5:1 Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his
vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
5:2 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.
5:3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
5:4 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?
5:5 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.
5:6 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.
5:7 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!
This text comes at the end of a festival in our community sponsored
by a Catholic church that is a celebration of grape harvest in
Tontitown, AR. This year is the 100th anniversary. It dates back to
the early Italian immigrants who had left everything in Italy to
come and farm the area in prosperity. The story goes that the
promise of work wasn't kept, and one man bought a large parcel of
land and "sold" smaller farms to be sharecropped among the
immigrants. They held the Festival 100 years ago to celebrate their
opportunity to own and farm their own land.
So . . . I thought it might be fun to preach from it and play around
with the coincidence, then move straight into the meaning: That God
created us and the world with everything we need to be fruitful, but
we often let it all grow wild and miss our potential. I don't think
that God will abandon the world -- especially in an OT light -- as
long as there is a remnant remaining working for the "harvest."
Hence, the importance of our work! Fortunately, we aren't a bunch of
relatively passive grape vines; we can act to bear fruit as we were
intended to.
Mark in Ark
It seems to me this text is just begging for an acted parable. We
are doing our annual outdoor worship service this Sunday and I am
thinking of having a large tub with potting soil in it. As I recite
the text, I will actually perform the actions described - removing
planted stones, using them to build a tower, wall, and wine press;
Placing plants in the soil etc.
I'm not sure yet where I will go from there. from Ed in ID
Folks,
Forgive the length of this post, but as I came across this
commentary, it simply struck me. The commentator is Matthew Henry.
Here's what he says about this passage:
"Christ is God's beloved Son, and our beloved Saviour. The care of
the Lord over the church of Israel, is described by the management
of a vineyard. The advantages of our situation will be brought into
the account another day.
He planted it with the choicest vines; gave them a most excellent
law, instituted proper ordinances. The temple was a tower, where God
gave tokens of his presence. He set up his altar, to which the
sacrifices should be brought; all the means of grace are denoted
thereby.
God expects fruit from those that enjoy privileges. Good purposes
and good beginnings are good things, but not enough; there must be
vineyard fruit; thoughts and affections, words and actions,
agreeable to the Spirit. It brought forth bad fruit. Wild grapes are
the fruits of the corrupt nature.
Where grace does not work, corruption will. But the wickedness of
those that profess religion, and enjoy the means of grace, must be
upon the sinners themselves. They shall no longer be a peculiar
people. When errors and vice go without check or control, the
vineyard is unpruned; then it will soon be grown over with thorns.
This is often shown in the departure of God's Spirit from those who
have long striven against him, and the removal of his gospel from
places which have long been a reproach to it. The explanation is
given.
It is sad with a soul, when, instead of the grapes of humility,
meekness, love, patience, and contempt of the world, for which God
looks, there are the wild grapes of pride, passion, discontent, and
malice, and contempt of God; instead of the grapes of praying and
praising, the wild grapes of cursing and swearing. Let us bring
forth fruit with patience, that in the end we may obtain everlasting
life."
Rick in Va.
"Aha!" suggests as a possible title for this text something like
"God Sings the Blues." This intrigues me. Themes of the blues are
(among others) injustices suffered, love not accepted or given back,
loneliness--things that might cause anyone to sing the blues, even
God. If anybody has ideas that could expand on this theme, I'd love
to hear them. I plan to use this text in combination with Luke.
Diane in OK
