SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR
Sunday, October 8
Psalm 80
Isaiah 5:1-7
Philippians 3:1-14
Matthew 21:33-46
Sunday, October 8
Psalm 80
Isaiah 5:1-7
Philippians 3:1-14
Matthew 21:33-46
Grapes of Palestine – by Frank S. DeHass, DD
from Buried Cities Rediscovered, or Explorations in Bible Lands, 1884. (Thanks to Joann Schlesinger for the book !)
from Buried Cities Rediscovered, or Explorations in Bible Lands, 1884. (Thanks to Joann Schlesinger for the book !)
If you are able to go sightseeing around our beautiful region in Virginia, you have seen the growing number of vineyards sprouting up on south-facing hillsides all around. Perhaps you have sampled the wine they produced, so you might understand why people take so much trouble to build and maintain a vineyard.
The desire for a vineyard and its vintage goes back to some of humanity’s earliest memories of working the soil. We read in Genesis 9 that Noah was a “man of the soil” – so it must have been particularly galling to him, to be stuck in a boat on the endless waters for such a long spell. Noah jumped off his ark as soon as it landed and immediately planted a vineyard. Presumably, the supply of wine on the ark had run out during the many months afloat, and he was in a big hurry to make more.
In the awful days of the Assyrian invasions of Israel and Judah, the prophet Isaiah compared the promised land to a vineyard which belongs to God, from which God expects to receive good fruit (Isaiah 5). But when God comes to His vineyard looking for the fruit of “justice” (Hebrew: mishpat), instead He finds “oppression” (Hebrew: mishah). When God comes to His vineyard looking for righteousness (Hebrew: tsedeqah), instead He hears “a cry” (of someone being mistreated: Hebrew: tse’aqah). As we read elsewhere in the Bible, God wants His people to bear good fruit: justice and righteousness. God is very angry with his vineyard for producing such wild, sour grapes. God’s disappointment has severe consequences:
God says to Judah and Israel,
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.
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.
Isaiah 5: 5 – 7
But it was always God’s desire to reconcile with His people. In Isaiah 27, God through the prophet tells His people what He really wants to say to them:
A pleasant vineyard, sing about it !
I, the LORD, am its keeper;
every moment I water it.
I guard it night and day
so that no one can harm it;
I have no wrath.
If it gives Me thorns and briers,
I will march to battle against it.
I will burn it up.
Or else let it cling to me for protection,
let it make peace with Me,
let it make peace with Me. (Isaiah 27: 2 – 5)
In the very first chapter of Isaiah, God says to His people,
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings from before My eyes;
cease to do evil, learn to do good;
seek justice, rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan, plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:16 – 17)
Our gospel lesson this week features a parable that Jesus told to the religious leaders, when he came into Jerusalem and they challenged his ministry. Jesus told them another story about a vineyard, with many similarities to the story the prophet Isaiah had told, hundreds of years before. That same story has a serious message for us today. I hope you will tune into it with me.
“When the harvest time had come,
he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce.”
Matthew 21:34
The desire for a vineyard and its vintage goes back to some of humanity’s earliest memories of working the soil. We read in Genesis 9 that Noah was a “man of the soil” – so it must have been particularly galling to him, to be stuck in a boat on the endless waters for such a long spell. Noah jumped off his ark as soon as it landed and immediately planted a vineyard. Presumably, the supply of wine on the ark had run out during the many months afloat, and he was in a big hurry to make more.
In the awful days of the Assyrian invasions of Israel and Judah, the prophet Isaiah compared the promised land to a vineyard which belongs to God, from which God expects to receive good fruit (Isaiah 5). But when God comes to His vineyard looking for the fruit of “justice” (Hebrew: mishpat), instead He finds “oppression” (Hebrew: mishah). When God comes to His vineyard looking for righteousness (Hebrew: tsedeqah), instead He hears “a cry” (of someone being mistreated: Hebrew: tse’aqah). As we read elsewhere in the Bible, God wants His people to bear good fruit: justice and righteousness. God is very angry with his vineyard for producing such wild, sour grapes. God’s disappointment has severe consequences:
God says to Judah and Israel,
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.
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.
Isaiah 5: 5 – 7
But it was always God’s desire to reconcile with His people. In Isaiah 27, God through the prophet tells His people what He really wants to say to them:
A pleasant vineyard, sing about it !
I, the LORD, am its keeper;
every moment I water it.
I guard it night and day
so that no one can harm it;
I have no wrath.
If it gives Me thorns and briers,
I will march to battle against it.
I will burn it up.
Or else let it cling to me for protection,
let it make peace with Me,
let it make peace with Me. (Isaiah 27: 2 – 5)
In the very first chapter of Isaiah, God says to His people,
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings from before My eyes;
cease to do evil, learn to do good;
seek justice, rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan, plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:16 – 17)
Our gospel lesson this week features a parable that Jesus told to the religious leaders, when he came into Jerusalem and they challenged his ministry. Jesus told them another story about a vineyard, with many similarities to the story the prophet Isaiah had told, hundreds of years before. That same story has a serious message for us today. I hope you will tune into it with me.
“When the harvest time had come,
he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce.”
Matthew 21:34
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