Isaiah 5:1-7 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 5:1-7 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 5Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. Verse 2He 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. Verse 3And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. Verse 4What 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? Verse 5And 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. Verse 6I 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. Verse 7For 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!
Devotion
God can be so sad. The prophet Isaiah tells about God’s beautiful vineyard overtaken by wild grapes. And so God reluctantly gives up on the vineyard. God removes its hedge and wall, takes away its protection, stops pruning and weeding it, and takes away its water. The prophet draws the analogy of the vineyard to God’s people. God expected the fruits of justice and righteousness. Instead, God heard the cry of the poor in a wasteland of wild grapes.
When we come to Holy Communion we often sing, "Let the vineyards be fruitful, Lord, and fill to the brim our cup of blessing." The meal Jesus gives fills us with God’s goodness, as well as the hope that justice and righteousness can and will prevail. And the very heart of God is full of joy.