Isaiah 5:1-7 (NRSV)
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;
he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people 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 expected 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 it shall be overgrown with briers
and thorns;
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 people of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
but heard a cry!
Year C
August 14-20
August 14, 2016
Cross~Wind
Title: Being a
Fruitful Garden
The cartoon, Ziggy, has an episode in which Ziggy says, "I guess
I'll go see how my garden is doing..."
As he walks in the garden, the grass is bigger than most of the things
he has in the garden.
"Hmmm..." he says. He
sees a corn stalk: "Oh! This looks
like corn! I didn't plant any,
though!!! It must have
volunteered!" He exclaims in
surprise: "Oh! One of my beet
plants lived!" He peers at another
plant: "Oh, the plant I thought was lettuce turns out to be a weed! Hmmm, it's doing well, though!" He goes back to the house: "Well, all in
all, I'd say my garden is doing a lot better than last year!"
That story summarizes my experience
with gardening. I have none. So far in my life, I have had little desire to
learn.
Yet, I can understand why someone
would like it. Planting seeds or small plants and watching them grow would
bring satisfaction. One must take some responsibility for learning what will
grow in the soil you have and what the plant needs. Yet, once you learn all
that, and do it, you expect your garden to be fruitful. If it is not, something
bad has happened.
I came across a web site that
describes three steps to keeping or maintaining a healthy garden.
1. Cut back: Cut back all the dead grasses and plants from
last winter to a mere 2-3 inches.
2. Division: Take a good hard look at your garden. Which
plants seem to be getting unruly and large? You can divide these plants with no
hesitation. Position these new plants in your garden in pleasing locations.
3. Weed and Mulch: There is no need to clean up all the
leaves in your garden if you plan on mulching. Just pull up all the weeds and
mulch to your heart's content. Mulch heavily -- a few inches will prevent
further weeds from appearing, but take care not to smother your plants. Do not
pile mulch high around your plants, but leave lots of room for them to breathe
and grow. Mulch keeps your garden moist and cool as well as smothering weeds
and providing some nutrients to your plants.[1]
Application
Unlike me, God loves gardening. God
loves to plant seeds, nurture then, and help them grow. Our passage offers a
warning. I doubt that I can do adequate justice to this passage today. Frankly,
the passage is still working on me. It occurs to me, though, that we are so
accustomed to warning labels on the products we buy. Most of us do not usually
pay attention. Friends, this warning from the prophet deserves our attention. The
people of God are the garden. If they are unfruitful, God will allow them to
reap the results. God allows the destruction and abandoning of the
vineyard, for all God saw was the wild or rotten grapes.[2]
We see again that it is not enough to go through the motions of religion. God
wants the people of God to have a fruitful life that witness to the kind of
life God wants human beings to live.
What would happen if we were to learn the lesson of this passage and
heed its warning?
First, we are to cut back, for the
people of God can misuse the abilities
and opportunities that God gave them.
What do I need to slash in my life? What do I
need to cut out and destroy? What behaviors, associations, and habits are
hindering me from getting closer to God, getting closer to others, becoming a
better person? Paul talks about this theme in Philippians 3, where even the
things in which he took pride as a Jewish person he now considered worthless
for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ. Likewise, Hebrews 12:1 refers to
"laying aside" the things that slow us down.[3]
The prophet Isaiah wants us
to know that God expects us to live faithful and fruitful lives. The Lord will
not preserve the beloved vineyard if it does not produce good grapes.
"For
the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of
Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed;
righteousness, but heard a cry!" (Is. 5:7).
They were like an electric drill, made for woodworking,
which carried the warning, “This product not intended for use as a dental
drill.”
• God made them for
justice, but they practiced injustice.
• God made them to
be fruitful, but they were barren.
• God made them for
righteousness, but they practiced wickedness.
• God made them for
service, but they preferred strong drink (5:11).
• God made them for
good, but they practiced evil (5:20).
• God made them for
truth, but they uttered falsehoods.
• God made them to
dwell in light, but they live in darkness.
They failed to be what God created
them to be, and to do what God intended them to do, and the result of their
failure is destruction. This is God’s warning.
Second, is Division: how are we doing in our attempts to grow into
good and healthy grapes?
This step refers to the positive
things that are crowding my life. My life is full of doing good things. I have
become busy trying to do many things well. Perhaps my family life is suffering.
Perhaps I do not have enough time for myself. This step involves revisiting my
priorities and may require the reallocation of my resources.
