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August 22, 2004
The Vineyard of the Lord
The Vineyard of the Lord
Psalm 16 / Isaiah 5: 1-7
Luke 20: 9-18
August 22nd, 2004
This morning I offer a third view of the Kingdom of God amply illustrated in the Bible, but a bit awkward for us to handle. The Kingdom of God is like God’s vineyard.
Vineyards are a part of our culture—Nappa Valley perhaps most famously, but vineyards were much more important in ancient Israelite culture and agriculture. You know what grew in vineyards. Grapes. And grapes were not so much to make raisins for raisin bread as to make wine.
The 104th Psalm is a trifle shocking to some modern ears when it begins so piously, ‘Bless the Lord O my soul,” and then continues to praise God who gives “wine to gladden the heart of man.” In our penthouse room at the Tel Dan Hotel in Jerusalem ten years ago we found a bottle of Israeli wine—a symbol of welcome. A prayer our Jewish friends know well and offer at table in every home, “Praised be Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who createst the fruit of the vine.”
But we remember Prohibition, the WCTU, and are very aware of the sad spectacle that unfolds on weekends on campuses across our country as alcohol flows like a virtual Niagara Falls over many young people, ruining some of their lives. Drunk driving wrecks horrible havoc on our roads. What business do I have speaking of this the weekend before classes start at Purdue? How would you go about speaking of the Kingdom of God as a vineyard knowing how massive a problem in society alcohol abuse has become?
But there it is. Isaiah spoke for God:
Let me sing for my beloved a 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; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
What elaborate care God put into His vineyard. It was a word-picture people could understand because vineyard owners also put great care into cultivating their vineyards.
Isaiah was as aware of the possibility of the misuse of wine as we are. He knew, as we read in the Book of Proverbs, “wine is a mocker,” and “look not on the wine when it is red.” He knew about Noah’s drunkenness that led to the curse against one of his sons, and about Lot’s drunkenness that led to incest. Scripture amply documents the abuse of wine. Check out your concordance under “wine,” “vine,” and “vineyard,” and you’ll see how it is so.
Yet there it is, this unblushing analogy of God’s project with Israel as a vineyard owner who does everything possible to make it the best vineyard in the land. Why? Because wine was an indispensable part of life. Wine offerings were given to God. Part of the tithe Israelites gave was used to buy wine to consume before the Lord and rejoice. Wine was an agent of rejoicing, a symbol of joy.
Jesus’ first miracle in the Gospels was to change water into wine at a wedding feast. Why? In order to make the wedding happy. Jesus was accused of hob-knobbing with winebibbers and did not defend himself against the charge.
As He neared the end of His ministry, He built on Isaiah’s story that we just read. They knew it well, including that it was a picture of God’s disappointment with Israel. But then Jesus added to the story a dimension that His enemies found very troubling.
He began as Isaiah did, telling of a man planting a vineyard. But then the story develops in a way that summarizes the predicament of Isaiah and the other prophets God sent to labor in the vineyard. He let it out to tenants, going away to another country for a long while. It takes three years for vines to mature and produce grapes in quantity. The time came to reap this harvest. He sent first one servant to fetch his owner’s share of the grapes. They were, after all, sharecroppers. They beat the fellow up and sent him away empty handed. He sent a second and they treated him badly too, sending him away empty handed. He sent a third servant whom they beat up and sent him away again empty handed and more wounded that the previous one.
The vineyard owner said, “What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Maybe they’ll respect him.” But they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Those who listened to Jesus’ story were shocked. “God forbid,” they exclaimed.
But then Jesus spoke as Nathan the prophet spoke to King David after his crime with Bathsheba—when he had her husband killed so he could have her to himself. You remember that Nathan told King David of the poor fellow in his kingdom that had a pet lamb that was taken forcibly by the rich man and slaughtered to make a meal. David was furious. But how quickly his anger turned to shame as he realized he was the rich man in the story.
Jesus made the people to whom He told this story realize He was talking about them and their ancestors who treated God’s servants shamefully and were hell-bent to do worse by His Son. Luke tells us they tried to lay hands on Jesus, but were afraid of the people.
This very important story Jesus told, that used an illustration that might have been drawn from the daily news, summarized Israelite history. His hearers were angry because they realized Jesus was talking about how their forebears had treated the prophets who came from God to restore them to ways of obedience. One after another they made the lot of the prophets miserable. And now they were about to kill Him, God’s final Word—who came not just to speak, but also to begin to gather in the grapes. Not grapes of wrath but grapes of joy.
