Confusing Feelings with Fruit
by Steve Rankin
Americans are obsessed with their own emotional states. I work with college students where this syndrome is vir-tually epidemic, but it is not limited to young people, or to viewers of shows like “Oprah.” I don’t know about you, but it drives me crazy to watch some reporter stick a microphone in some poor grieving soul’s face and ask, “How did you feel when…?” I just want to shout (in my best adolescent affect), “Well, duh!”
That the reporter is asking about feelings is evidence of our obsession. Why are we so interested in how we (or they) feel? Check any controversial issue with which a church struggles and you will encounter people making all kinds of judgments on the basis of how something made them feel. (I recently read a comment by a denominational leader about another leader’s “hurtful” comments. So I read that comment, too, and it didn’t seem all that “hurtful” to me. I wonder if it matters whether it is true or not, even if it might be “hurtful.”) This is an alarmingly short-sighted behavior.
I’ve been “stuck” in John 15 (New Revised Standard Version) during my morning prayer, particularly the first few verses. Jesus tells the disciples that he is the vine and his Father is the vinedresser, who removes fruitless branches and prunes the ones bearing fruit, so that they can bear even more fruit. Then, in the very next verse (3), Jesus switches to cleansing: “You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you,” after which he immediately returns to the theme of fruit. What does cleansing have to do with pruning?
A quick check of the Greek New Testament reveals that “have been cleansed” and “prunes” come from the same Greek root word: kathairo. It is the source for words like “catharsis” and “cathartic.” To prune a fruit tree is to cleanse it, to make it fit to bear more and better fruit.
And for what do we use the word “catharsis?” Doesn’t it usually mean some kind of “purging” of feelings? A rant is “cathartic:” “I feel so much better now.” Venting is somehow perceived as a “cleansing” of a sort. We “got things off our chests” and we now feel better. And feeling better seems to be the goal.
But Jesus is interested in fruit. Certainly, it does not mean that he is careless about feelings. In verse 11 he talks about our joy being complete. “Joy” certainly has emotional qualities. Still, there’s much more to spirituality than just feeling good (or better) about things. I think we American Christians are largely stuck here. We are embarras-singly self-absorbed. Oh, Lord, help us to focus on the fruit.