Listen here.
Welcome to Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the
appointed Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday. Thank you for being with
me today.
I am Pastor Eric Tritten from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in
Hudson, OH.
This coming Sunday is the 18th Sunday after
Pentecost. Today we read part of the Lord’s love song for his vineyard, a
prophecy that uses a vineyard as a symbol for the people of Israel, and the
care of the vineyard as the Lord’s care for his people.
The Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7
Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his
vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard on a very
fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted
it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst
of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for
it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of
Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard, that
I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield
grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my
vineyard.
I will remove its hedge, and it
shall be devoured;
I will break down
its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed, and
briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also
command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the
house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice, but
behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry! (Isa. 5:1-7 ESV)
Comments
Isn’t it amazing how
God’s Word is so consistent and how it all works together. It strikes me that
when Jesus told the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, that the chief
priests and Pharisees almost had to have thought of this passage in Isaiah – a
passage in which God pronounced his judgement against his people for rejecting
him! They would have known that God rejected Judah of old because of their
idolatry, and there was Jesus saying that they had once again chosen another
god.
Just as
yesterday, a vineyard was built, fruit was expected, and appropriate fruit was
not found, ending in destruction.
Once again,
God’s Word – his Law – convicts. It convicted the house of Israel and the men
of Judah in Isaiah’s time, and it convicts us today. This passage calls us to
inspect the fruit of our own lives. God longs for his people to live by faith
and for that faith to change us.
God makes
an interesting play with the words in this passage. When he says he looked for
justice by found only bloodshed, those two words sound very similar in Hebrew.
The same is true of the next couplet – he waited for righteousness, but behold
outcry! Righteousness and outcry sound similar in Hebrew.
I think
there is an important insight in the way God worded this. He says that he
planted a vineyard but only got wild grapes. He wanted one thing but got
something somewhat similar but totally unacceptable. This is what happens when
we exchange God’s definitions of justice and righteousness for our own. Later
in this chapter God will say, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and
sweet for bitter!” It’s like he’s saying, “I expected justice” – faithfulness
in our relationship with him, that we would respond to the amazing mercy,
generosity, love and grace he has poured out on us – “and I got just ice” – a
cold heart that was unmoved by God’s loved. “I waited for righteousness” – a
life lived in faith and trust transformed by God’s grace – “and I got it right
in the knees” – that is a sharp kick of rebellion and rejection.
This
passage is a strong word of condemnation. Where is the comfort in this? Well,
frankly, the comfort is in the warning. God did not say this to taunt or to
flatly reject his people. He said these things to call them to repentance; and
he does the same for us. He calls us to turn from the wild fruit of our lives
and to produce the fruit that is consistent with the faith and salvation he has
given us.
Why would
God give such a warning? Because he does not delight in the death of anyone,
including the wicked, as we learned last week in Ezekiel 18:32. Instead God’s
desire is to rescue, redeem, and restore his creation – beginning with his
human creatures; you and me.
And now,
all these years after Isaiah recorded God’s Word, there is another bit of
comfort here. When we look at verses 5 & 6 when God says that he will
remove the hedge, allow the vineyard to be devoured, break down its walls, and
allow it to be trampled down and made a waste, unpruned, un-hoed, with briers,
thorns and dryness. That is what Jesus endured on the cross, unprotected, flesh
broken, heart trampled, pierced by thorns, nails, and spear, and mouth
agonizingly dry. All to save you and me from our sins. He takes us from being a
wild vineyard and restores us to who God created us to be. Now, to be sure, we
still see the wildness of sin and disobedience in our lives, but the deed is
done. Jesus has died in our place and his Holy Spirit is pruning and rebuilding
us until that day when we rise from the dead as Jesus did, fully restored to
who God designed us to be.
Prayers
O God, you looked for fruit from your people – even from us!
– and found it to be wild and no good. Forgive us, Lord. Remember that you poured
out your punishment for our sin onto Jesus when he hung on the cross for our
sake. Forgive us, and tame our hearts with gratitude and humility because of
your love, mercy, grace, and compassion, and help us to produce good fruit for
you – justice and righteousness in our daily lives. For Jesus’s sake – Amen.
Thank you so much for using Devotions for Worship, I pray
that our time together has blessed you and given you something to meditate on –
some reminder of God’s grace to rattle around in your brain – for the rest of
the day.
One of the things we can do to help us meditate on God’s
word is to memorize it. Psalm 119:11.
Memory Verse: Psalm 80:7 - Restore us, O God of hosts; let
your face shine, that we may be saved! (Ps. 80:7 ESV)
Would you do me a favor? If you got something out of this
devotional time, would you like and/or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or
wherever you do social media? That would help me get the word out, and
hopefully help these devotions be a blessing to others.
God bless you!
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