When the Vineyard Goes Bad

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[0:00] So our reading today is Isaiah 5, 1 through 7. It's printed in the bulletin. You can find it in your Bible in front of you too. We're in the second week of our sermon series called The Vineyard. The Vineyard is an image for what God is doing in the world and what he wants us to be doing. The Vineyard is a place of work, obviously. It's a place of preparing, planting, tending, harvesting, and presenting that harvest to the landlord. I mean, that's kind of the image of any vineyard. If you owned a vineyard, you would expect all that thing. And as we saw last week, and this is the ongoing theme, is that God wants to bless the whole world through his chosen people. That's what he called them for. That's what he called Abraham to move for. It wasn't just for him and his children, but that he and his children would be a blessing to all the nations. That thread runs all throughout.

[0:53] And. . . These are the chosen people. They're chosen not because they're better or more special or because God loves them more, because none of that is true. They're chosen because they have been given the gifts that are needed to go and do the things that God has asked them to do. And they've been given the experiences to go and ask them to do. So God gave them the law, and God gave them the temple, and God gave them his presence in their midst. And God gave them the visions that the prophets had. God gave them his word in so many ways. And the expectation. The covenant was, I'm doing these things for you. Now you go and do this one thing for me. You be my people. You be faithful to me. Don't go after idols. And bless the world. That's what I called you to.

[1:40] Now after Jesus, the chosen people are probably now called the choosing people. The ones who answer the call to work in the vineyard of the world. But before. . . We're before Jesus now. We're in Isaiah. We understand. . . That the descendants of Abraham. The Jews or the people of Israel. Were the chosen people. So they had an important job to do. And at various times they kind of do it. And at other times they fail. And sometimes they fail catastrophically. Right? And so. . . Time and again. It's a matter of not living up to the covenant that they agree to with God. And we saw a list of those ways that they failed in the reading from Isaiah 2. That George just read. Talks about having. . . Too many chariots. Like so much war making. Too many idols. Too many. . . You know. . . Going astray from what God wants. And so. . . In general. . . Idolatry was a big problem. Think about the people back then. They're supposed to only worship one God. But all the neighboring countries. . . They had. . . Sort of a plethora of God. They had multiple gods. And they could even say. . . I'm going to hedge my bets. Maybe this God isn't. . . Really in charge of. . . This. . . Maybe he's not in charge of the rain. So I'm going to go. . . Worship. . .

[2:58] In the next village. . . To that God that promises rain. Because who knows. . . Maybe that will work for me. Right? And that's. . . That's idolatry. That's a failure to kind of stay committed to one God. And you know. . . It's really interesting how it says in the scriptures. . . God says I am a jealous God. Which sounds like a bad thing. Right? Sounds like God. . . That's a good thing. God is jealous. He only wants you to love him and no one else. But if that makes sense. . . If he's the God. . . Of the universe. . . It really makes sense. . . Because if you love some other God. . . That God doesn't actually exist. That's what it says at the end of Isaiah 2. . . You make these idols. . . And you bow down to them. . . But those idols are simply the works of your own hands. In essence idolatry is always actually worshiping yourself. . . In the end worshiping yourself. . . Your own appetites, desires, and needs. The other problem that God has with his people. . . Is injustice. . .

[3:53] Injustice. . . Sometimes it's about giving false testimony. . . Or miscarrying in the legal system. . . That's a form of injustice. . . But the other injustice is sometimes it's economic. . . The wealthy use their advantage. . . To move the impoverished people off their land. . . And make for themselves ever larger estates. . . And at the end of this passage. . . That we're going to read today. . . Verse 8. . . It talks about that. . . It gives a woe. . . Like a cursing on those who join house to house. . . And field to field. . . Until the land is empty. . . And there's just a few pockets of rich people. . . And everybody else has been pushed off. . . That's injustice. . . God's angry about that. . . Right? . . So God asks himself many times. . . How can people acting like this. . . Bring my blessing to the whole world. . . If they can't even take care of their neighbors. . . This is the challenge that God has. . . And he's tried many things over the years. . . He's tried different covenants. . . He's fed up. . . And like last week. . . We talked about the vision of Ezekiel. . . In the vision of Ezekiel. . . God's presence leaves the temple. . . God says I can't abide this temple. . . The worship here is false. . .

