Bible Tuesday for Pentecost 18, 2017

Isaiah 5:1-7

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 watch-tower 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!

This is one of many instances where the vineyard is used metaphorically to refer to Israel. (The fig tree is also frequently used.) Stanzas 1-2 and 7 are the prophet speaking whereas stanzas 3-6 are God’s words. This is written as a artful poem, with each line have the same meter. There are many word plays as well: in verse 7, “he expected” is mishpat (Hebrew) is juxtaposed with “but saw” which is mispah, the pronunciations of which are very similar. Same with “righteousness” sedaqah and “a cry” se’aqah which are also pronounced very similarly.

Isaiah is a book of prophecy written to the southern kingdom before being conquered, during the siege of Jerusalem and Israel’s defeat, during Israel’s exile, and concluding with Israel’s return from exile and reconstruction. Through this entire period of more than 100 years, Israel complains against God is one of a spoiled first born, “You said we were your heirs, your favorite! Why are you letting us suffer disgrace and defeat?” This passage of Isaiah answers those complaints first in metaphor and then directly.

God chose the perfect spot for the vineyard, the land of Canaan, which was then a narrow strip of fertile land through which the major trade routes of the day pass, from Egypt to Assyria, later Babylonia, and India, as well as others. God prepared this ground for choice vines: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah, Rachael, Zilpah, and Bilhah, Joseph and his brothers and all of their descendants. God fed these with manna, quail, and water from a rock, led them with God’s own presence in cloud and fire, gave them the Law. Israel in return was to yield fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, compassion, and self control, which would convey life in the Kingdom of God to all these peoples who passed through this land on their way from one country to the next. But instead, Israel took up the gods of the other nations and some truly amoral religious practices. For this, the above prophecy states, God is willing to let Israel be ravaged and taken captive, in the hope that they will, in their suffering, be willing to again turn to and trust in the one true God.

Psalm 80:7-15

To the leader: on Lilies, a Covenant. Of Asaph. A Psalm.
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
Stir up your might,
and come to save us!

3 Restore us, O God;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.

4 O Lord God of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears,
and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6 You make us the scorn* of our neighbours;
our enemies laugh among themselves.

7 Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.

8 You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
11 it sent out its branches to the sea,
and its shoots to the River.
12 Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.

14 Turn again, O God of hosts;
look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
15 the stock that your right hand planted.*
16 They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;*
may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.
18 Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.

19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.

While the above Isaiah prophecy gives voice to God’s frustration with Israel, this psalm gives voice to Israel’s frustration with God. The Isaiah passage states what God will allow to happen to Israel and this psalm proclaims how Israel feels about what God has allowed to happen to them. While in Isaiah, God says God will allow the vineyard to be ravaged that Israel may in their suffering turn again to God, in this psalm Israel turns to God both in a plea for grace and in a plea for justice. The repeated refrain, “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine [upon us] that we may be saved,” is a call to God to remember all of the covenants God made with Israel and to act in accordance with them, never mind all the ways Israel broke those covenants with God!

Philippians 3:4-14

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more:5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ,* the righteousness from God based on faith. 10I want to know Christ* and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal;* but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Beloved,* I do not consider that I have made it my own;*but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly* call of God in Christ Jesus.

Many of the congregations to whom Paul wrote were made up of Gentiles or Jewish converts as well as Jews, but the congregation in Philippi to whom Paul wrote this letter had to be comprised of Jews, otherwise the opening sentences of the above passage wouldn’t make any sense.

The first part of this pericope is Paul’s statement explaining that he is a model Jew. By being born a Jew of Jewish parents of the tribe of Benjamin, being circumcised on the 8th day, etc., Paul is giving examples of how perfect and Law abiding a Jew he has always been. Among the Jews of his day, this would be his very impressive list of credentials. But says calls them “rubbish.”

As Lutherans, we throw our whole selves onto “I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.” Powerful stuff, trading what we strive to earn for ourselves in for the freedom of receiving grace through life in Jesus. What is more foreign to us is the “sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death”. Luther wrote and spoke in this vein but we modern Lutherans struggle with the concept of sharing in Christ’s suffering. I tend to think, teach, and preach that Christ shares in our suffering, that Jesus already blazed that trail and that we are not alone in suffering despite the fact that suffering, especially grief, is alienating.

Matthew 21:33-46

33 ‘Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watch-tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 34When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. 37Finally he sent his son to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” 38But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” 39So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ 41They said to him, ‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.’

42 Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;*
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes”?
43Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.* 44The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.’*

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

This text is a continuation of last week’s argument with the chief priests and Jewish leaders in the Temple, on Palm Sunday afternoon, with the crowd and the disciples watching. The above parable is spoken to the priests and leaders, while overheard by all the rest.

In the Isaiah text the vineyard stood for all Israel; it does in this parable of Jesus’ as well. In Isaiah, the prophecy was aimed at all Israel, but Jesus is addressing this parable to the religious leaders, and introduces new characters to stand for them, the wicked tenets.

When King David stole Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, then murdered Uriah and took Bathsheba as his own wife, God sent the prophet, Nathan, to confront David. Nathan told a parable of a poor man and his pet lamb which his wealthy neighbor stole and fed to his guests. David did not understand that the parable was about him until after David passed harsh judgment on the rich man who then Nathan identified as King David, himself. This exchange between Jesus and the Temple leaders takes the same form as the exchange between Nathan and King David. Just as King David did not see himself in the parable, neither do the chief priests and Temple leaders.

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone…” – In last week’s gospel, Jesus poses the question, “Did the baptism of John come from God or was it of human origin?” Because the chief priests, et al, did not heed John the Baptist, Jesus does not give them the honor and respect they believe they deserve. At this stage in the argument, Jesus may be using the above Psalm 118 verse to refer to John the Baptist, as well as himself. The chief priests, et al, did not honor or respect John as God’s agent, nor do they recognize Jesus as God’s son. Certainly, Jesus is referring to himself exclusively as the breaking, crushing stone in verse 44.

The moral of Jesus parable is that the vineyard is not condemned, as in Isaiah, but the tenant farmers are! The prophets have been sent to the religious leaders to whip them into shape, but instead they whipped, beat, and killed the prophets. Now, God sends Jesus, God’s son to collect fruit but instead they will kill him and try to gain wealth in the absence of an heir.