the allegory unfolds in the last days, we are suddenly portrayed not just as the tree, but also as the labourers who are called to take care of it. As labourers, we get to do the pruning and dunging (not a bad job), but because we are also the tree, we are simultaneously called upon to be pruned and dunged (arguably less enjoyable).
As anyone who has served in any church calling knows, priesthood service is as much about refining oneself as it is about helping others. Therefore, it makes sense that God would give the House of Israel, the most finicky of families, the wildest tree in the garden, the unique calling to bless the nations of the earth, perhaps because the House of Israel most needs to work alongside Him and receive the blessings of service.
The Lord Loves a Willing Heart
This should be comforting doctrine because if you find yourself making mistakes (sometimes over and over) or if you find yourself with a messy family, a prideful heart, or a flawed character, welcome to the family of Israel! You are in good company here. And the good news is that, as flawed as you might find yourself, accepting a call to serve may be exactly what you need.
Joseph Smith put it this way: “If ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work; For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul.” (Doctrine and Covenants 4:3-4, emphasis added)
It is significant to me that it doesn’t say we serve God to save another’s soul. We do it to save our own souls, that we “may stand blameless before God at the last day.” (Doctrine and Covenants 4:2) If others receive what we are offering, great. We love it when this happens! But when we choose not to engage in the work, it is our own salvation that is at stake. When we disengage or just go through the motions without opening our hearts to the sanctifying power of the Spirit, our spiritual vitality and fruitfulness diminish. Like an olive tree growing wild and alone in the garden, we risk perishing spiritually because we miss opportunities for being pruned and humbled through regular church service and covenantal discipleship.
Trees- and People- Need Pruning
I don’t know many who like being pruned or humbled. I certainly don't! President Hugh B. Brown, another with experience in caring for trees on the Alberta prairies, tells the story of a currant bush on his land. It had grown tall but wasn’t producing any fruit, and he had to prune it significantly. President Brown imagined how that tree must have felt being cut down to a stump and imagined it saying, “How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as large as the fruit tree and the shade tree, and now you have cut me down. And all in the garden will look upon me with contempt and pity. How could you do it? I thought you were the gardener here.”
In response, President Brown imagines himself saying, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. If I let you go the way you want to go, you will never amount to anything. But someday, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to think back and say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.” (God is the Gardener, BYU Graduation, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, May 1968)
God Will Prune and Nurture Us Relentlessly
When we are willing to be obedient and submit to the Lord’s pruning, though such a process can be intensely painful, personal pruning gives way to much fruit. And certainly, one fruit that comes from such experiences includes a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. He Himself was cut down by submitting to all things the Father required of Him, including the harrowing act of the Atonement. Significantly, it happened in the Garden of Gethsemane, in an orchard of olive trees. This was followed by His crucifixion on a cross made from a tree that had to be cut down, like the Son of God, to allow for everlasting life.
As we labour alongside the Lord in His vineyard, we will likely see our inadequacy, witnessing all the ways we keep turning wild, like the allegorical olive tree. We might imagine God wondering, as He did in the allegory, whether He should give up on us, set the garden on fire, and perhaps try tomatoes instead. But while His first impulse may have been to hew down the tree, listen to the servant representing Jesus Christ as He pleads with the Lord of the vineyard, and think about what the Saviour would say about you:
“But, behold, the servant said unto the Lord of the vineyard: Spare it a little longer.” (Jacob 5:50)
To me, I can imagine him saying, “Spare Chris a little longer. I know he is wild and rebellious and flawed, and sometimes he’s too full of his own ideas to listen to Me. But I love him. I’m not giving up on him.” The Lord does not give up on Israel. He doesn’t give up on this tree. And He won’t give up on you.
I have a testimony of Jesus Christ, and that He loves you. He is patient and kind, and He loves to work with us in the garden! He likes to watch us plant our seeds of faith, like I did with my five-year-old this spring. He likes to help us pull out our most stubborn weeds through repentance, even when we accidentally step on the daylilies while doing so. He loves to teach us to look to the heavens and learn about the sun and the rain, which always come. And most of all, He loves to nurture wild, rebellious olive trees like you and me.