[5:01] The country is corrupt. . . Because of his own holiness. . . He couldn't stay in the temple anymore. . . And thus his presence left the land. . . And it actually went east. . . It went out the door and went east. . . This is a vision. . . But still kind of. . . It's very demonstrative. . . It went east. . . And it ended up in Babylon. . . Theoretically where the exiles went. . . So God was still with his people. . . But he couldn't stay in that place of corruption. . . That Jerusalem had become. . . So today we have a parable. . . And our reading is a parable. . . And yes there are parables in the Old Testament. . . Isn't that great? . . There's a lot more of them in the New Testament. . . But there are parables in the Old Testament. . . And this is one of them. . . And it's about a vineyard. . . And the judgment of God on his chosen people. . . He expected something from them. . . But didn't get what he expected. . . And so I'm going to ask you to listen as the parable. . . This is the parable. . . Seems to start on a tender note. . . It sounds like a love song. . . It's very interesting. . . The parable starts on a tender note. . . But it quickly turns and showcases God's displeasure. . . With his people. . . So let's go ahead and read Isaiah 5, 1 through 7. . .

[6:12] Let me sing for my beloved. . . My love song concerning his vineyard. . . My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. . . 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. . . And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah. . . Judge between me and my vineyard. . . 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? . . 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 walls 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 briars and thorns. . . I will also command the clouds. . . . That they rain no rain upon it. . . 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. . . And verse 8 I'll add. . . Ah, you who join house to house. . .

[7:47] Who add field to field until there is no room. . . There is room for no one but you. . . And you are left to live alone in the midst of the land. . . Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. We ask that you would add your blessing to it. . . In Jesus name. . . Amen.

[8:08] Well, first off you may be saying, why are we looking at this parable? . . Or why did we choose this parable? . . Well, aside from the fact that it's a parable about a vineyard. . . And it's a sermon series called the vineyard. . . So we just had to do it, right? . . But this parable is actually a template for. . . Jesus' own parable about a vineyard. . . And we can fairly say that that parable that Jesus tells about the vineyard. . . Which takes place in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. . . And all versions of it happen right. . . Right as in the beginning of Holy Week. . . Right when he's had an encounter. . . Sort of a confrontation with the leaders of the temple. . . He tells that same parable. . . We can fairly say that this is. . . Jesus' parable of the vineyard. . . Is probably the most important parable he tells. . . There might be other ones. . . That are important. . . But in my mind this is the most important parable that Jesus tells. . . Because it explains exactly what God's plan is for the world. . . And how Jesus fits into it. . . So the parable of the vineyard is important. . . And this parable is sort of a template for Jesus. . . In fact, Jesus by telling a parable about a vineyard in the New Testament. . .

[9:15] Is really drawing on the Old Testament parable of the vineyard. . . And he's reinterpreting it. . . And he's kind of pulling people in. . . So that they understand what he's talking about. . . And we're going to look at Jesus' parable of the vineyard in the future weeks. . . But today we're looking at Isaiah's parable of the vineyard. . . Now I want to spend a little time. . . And this is fun. . . A little nerdy. . . But good. . . To do with the text. . . And so I ask you to take out your bulletin. . . And look at the text. . . It's kind of split between two pages. . . Just by a printing feature. . . And we're going to break this parable into parts. . . And look at each part. . . There's four parts. . . And we're going to look at each part in order. . .

