Wild Grapes in the Vineyard

The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling                   

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.

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.

 Psalm 80:7-14

 7 Restore us, O God of hosts; *

show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

 8 You have brought a vine out of Egypt; *

you cast out the nations and planted it.

 9 You prepared the ground for it; *

it took root and filled the land.

 10 The mountains were covered by its shadow *

and the towering cedar trees by its boughs.

11 You stretched out its tendrils to the Sea *

and its branches to the River. 

12 Why have you broken down its wall, *

so that all who pass by pluck off its grapes?

 13 The wild boar of the forest has ravaged it, *

and the beasts of the field have grazed upon it.

 14 Turn now, O God of hosts, look down from heaven;

behold and tend this vine; *

preserve what your right hand has planted. 

The imagery in these passages is ripe, fruitful, and evocative. There is a vineyard on a fertile hill. Picture it. There is a worker digging up stones and planting vines. This beloved worker creates a watchtower which offers us perspective and a vision of things to come. After a while, the hard labor bears fruit; and the wine vat reminds us that some things need to be pressed in order to create new spirits. The beloved worker expected a good harvest; and yet the grapes were wild! “Why was that?” the prophet asked.

The psalmist reminds us that God was the Creator of this vineyard; and that God is also the beloved worker. God had invited God’s people to be co-creators and co-laborers in God’s vineyard. At first, the vines of God’s people stretched out their tendrils to the sea; they extended their branches from deep roots. Mountains and trees provided shade. Rivers and seas ran clear; and yet God’s precious grapes ran wild. They set God’s teeth on edge.

God expected peace in the land and yet saw bloodshed. God expected love and saw hate. God expected justice and mercy; and yet the scales in their courts routinely tipped out of balance. The country had become overgrown with briars and thorns. Hedges that had once protected the fruit were trampled down. Boundaries were frequently violated. People plucked the fruit of other people’s labors without permission; and wild beasts roamed the streets, ravaging the hard work of those who had planted seeds in the vineyard.

At this moment in history, back then and even today, the vineyard is not a pretty picture. There is a drought in New England, fires on the west coast, hurricanes in the south, and windstorms that sweep across the plains. The climate control switch has been turned off; and the vineyard has become a desolate wasteland. It is filled with fearful people struggling to breathe.

Indeed, the reality of injustice, violence, lawlessness, and inequality was evident in the disordered lives and chaos. People became sick. They were sick and tired of being sick and tired.“Why is this happening?” the prophet asked. “Who is to blame? And who will help us?” they shouted at God. “You made us. You planted us. You can stop this,” they demanded.

When life and our world seem to be spinning out of control, we can begin with prayer. Like the psalmist, we can ask God to “Restore us, O God of hosts; show us the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.” Save us, even if it is from ourselves and from our own doing. “Turn now, O God of hosts, look down from heaven; behold and tend this vine; preserve what your right hand has planted.”

Please help us, we pray to the distant landowner, to the Son who was crucified, and to the Spirit who empowers us to tend the vineyard. Please help us, we pray to the One who gives life, one breath at a time.

 Matthew 21:33-46

Jesus said, “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 watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They 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.”