These miserable servants were hostile to joy. We don’t read they tried to harvest the grapes for their own use. They prevented the harvest. They were hostile to joy.
Arching over all of the laws and over all the warnings of the prophets, and over all the tragic story of Israel’s disobediences and eventual exile is the message that we found summarized at the end of Psalm 16 this morning: “In God’s presence is fullness of joy, at His right hand are pleasures for evermore.”
God’s great project with us is that we should enjoy Him. The chief end of man, as the Shorter Catechism starts to say, is “to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”
The Kingdom of God is likened to a Vineyard because wine is a symbol of joy. Jesus and His disciples had joy together. His accusers noticed it and challenged him: “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” Jesus replied, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them . . . new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.” When joy is full, it bursts.
Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches” that ends with, “By this is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit.” Then what? Then marvelous new wine! He said, “These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” When joy is full, it cannot be contained. This was the image Jesus wanted His disciples to understand of how His joy would intoxicate the world.
Jesus told His closest followers at the Last Supper, “I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Why did He say, “drink of the fruit of the vine?” It was because this pointed to the joy that would come at the wedding feast of the Lamb. This joyous banquet is the symbol of the triumphant reign of God.
Sometimes it’s very good to step back and look at the big picture. What does God want of us? And as a congregation, how do we measure our faithfulness and success? Is this a joyous place? Have we had a taste of the “new wine” Jesus offered? Or perhaps, have other concentrations replaced what is essential so that joy may become scarce?
Joy is evident; indeed, it cannot be hidden. Joy is winsome. The joy of the Lord radiates something to weary travelers along the road of life. To mix metaphors, it sheds rays of light that welcome them. All kinds of people are drawn to joy. As light attracts moths at night, joy attracts people, luring them to God.
Many of us are aware of Jesus’ story about the Great Banquet to which the invited guests decided not to come for a variety of reasons. So the head of the house sent his servants out to the highways and byways and welcomed strangers to the sumptuous feast he had prepared.
At each Great Banquet, the retreat ministry that many of us have attended, there is a nearly unending procession of “agapes,” tokens of affection and delight that greet the guests who come. From the very beginning small tokens that say, “I’m glad you’re here,” surprise the guests. Why all this bother, all this time-consuming work by so many people who prepare the Great Banquets for people they don’t even know? It is because we best understand the grace of God as an outpouring of favors that nobody expects. God’s grace inundates even those who do not acknowledge Him.
Now, we’re careful not to serve wine at our Great Banquets because wine has become a different kind of symbol in our day. But the joy that the Scriptures use wine to suggest, is the key noticeable ingredient those who direct these banquets try to communicate. Joy will be noticeable in a place where the Spirit of God is at work.
You remember that at Pentecost the people in the streets were confused when they heard Galileans speaking about Jesus in languages they didn’t know—North African languages, Far Eastern languages—perhaps Hindi and Japanese, the languages of ancient France and Spain. Jerusalemites accused these linguists of being drunk—“They are filled with new wine.” Did they say this because of the many languages in which they spoke or because of their joy? Did their faces look glad as they spoke, perhaps even shining with happiness? Little did their critics realize that they were right, these folk were intoxicated, but not as they imagined. And Peter explained, “No, it’s too early in the day for wine. They are intoxicated with the Holy Spirit.” Three thousand people trusted in Jesus that day.
Luke tells us afterwards these people “partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
I have two hopes for our response to this message this morning. First, I pray that God will give us a taste of this new wine again, and that the joy it brings will fill our hearts. I pray that we will not prevent this joy in any way.
Second, I pray that we will share this new wine. This morning we have a friend from LUM with us who will share something of the need for joy in our town. Every Tuesday some of you are at Central Presbyterians Church trying to alleviate a bit of suffering of people on our streets. At least one of our number that I know is in the homeless shelter on Tuesday nights.
People need so much more than our money. If our hearts are full; if joy radiates from us and from this place, we have something to share that will bring joy to our streets. This is what the Kingdom of God accomplishes as it quietly unfolds the love and joy of God in a dark time—when very many people live in fear and anger. Terrorism may be the keyword in 21st century secular society today. But joy is the keyword in the Kingdom of God.
I pray that we here at Faith Church may be intoxicated with the joy of the Lord, giving evidence that the Vineyard of the Lord is being well tended in this place, and its fruit is a continual delight.
Let us pray: O Lord of the Vineyard, look on us and find here that your cultivating, pruning, and harvesting is finding good success. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Stuart D. Robertson
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, Indiana
Posted by faithpres at August 22, 2004 09:30 AM