I recently viewed the movie Jesus & His Times by Questar Studios, released in 2009. There are many good ideals, scenes, and scenery in this movie, I watched it through Prime Video. One hour into the film they talk about grapevines and wine, with connections to various aspects of first century Jewish life. In this section they address John 15:2, my focus of this post. With all of that said I will state this is a STUDY not an ANSWER.

The earthly kingdom of God and our Lord Christ Jesus is built around being connected to the Vine and bearing fruit. The management of the branches and fruit are the core of this verse and the section that includes loving God and fellow members of the kingdom and mankind. The movie questions the phrase “cuts off”. They assert that the practice Jesus knew would have been to “lift up” the branch and place it on a rock to keep it from making its own roots and allowing it to produce fruit. Okay, that could be good for several sermons in itself. For me it was a challenge to think through how I view the Father and His dealings with us. To demystify that sentence, will God pick you up to help produce fruit or just cut you off? The movie writers assert that there is a misinterpretation of the word αἴρω (airō) Strong: G142. This is the study.

It is important to see how God reveals His glory to Moses, Exodus 34:5-7.

Start with these:

• Strong’s Greek: 142. αἴρω (airó) — To lift, to take up, to raise, to remove, to carry away. 
• G142 – airō – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (kjv)

Please look at the cultural context sections and the corresponding Hebrew words, Nasa and Massa.

An important fact about concordances, they list root words. So, many words we search for are a variation of the word you find in the concordance. The actual word in John 15:2 is Greek Concordance: αἴρει (airei) — 8 Occurrences. (God bless translators.) You should read through those eight verses putting them in context.

• Matthew 9:16, Mark 2:21. The question to Jesus was about fasting and He answers with examples of a wedding ceremony, patches, and wineskins.
• Mark 4:15, Luke 8:12. Jesus is explaining the Parable of the Sower to His disciples. This is where the seed hits the path, and Satan takes the Word right away.
• Luke 11:22. Jesus was driving out a mute demon and was accused of doing it with power from the lord of the flies. Our word is in one of the four comments He made in response to their unbelief.
• John 10:18. Jesus is talking about Himself and His mission after He healed the man who was born blind in John 9. He has found the man and the Pharisees are running mouth.
• John 15:2. This part of Jesus’ last meal with His disciples before He goes to the first garden.
• John 16:22. This also is part of the last fellowship Jesus had with His disciples; He is talking about their joy. Judas Iscariot has been gone from the dinner since Chapter 13.

Cuts off or lifts up, you may have to go back each time airei is used and reread inserting the phrases. I hope you can see why this is a study and not an answer. Another study to help this one is BibleGateway – Keyword Search: bear fruit.