November 19th, 2023
Devotional
“Isaiah’s Vineyard Song”
Isaiah 5:1-7; 11:1-5
Monday: “My Beloved had a Vineyard” - Isaiah 5: 1-2
Isaiah is a prophet who weaves together challenges, warnings, and a vision of hope. I today’s passage he starts this love song about a beloved that had a vineyard. And not just any vineyard, but one that was in the perfect location. The land had been cleared of any obstacles. Only the best vines are planted. Nothing was done carelessly.
And yet.
And yet, the fruit was completely rotten. We aren’t talking about one or two sour grapes, we are talking about the entirely of the harvest ruined.
It may be tempting to read this as a fluke. Maybe something that was beyond both the Beloved and the crop’s control happened. But that is not what Isaiah is trying to say. The fruit is rotten because that is what it is. It will continue to produce rotten crop year after year, if not tended to in a radical way.
This week I was visiting someone who loves plants. Her windowsill is covered with them. But because she doesn’t move around as well as she once did, she let someone else tend her beloved plant and they cross planted things together in the same pot that, if left unattended, will kill each other. So what does she do? Does she just let this happen or does she do the hard, diligent work of separating the plants into separate pots?
The same is true of the Beloved in this passage from Isaiah. What is he to do? What is at stake if the vineyard is left to continually produce rotten fruit?
How would you react if you were the one who owned the vineyard in this passage of scripture?
Prayer: Most Holy, Lord, we like to think that we have all of the answers, yet, as we approach this text we ask that you use it to create a wellspring of humility within us. May you use it to search us and make known the places we have even hidden from our very selves, we pray. Amen.
Tuesday: “Judge” - Isaiah 5: 3-4
In a question that is meant to be rehortical, God as the people of Jerusalem and Judah what more he, as the keeper of the vineyard, was to do? In fact, God goes as far as to say to judge between him and his vineyard. God had done everything and anything to make sure that the vineyard would produce good grapes, good fruit. Yet, the exact opposite had happened.
The prophet is laying the groundwork for the metaphor of the vineyard as the people of Israel. God had done everything for them. He breathed his very life into them. He started over with Noah and his family. He created the nation of Israel, fulfilling his promise to their ancestor Abraham. He reduced the people from Egypt and lead them into the promised land. He gave them success.
And they produced bad fruit.
Once again, not a bad grape here or there, but the entirety of Israel had hearts that were not focused on God and their lives were not producing fruit for his glory.
In what ways can we deceive ourselves into thinking that we are producing good fruit, when it is really not God-honoring fruit at all?
Prayer: Lord, all too often we trying to make you fit into our expectations instead of asking you what your expectations are for us. May we be people who produce good fruit that points to you, your grace, truth, and mercy, and lifts up your Kingdom. Amen.
Wednesday: “Remove and Break” - Isaiah 5: 5-6
What comes next can be hard for us to reconcile with our idea of a loving God. Why would he start all over again with the vineyard? Is that really necessary?
For those of you who have small children in your life - what happens if you let children continue to behave however they would like? They won’t learn. They won’t grow up to be adults who know how to function in the world.
So it is with the people of Israel. What they may interpret as being an overly agressive punishment, God sees as necessary in order to form them to be the people who carry the name of God out into the world.
What is the purpose of punishment?
Prayer: Lord, we do not like being shaped by punishment, even when it is necessary. Allow us to submit fully to you in a way that transforms our lives, we pray. Amen.
Thursday: “Justice and Righteousness” - Isaiah 5:7
Why did God expect his people to act with justice and righteousness? Think back to when the Israelite are working their way towards the Promise Land. At one point Moses stops to go up and speak with God, where he is given the Ten Commandments. The point of those Commandments wasn’t to have them use them to shape everyone else. No, they were given to set them apart. To have them act differently. To have them marked as the people of God.
And before the people entered the Promise Land the law was read again.
In fact, again and again, at major points in their history the entirety of the law is read to the people of Israel to remind them whose they are, who they are living for, who they represent in this world. Not themselves, but God.
In similar ways, think about the criticism that can be lobbied at Christians when we do not live with holiness in this world. Even those who do not believe, will expect better of us, because they know that our faith has us representing the Kingdom of God in this world.
Why does it hurt so much when Christians misbehave?
Prayer: Lord, breakthrough our hearts and into our lives in a way that we cannot help but share for the sake of your Kingdom. Amen.
Friday: “Spirit of the Lord” - Isaiah 11: 1-5
As hard as Isaiah’s teaching in chapter 5 is to wrestle with, it is not the entirety of the message that God has given him for the people. In fact, Isaiah is one of the major prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures - with sixty-six chapters.
Even in today’s passage, we can feel something shifting, bringing for a sense of hope and anticipation. It does not, however, mean that the image of what’s to come will be as the people expect or come without a cost.
Instead, we find God saying that a new leader will be raised up who has the spirit of the Lord resting upon him. And all that the people were lacking in righteousness and justice - it will be foundational to who he is and how he will lead the people.
This promise of the coming King doesn’t just show that God will not forsake his people. It also is a reminder that the gifts that God gives us, such as knowledge, as not for our own sake, rather they are to build up the Kingdom.
God is doing a transformative work in Israel in this passage of Isaiah. But it also stands as a reminder of the transformative work God has done in our lives in and through Jesus Christ.
How would you define “hope”?
Prayer: God, you are the source of all love and truth. Yet, sometimes we pretend that the truth is within us. Forgive us, O Lord, for our arrogance and allow us to humbly submit it your way. Amen.
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