[9:56] Because when we read it. . . It may seem to be one continuous dialogue. . . Spoken in one voice. . . I tried when I read it to kind of stop and pause before each section. . . But interpreters have broken it down in the form of. . . Into the form of what is known as a juridical parable. . . In other words it's like a law court proceeding. . . Right? . . With evidence given. . . And judgment rendered. . . So there's four parts. . . There's a sort of. . . There's a parable of the vineyard. . . Which has this agricultural imagery. . . But at the same time. . . You're transported very quickly into a law court. . . Where evidence is given. . . And the verdict. . . And an appeal is made. . . And the verdict is spoken. . . So that's actually a complex parable too. . . Because you've got two. . . Not competing but sort of complementary. . . Sort of ideas going on. . . Like I said. . . You've got an agricultural image. . . But then an image of a courtroom. . . Now there's four sections. . . Different speakers. . . And different audiences. . . And section one is verses one and two. . . So go ahead and take a look at verses one and two. . . And I'll pull it up here. . . Where it says. . . Let me sing for my beloved my love song. . .

[11:10] Concerning his vineyard. . . And the person speaking. . . Is something like a singer or a troubadour. . . Right? . . This would be somebody comes in. . . To the royal court. . . You know the. . . This is all this is happening in heaven. . . Probably there's a vision that Isaiah has. . . Of what's happening in heaven. . . And this person comes in. . . Not named. . . Says let me sing this song. . . And so you're like. . . Oh this is like a minstrel. . . Or something. . . Somebody like that. . . They're going to tell us a story in a song. . . Because this is how songs that tell stories start. . . Let me tell you a story. . . Let me sing you a song. . . About the vineyard. . . And it's a love song. . . It's about his vineyard. . . Doesn't it sound romantic already. . . Because. . . Maybe in the vineyard they make wine. . . And it just sounds like a great story. . . Right. . . You're like this is good. . . This is good. . . This sounds like a good. . . Romantic. . . Nice. . . Love song. . . Love story coming up. . . Right. . . And so. . . Then. . .

[12:08] They say. . . How could this be. . . A law court. . . Right. . . A song isn't evidence. . . Well we have to get to that in the end. . . But at the end of this nice love story section. . . About the beautiful. . . Vineyard. . . There's this twist. . . Talks about how great the vineyard is. . . I put a. . . I put a tower in it. . . I put a wine. . . A wine vat or a wine press in it. . . I. . . You know. . . I made a very nice vineyard. . . But at the end of this nice love story. . . There's this twist. . . It says I expected good grapes. . . Right. . . Who wouldn't. . . But instead I got wild grapes. . . And I have to be honest. . . That doesn't sound terrible to me. . . Because that sounds kind of cool. . . Like you go out into the forest. . . And you see all these wild grapes. . . They're just a little bit rustic. . . They're just a little bit rough around the edges. . . But you know. . . If you're a real foodie. . . You could really make something great out of them. . . So actually wild grapes is correct. . . But not the best translation of that word. . . The best translation of that word. . . And that word is used elsewhere in the Old Testament. . . And it's translated as stinking thing. . . Stinking thing. . . So these really shouldn't be wild grapes. . .

[13:15] But rotten grapes or stinking grapes. . . Now it doesn't sound as fun. . . Doesn't it? . . The foodies are like no. . . We'll pass. . . That's not gonna go in our whatever souffle thing. . . We're not interested. . . So the wild grapes is a bit of a mis-translation. . . I think. . . And a stinking thing or stinking grapes or rotten grapes. . . So I expected good grapes. . . I got stinking grapes. . . I got rotten grapes. . . I'm upset. . . Right? . . . . . And the emphasis there. . . Is that there are not. . . There are not. . . They're not usable. . . They're not fit for the purpose. . . For which God expected them. . . They cannot be used. . . Right? . . They're not serviceable. . . They're not. . . They won't give you anything. . . They have to be thrown away. . . Just like it says in John 15. . . The branch that produces no fruit is taken. . . And it's burned. . . Right? . . We have to take away the things that don't work. . . And make room for the things that will work. . . Now section two. . . So. . . So. . . An accusation comes. . . Even though it starts as a love song. . . An accusation comes right at the end. . . And so the troubadour says. . . Guess what? . . There's a twist at the end. . . God expected something. . .