God has done everything to help us be fruitful, but there are daily
choices that we must make if we are to keep from going bad.[4]
Like the house of Israel and the
people of Judah, we are God's "pleasant planting." When God looks
down on us from the top of the watchtower, God expects to see justice, not
bloodshed, and to hear words of righteousness, not a cry.[5]
We need to remain focused on doing
the work of the Lord in this world.
Third, we are to weed and mulch in
order to become God’s "pleasant
planting" today.
This step refers to daily spiritual
and emotional maintenance. How can I keep my garden, i.e. life, healthy and fruit
bearing? Do I have any plan at all? Most gardeners and farmers have a detailed
plan for keeping a garden or acreage in good shape. What is mine?
Our challenge as Christians is to
be both faithful and fruitful, trusting the guidance of God and sharing divine
love and grace with the world. We have a responsibility to do what we can to
restore the church walls that are crumbling and support the watchtowers that
are in danger of toppling. Isaiah says the Lord is looking for justice and
righteousness.
For many years, justice meant
"an eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth." But Jesus says, "If
anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also ... Give to everyone
who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you"
(Matthew 5:38-42).
Revenge is not a good plan.
Stinginess is not a good plan.[6]
We begin with justice and move on
to righteousness, which means being in a right relationship with God and the
people around us.
Now righteousness used to mean,
"love your neighbor and hate your
enemy." Nevertheless, Jesus says, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may
be children of your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:43-45).
Being a fruitful Christian means pursuing
a right relationship with both friends and enemies, and doing this through
offers of love instead of hatred. Paul will urge us to set aside certain vices
and build certain virtues. He will urge us to make sure that our everyday lives
of work, family, and community involvements feel the change that our new life
in Christ brings. We attempt such things not because we are particularly
loving, graceful or wonderful people, but because we want to be children of our
Father in heaven -- children of the one who "makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good" (v. 45).
As we follow Jesus along this path,
we restore the Christian walls that are crumbling and the towers that are in
danger of toppling. We allow the Lord, who has planted us in a fertile spot, to
nurture us and give us the care we need to become good fruit.[7]
By being faithful and fruitful
followers of Jesus, we can change the view from the tower.
Conclusion
As pastor Michael Bingenheimer of
Ascension Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas, notes:
“God still called them ‘loved’ even though God has these complaints
against them. God was not giving up on them. God’s desire was for them to
repent and return. God knows that our daily lives don’t always reflect justice
and righteousness. God doesn’t give up on us either, but wants us to come with
repentant hearts so that we might be fruitful. Only God has the power to remove
the wildness of sin from our hearts so that we can be productive people in
God’s eternal kingdom.” (Michael Bingenheimer)
That said, justice and righteousness
are what God expects of us — people who have been created as “his pleasant planting” (Isaiah 5:7). The
Lord wants our belief and worship to influence the way we live. The secret to
being good grapes, and avoiding the kind of desolation and destruction that can
come to unfruitful vineyards, is live your life in a fruitful way.[8]
Well, I said this passage is a
warning. We have warning labels upon almost everything we buy. Some of them are
silly. However, as the people of God, we need to pay attention to this warning
label, now more than ever.
Going Deeper
The passage from Isaiah I am
reading today is a word of warning to Israel. The prophet is singing a song for
his beloved, suggesting that what he sings arises out of his intimate communion
with the Lord. His song says the Lord has cared tenderly for Israel, like a
good gardener tending a vineyard. I like that image of God. Yet, instead of
producing edible grapes of justice and righteousness, the vineyard produces
rotten grapes of violence. Thus, in spite of the love the Lord obviously has
for the vineyard, judgment will come. We need to keep in mind, however, that
whenever the prophet speaks this way, the hope is that the people will repent.
If they do, the Lord will withhold judgment. The warning, remember, is to the
people of God.
Isaiah 5:1-7, 10:1-4, 5:8-13, 18-30, 9:8-21 are the song of the
vineyard and indictment of leaders in Jerusalem. 5:1-7 is a parable. The singer is a friend of the bridegroom.
It describes the broken relationship between Israel and Yahweh. The piece is an
extended metaphor in the form of a melancholy love song that expresses themes
prominent not only in the book of Isaiah, but running throughout prophetic
literature: Yahweh’s love for Israel; Yahweh’s repeated attempts to bring
Israel prosperity and eminence; Israel’s persistent rejection of Yahweh’s
guidance; Yahweh’s disappointment and anger. The prophet adopts the unusual
role of a troubadour or balladeer. We see a similar role in Exodus 15:1, 14:21,
Numbers 21:17, Judges 5:3, I Samuel 18:7, II Chronicles 29:28, 30. However, it is rare for singers to sing about
the activities of others, apart from the dealings of Yahweh on behalf of the
people of Israel.
