From Israel To Italy

Vinedressers in Italy prefer hot, dry summers as opposed to mild ones with ample rainfall. The reason for this is that they say it makes for a sweeter or more flavorful grape.

In John 15:1-17 we read about Israel’s vineyard, its Supreme Vinedresser, and its One, Living Vine. In Israel, the vines would run much closer to the rocky soil to be able to take advantage of the dewfall in the night. Israel has very little rainfall from the early spring to the late fall, yet the vines produce their sweetest grapes in the hot desert when other plants have long died off. The dewfall would be captured beneath the rocks that would protect the  the water from evaporation and allow it to penetrate the ground and nourish the vine’s roots.

There’s a great spiritual analogy to consider between the long, scorching summer and the sweetening of the grapes. The dry heat and minimal rain remind us of the loss of visible blessing (ie. rain from Heaven). We will all suffer spiritual dry times in our lives. But I’m not talking about spiritual weariness as much as I’m equating dry-ness with enduring persecution and/or difficulty.

In other words, Christians who enjoy a vibrant and rich Faith are ones that have most likely endured much for that Faith. The fruit that they bear is much sweeter to others because it’s been under different forms of persecution and has not had much visible, physical blessing to rely upon. Their faith in itself has been trained to be much more dependent on the Lord’s nourishing. 

I regularly hear this reflected from short-term missionaries to poorer countries. They’ll often say something like, “The faith of the people on this field was so joyful and rich.” Or, “They had so little but they were so content and happy.” Or, “We went to bless them and we received a blessing instead.” What blessing was that? Sweeter grapes.

The Western Believer has a hard time understanding persecution. They will often reduce persecution to the idea of physical abuse or worse. However, stop to consider that there can be at least six other forms as well:

1. Spiritual
2. Emotional
3. Mental
4. Governmental
5. Financial
6. Testimonial (reputation, name, slander)

Often, these go unseen but serve to enhance the difficulty and struggle that moves toward the final realm of the physical abuse and martyrdom that we frequently associate with the word persecution.¹

In Italy, we have regularly endured these other six forms of persecution. For years, it was hard to relate the struggles and difficulties of “what we’re going through” to those who don’t have a gridwork to understand it. Sometimes the only explanation we can offer is - growing grapes in progress.

1. Rick Pearcey writes a fantastic article on the nature of persecution in the modern-day can be found here. In the article, Pearcey outlines the process of persecution. The initial forms of persecution will be used to ostracize and demonize. Then, the later forms will be used to destroy. [back]

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