[14:31] And he didn't get it. . . And now. . . God speaks. . . So God is speaking in section two. . . Which is verse three and four. . . And God is speaking to Judah and Jerusalem. . . And he's appealing to the heavenly court. . . Like there's. . . Imagine there's several judges. . . Even though God is the judge. . . There's. . . There's a lot of scripture that talks about. . . Heaven being kind of like a whole host of people. . . Like angels and other created beings. . . A whole other topic. . . But there's this host in heaven. . . And sometimes they praise God. . . And sometimes they listen to cases. . . And it's very interesting. . . It's like a royal court. . . That you would find anywhere. . . You have these advisors and viziers. . . And people like that. . . So God is speaking to Judah and Jerusalem. . . But he's appealing to the heavenly court. . . Because he's the aggrieved party. . . Right? . . And what does God say? . . . . He says. . . Verse 5. . . Or verse 3. . . Now inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah. . . Judge between me and my vineyard. . . What more was there to do for my vineyard. . . That I have not done in it. . . God is saying. . . I'm faultless in this. . . The stinking grapes are not because of anything I did. . .

[15:42] I put everything I could into this vineyard. . . So that it would produce good grapes. . . And I expected good grapes. . . But there was no fault of mine in here. . . So judge between me and the vineyard. . . Where is the fault? . . Is it with me? . . No. . . It's with the vineyard. . . Right? . . What more was there to do? . . And again. . . When I expected it to yield grapes. . . Why did it yield wild grapes? . . Now. . . Section. . .

[16:11] 3 is verses 5 and 6. . . And again it's God speaking. . . Or Yahweh speaking. . . But this time to the whole creation. . . About what the penalty is. . . So God had actually already. . . The court case kind of got sped up. . . Quick and speedy trial. . . You know. . . It's like in the constitution. . . God just. . . He judged right away. . . Or the whole group judged. . . That part is left out. . . And now God is saying. . . What the penalty is. . . Because the case has been made. . . And the accused has been found guilty. . . And he says. . . He'll remove his protection from the vineyard. . . It will be vulnerable to forces from the outside. . . Who will trample over it and destroy it. . . And this is. . . Now this is a prophecy. . . From Isaiah. . . About what will happen. . . To Judah. . . Which is the southern kingdom. . . Israel is the northern kingdom. . . At this time. . . And Judah is the southern kingdom. . . And Jerusalem the capital of Judah. . . Is that. . . The northern kingdom. . . Is destroyed by the Assyrian army. . . And the southern kingdom. . . Is later. . . Over a century later. . . Is destroyed by the Babylonian army. . . And that happens in 587 B.C. . . And all of this. . . Jerusalem is basically destroyed. . .

[17:20] And the people are taken off. . . Captive to Babylon. . . That's their. . . And they're put into exile. . . So. . . God is saying. . . This is the judgment. . . And this is Isaiah's way of saying. . . This is what's going to happen. . . To this town. . . This town is going to get encircled. . . It's going to get destroyed. . . The wall. . . That is protecting us. . . Not the physical wall. . . Because that did get knocked down. . . But the spiritual wall of protection. . . That God was giving. . . To Jerusalem. . . God was going to remove it. . . And they then became vulnerable. . . To the Babylonian army. . . Or they became vulnerable. . . To all the geopolitical forces. . . That were at play. . . During those days. . . And so they were destroyed. . . Now finally. . . Section four is just verse seven. . . And the speaker is the prophet Isaiah. . . Really interesting. . . And this is all given to him in a vision. . . And Isaiah's job now. . . As the final speaker in this. . . Sort of. . . It's almost like a short play. . . As he's explaining the parable. . . He says here's what. . . Here's what the parable means. . . He's going to identify it. . . Each part. . . He says the vineyard. . . Of the Lord of hosts. . . Is the house of Israel. . .

[18:35] And the people of Judah. . . Are his pleasant planting. . . So he's saying in essence. . . The people of God. . . Whether they're in the southern kingdom Judah. . . Or the northern kingdom Israel. . . That's the vineyard. . . I gave you everything. . . You needed. . . To produce good things. . . And you didn't produce it. . . So he. . . In case we didn't figure that out. . . But that's what he's saying. . . The vineyard is. . . The people of God. . . Set to a task. . . That God had given them. . . Everything they needed to do. . . And yet. . . They didn't do it. . . And so. . .