Isaiah 5:1-7 (NRSV)
Let me sing for my beloved [In singing for (or “about” — the
Hebrew preposition is ambiguous) his “beloved” and the beloved’s vineyard, the prophet is here assuming a stance that
is virtually unique in biblical literature. This kind of self-conscious
artistry is rare in the Bible, as most biblical writers did not afford
themselves or their hearers-readers the luxury of extended third-person
metaphors. The word translated “beloved,” is an adjective (in the form of a
passive participle) from an unattested root meaning “to love.” The form yadid
is used exclusively in poetry.
The
image of a vineyard as beloved or lover is common in the Hebrew love poetry of
the Song of Songs (e.g., 1:6, 14; 2:3, 15, etc.) and as a metaphor for Israel
is occasionally found in prophetic literature (here and Jeremiah 12:10). The
image is elaborated here.]
my
love-song concerning his vineyard:
My
beloved had a vineyard
on a
very fertile hill.
[The
beloved chooses a vineyard on choice ground.]
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and
planted it with choice vines;
he
built a watchtower [the
word is also used to describe, among other substantial structures, the
tower attached to the city of Babel in Genesis 11:4.] in the
midst of it,
and
hewed out a wine vat in it;
[The
beloved undertakes extensive labor to turn that vineyard into a profitable
enterprise, overturning weeds and clearing the area of stones, using an unusual
verb that means both “to put to death by stoning” and, in the conjugation found
here, “to clear of stones”. All of this detail is included to show the
extensive labor, time, and money lavished on the vineyard. No expense has
been spared to create a fruitful vineyard, which makes its yield all the more
frustrating.]
he
expected it to yield grapes,
but it
yielded wild grapes. [(be`ushim,) is much stronger in Hebrew
than the English translation suggests; it is from a root meaning “to stink,”
and is used to describe the smell of the cursed Nile because of its dead fish
(Exodus 7:18, 21). “Rotten grapes”
comes closer than “wild grapes” to the Hebrew.]
3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and
people of Judah,
[The addressees are not two different
groups of people — Jerusalemites and Judahites — but rather are one group
expressed in classical poetic parallelism: inhabitants (A) of Jerusalem (B) and
people (A’) of Judah (B’).]
judge
between me
and my
vineyard.
[The prophet abruptly shifts from
third-person to first-person narrative. The prophet is, of course, in the
traditional role of the classical prophet, speaking on behalf of Yahweh/the
Beloved and against the very people summoned as judges. In summoning the people
to adjudicate the situation, the prophet is employing a classic literary form
found extensively in the Hebrew Bible, the rîv or lawsuit form. Although
various terms are used in different contexts, the basic idea is the same:
Yahweh has a complaint (or “indictment,” Hosea 4:1, or “controversy,” Micah
6:2) against the people and invokes impartial witnesses to decide who is the
aggrieved party. In what
appears to be an ancient version of the lawsuit, the primordial elements
“heaven and earth” are summoned as witnesses (Deuteronomy 30:19; 31:28), and
Yahweh rises, as the complainant, “to argue his case” (Isaiah 3:13; see also
Jeremiah 25:31). The imagery is very ancient, and stretches back to the
earliest period of biblical literature (with roots in earlier northwest
Semitic/Canaanite religion), when heaven was understood to be a royal court
inhabited by various divine beings who could function as witnesses in divine
disputes. In time, that imagery of divine witnesses shifted first to natural
elements then, as here, to historical peoples, and eventually to an impersonal
book — the book of life (Malachi 3:16; Revelation 20:12, 15) or set of books (Daniel
7:10; 12:1). In the rain agriculture of ancient Israel, where rivers provided
extremely limited riverine agriculture, drought was a regular and fearsome
occurrence (with three-year-long droughts typically occurring twice in a
40-year period.[9]]
4 What more was there to do for my
vineyard
that I
have not done in it?
When I
expected 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 it
shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
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
people of Judah
[The reference to 'house of Israel"
and 'men of Judah" should be seen as recognizing the essential oneness of
the people of the Lord. Thus, it refers
to a threat to both. The poem drops all pretenses in the concluding verse of
the song, in which it now reveals itself as an oracle of judgment of the Lord
against “the house of Israel, and the people of Judah.”]
are his
pleasant planting;
he
expected justice,
but saw
bloodshed;
righteousness,
but
heard a cry!
