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
Isaiah speaks of a vineyard not well tended. That vineyard—the house of Judah, the community, the people of God—had become overgrown with weeds, its plants stressed and the wall and well damaged. This hadn't happened overnight; but whenever the community is not well tended, it becomes stressed and what one expects to discover, is disappointedly absent.
For most of us the Lord's vineyard is our local congregation. How well is your congregation being tended? I don’t mean is your pastor well tending you, I mean is the community using the gifts of grace planted in your midst to be a fruitful vineyard? What would I find if I visited your community of faith? If I looked for justice, would I find bloodshed? If I looked for righteousness would I find a despairing cry? If I looked for compassion would I find contention? If I looked for hope would I find gossip and backbiting? If I looked for love, would I find indifference born of personal agendas?
That sort of thing doesn't happen to a congregation overnight. Tending a vineyard, garden or a congregation is a never ending task. Is it time for you to give some attention once again to what has been planted in you by the Lord of the church? Attention to the Lord's gifts to you of faith, hope and love?
Prayer
Lord of the church, don't let us grow weary of the work required to be fruitful. Rain upon us grace and mercy so that we might bear fruit of love and forgiveness. Amen.