[19:06] He looked for justice. . . See there it is again. . . Right. . . This is. . . This is the condemnation. . . From Isaiah. . . He expected justice. . . But saw bloodshed. . . He expected righteousness. . . But he heard a cry. . . A cry of injustice. . . A cry of the vulnerable. . . Right. . . And so. . . Isaiah is. . . Sort of wrapping this one up for us. . . Saying. . . God. . . God has a case against his vineyard. . . His vineyard is. . . These two nations. . . That are his chosen people. . . Who were supposed to bless the nations. . . And not be idolatrous. . . And practice righteousness. . . And shalom. . . And wholeness. . . And instead. . . Practice wickedness. . . And idolatry. . . And all sorts of things. . . . And all sorts of terrible things. . . So. . . Now we've kind of broken it down. . . I hope that makes it more. . . Sort of understandable. . . Instead of just one person speaking. . . We have kind of. . . Three people speaking. . . In various distinct phases. . . Right. . . But why this design. . . Right. . . You know. . . Isaiah could have just given a straight. . . Prophecy. . . Stop being idolatrous. . . Or in about four years. . . Or whatever it was. . . The Babylonians are going to come. . . And destroy you all. . .

[20:16] And just. . . Get your act together. . . No. . . He tells a parable. . . Now he has a vision. . . So he's reporting his vision. . . So I guess you could say. . . God is telling the parable. . . But it captures God's sense of disappointment. . . In this poetic form. . . And like other parables that we know. . . The form can enhance the meaning. . . Can it make some connections. . . Like oh. . . This is an agricultural parallel. . . How many. . . In what other ways. . . Does the growth of the soil work. . . With my faith. . . And all sorts. . . So it gives us. . . It gets your brain kind of working on it. . . And how else does the law court imagery function. . . And how does that enhance the meaning. . . And so parables can end up. . . Packing a whole lot more meaning. . . Into fewer words. . . And they leave you kind of thinking about them. . . For a day or two afterwards. . . Even longer. Right. . . And so parables can sometimes be more memorable. . . Because we spend a little more. . . A little bit more mental energy on them. . . And we make connections in our mind. . . And I think that's what God wants. . . But this. . . It lays out. . . And I think. . . In somewhat of a simple form. . . This more complex idea. . . That God is the Lord of the earth. . .

[21:23] And he's given gifts to his chosen people. . . Now the Targum. . . Which is the Jewish interpretation on the Old Testament. . . Identify the watchtower. . . As the temple. . . And the wine press. . . Or the wine vat. . . As the altar. . . I put these good things in your land. . . I gave you the temple. . . I gave you the altar. . . I showed you what proper worship looked like. . . But they didn't produce anything. . . Right. . . So they have. . . They have these gifts. . . And they. . . And they are like a planting of his delight. . . There's this beautiful creation. . . He looks into all this that he made. . . And all that he gave them. . . And he said. . . It's good. . . But it didn't. . . It didn't work. . . Now I. . . I want to think about. . . Just the twist for God. . . Some of you are gardeners. . . I'm the worst gardener. . . I've told you before. . . If you want something to die. . . Ask me to come take care of it. . . And I will surely kill your plant. . . Because it's about as good. . . The best I am. . . As you can imagine. . . But I did try on sabbatical. . . To plant some things. . . Asher and I planted some plants. . . And I forgot some of them at home. . . But one of them I did bring. . . So we planted corn. . .