[They have
demonstrated their faithlessness through “bloodshed” and “a cry,” using nouns
that, in Hebrew, play on their expected opposites, justice and righteousness
(mispach/mishpat and tse’aqah/tsedaqah).]
Isaiah 10:1-4 pronounces a woe upon
those who make iniquitous decrees and oppressive statutes, turning aside the
needy from justice and robbing the poor of their right. Widows have become
their spoil. Orphans have become their prey. What will they do on the day of
punishment that will come from far away (Assyria). To whom will they flee for
help? Where will they leave their wealth? Yet, with all this, divine anger has
not turned away. The hand of the Lord still stretches out. In 5:8-13 is a
description of what will happen to the homes and vineyards in exile. We see in
5:12, as Pannenberg points out, the way the Old Testament refers to history. It
does so by referring to the deeds of the Lord, and Isaiah here complains that
the people do not pay attention to these deeds of the Lord.[10]
The suggestion is that the people of God need to reflect on the deeds of the
Lord and the work of divine hands in history, as Pannenberg points out. He
thinks Christians have a responsibility to speak of the concrete acts of God in
history in preservation and judgment. Fear of mistakes or false humility should
not make one shy away from discerning the ways of God in history.[11] In 5:18-30, exile is
coming, in part because they call evil good, and good evil. In 5:19, the rulers
mock the prophet by jesting about his threats of punishment. They mock by
saying they want to see the fulfillment of the plan of the Lord. Isaiah
acknowledges here a divine plan in history, as Pannenberg points out.[12] In discussing the outward
action of God, Pannenberg says talk about the means and ends of the divine
action simply expresses the relation between finite events and beings as God
wills them. The temporal order in which creaturely things and events stand as
such enables us to describe their relation to the divine action in terms of a
plan, a plan that God follows in the process of history. If the destiny of all
creaturely occurrence and existence is oriented to fellowship with God, then
this idea takes the conceptual form of a plan of salvation. For the action of
God, no creature is merely a means. Each creature has a part in the saving
purpose of God.[13] He also says this verse
reflects on a collective plural for history as a whole, there again conceiving
of the multiplicity of the acts of God as a unity, but as a structured and
differentiated unity.[14] In 5: 24, Isaiah often and
emphatically calls God “the Holy One,” which, as Pannenberg stresses, means
that the holiness of God carries a threat of Judgment upon an apostate people.[15] In 5:25, Pannenberg points
out, the wrath of God “burns” when scorned, and especially when the people
elected by God fall away from God.[16]
In 9:8-21, the judgment upon the northern 10 tribes has not relented, for the
hand of the Lord still stretches out against them. We can see this because they
have not returned from exile.
[1] --For more information,
see "Spring cleaning in 4 easy steps," Garden Secrets website.
gardensecrets.org/2013/03/07/spring-cleaning-in-4-easy-steps.
Retrieved March 23, 2013.
[2] This would be like the monsignor of Notre
Dame saying, "Church attendance in Paris has dropped to single digits. Now
I will tell you what I will do to my cathedral. I will remove its towers. I
will break down its flying buttresses. I will make it a waste; it shall be
overgrown with briers and thorns. I will also command that the Emmanuel bell not
be rung."
That would be tragic, would it not? The silencing of
the bell called "Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us."
[3] let us
also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run
with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus
the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame
[4] Are we paying attention to the issues of
justice and righteousness that God considers so important to our fruitfulness?
[6] The justice of Jesus does not include the bloody gouging of an eye for
an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Instead, it is the way of nonviolence -- the refusal
to hit back when a person strikes you on the cheek, hurting them in the same
way that they hurt you. In addition, Jesus asks us to create a more just and
fair society by the practice of radical generosity -- sharing our coats and
cloaks with those in need, and giving to everyone who begs from us.
[7] Turn the
other cheek. Practice generosity. Love your enemies. Pray for those who
persecute you. These are difficult spiritual practices, truly challenging
approaches to justice and righteousness.
[9] see
Carol Meyers, “Kinship and Kingship — The Early Monarchy,” in The Oxford
History of the Biblical World, ed. M. D. Coogan [New York: Oxford University
Press, 1998], 240).
[10] Systematic Theology Volume 1, 230.
[11] Systematic Theology Volume 3, 498.
[12] Systematic Theology Volume 1, 387.
[13] Systematic Theology Volume 2, 7.
[14] Systematic Theology Volume 2, 8.
[15] Systematic Theology Volume 1, 399.
[16] Systematic Theology Volume 1, 439.
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