[22:28] And the longest corn was about this long. . . And. . . You could. . . It actually tasted okay. . . Because it grew full-sized kernels. . . But just not on every little slot. . . So it was okay. . . But pathetic. . . It made. . . The marigolds turned out great. . . And the cucumbers turned out great. . . So I have two misses. . . Two hits. . . The cucumbers and the marigolds. . . Called those a success. . . The cucumbers were delicious. . . And then the corn was a real failure. . . And here's my other failure. . . And I'm not kidding. . . This is the biggest pumpkin. . . I'm going to hold this up to the camera here. . . This is the biggest. . . I'll compare it to the size of my head. . . It's not even bigger than my ear. . . This is the biggest pumpkin. . . I could get. . . I'm not good at this. . . The package said that they were like miniature pumpkins. . . That are supposed to be about this big. . . You know, not like this big. . . I just thought, oh, it'd be fun to have the little ones. . . Because everybody likes the little ones. . . Well, I got a little one. . . And Kaya said, bring it to work. . . Put it on your desk. . . Remind yourself of your failure. . . I'm not sure what she wanted me to think. . . So, you know, I know the feeling. . .

[23:41] I mean, this is why it works. . . You guys plant a garden. . . And you expect it to grow. . . And what do you feel when you get this? . . Actually, I think this is adorable. . . So, I'm not terribly disappointed. . . I like this little pumpkin. . . But if my livelihood depended on it. . . You know, I'd be out begging now. . . So, it's a good thing that. . . And I vow to get better at this. . . Next year, we'll. . . I don't know. . . Install an irrigation system. . . Because I was not good at, like, consistently watering it. . . And I probably put it in the wrong kind of soil. . . And there's all sorts of things I need to learn. . . That most of you probably know. . . So, that's the point. . . So, what I'm trying to say, though. . . Is that God is expecting good things. . . And he gets rotten things. . . Stinking things. . . And from his people, he expected great things. . . And he got the opposite. . . And any landlord would. . . As any landlord would do whose vineyard is not producing. . . He would take action. . . To rectify it somewhere. . . In this parable, he gives up on the vineyard. . . For a while. . . At least he takes his presence away from it. . . He takes his protection away from it. . . Right? . . And that's to wake his people up. . .

[24:46] To their sins. . . So that a remnant might be found that are faithful. . . And that will carry on. . . And so his presence goes with them to Babylon. . . Praise God. . . In Jesus' version of the parable. . . He gives the parable. . . He gives the vineyard to somebody else. . . And we're going to see that. . . And I'm not going to talk about that any more than that today. . . But in Jesus' version of the parable. . . When the vineyard doesn't produce. . . For various other reasons. . . The vineyard itself is given to other people. . . And we'll talk about that in future weeks. . . . . . But it's a dire situation. . . God is upset about the lack of righteousness. . . And the lack of justice of his people. . . Of his vineyard. . . Now this is a good place to end. . .

[25:29] I'll say one thing. . . Because I don't want to end on that note exactly. . . If you read further in Isaiah. . . And you have to wait a while. . . But you get closer to the end. . . Isaiah also prophesies. . . That God will redeem his people. . . Praise God. . . And that's a promise for them. . . But I think it's a promise for the people. . . And I think it's a promise for us. . . And he says. . . I'll bring you back from your exile. . . I'll bring you back to the land. . . I will be your God. . . You will be my people. . . And there's hope at the end of this. . . And we say this. . . We said this last week. . . That even though we break covenant with God. . . And God may react in one way or the other. . . The vineyard. . . The walls get taken down. . . Etc. . . God still doesn't give up on his people. . . His presence goes with them. . . From the temple to Babylon. . . Right. . . So that. . . I want to end on that word of hope. . . That even if we are people. . . Who break covenant. . . Even if we're idolatrous. . . Even if we don't live in justice. . . Even if we don't take care of the vulnerable. . . As God tells us to do. . . We repent. . . And God forgives us. . . God gives us a new life. . . And he rescues us from exile. . .

[26:35] Well, let's pray. . . Father, thank you again for this word. . . Thank you that you. . . Both are the God of justice. . . And that. . . And that you. . . Exert your justice on this world. . . And Father, we. . . We confess our own lack of righteousness. . . Our own lack of justice. . . And we pray that you would forgive us. . . And bring us out of exile. . . In Jesus name. . . Amen.