Biblical
Words
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God judges his own choice
vineyard, and pilgrims struggle on their way to a better time.
The reading from
the Prophets is the second passage from Isaiah of Jerusalem, a passage often
called the Song of the Vineyard.
The drama of this
song should be appreciated: it is an
imitation of the complaint of a disappointed lover. (In the lounges and inns of Jerusalem
the “vineyard” would be understood as a sought-after woman.)
It begins, “Let me
tell you a love story.” My friend
planted his vineyard, a long-term investment with lots of infrastructure – site selection, land-clearing, plantings that
take years to yield well, a watchtower built in the center, and a wall and a
hedge around the cultivated area. My
friend provided everything a first-rate vineyard needs. But my friend was disappointed; the vineyard
produced only sour grapes.
The singer appeals
to his audience, the people of Jerusalem
and Judah , to
judge the friend’s case. He has done
everything; why these sour grapes?
The appeal is to
the justice of his further action.
It is only fair
that he tear down the wall and the hedge and let the vineyard be overrun by
animals and wanderers. He will no longer
cultivate and prune it; it will go to waste.
And he will – but here a new dimension is introduced – command the
clouds that they no longer rain on this vineyard.
This commanding
the clouds breaks the convention of the song. This is not an ordinary lover of vineyards;
this is a God who shepherds the clouds of heaven.
And with that the
allegory is dropped and the indictment declared directly.
The vineyard is the
house of Israel ,
and the planting is the people of Judah . These should have produced the good grapes of
Justice and Righteousness, but instead they produced Bloodshed and a
Scream. The word translated “Bloodshed”
occurs only here and is vague in meaning, but the “scream” or “outcry” is used
to describe oppressed people, crying out to God and evoking a strong act of
deliverance for them – Israelites in Egypt (Exodus 3:7 and 9) or Israelites
oppressed by Philistines (I Samuel 9:16).
Here it is God’s people, the “poor,” who scream because they are
oppressed by their leaders.
The Lord enters
into judgment
with the elders and princes of his people:
It is you who
have devoured the vineyard;
the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
What do you
mean by crushing my people,
by grinding the face of the poor?
says the Lord God of hosts. (Isaiah 3:14-15, NRSV )
This other
indictment of the leaders is the plain prose meaning embodied in the poetry of
the Song of the Vineyard.
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19.
The Psalm reading
sustains the image of the vine planted in a vineyard by God.
Here the vine
symbolizes Israel
brought out of Egypt
and planted in a good land. However, in
this song, the judgment that the prophetic song viewed as still in the future
has already been carried out. The
vineyard has been overrun, the walls broken down, wild animals ravage it, the
vine has been burnt and cut off (verses 12-16).
Given this
judgment, the purpose of the psalm is to appeal for a restoration. The climax is a direct appeal for a strong
king – “the one at [God’s] right hand” (verse 17, NRSV ). Such an Anointed One will not turn back in
defeat (verse 18).
All through the
psalm a refrain has run like a drum beat, which in its fullest form is the
concluding word of the communal lament:
“Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; / let your face shine, that we may be
saved” (verse 19).
In the Epistle
reading we continue to hear the names of the “cloud of witnesses” who
lived by faith down through the ages of Israel ’s
prophets, kings, and martyrs.
There are brief
allusions to those who followed their faith through the Red Sea and then
through all the ups and downs of Israel’s life in the promised land, down to
the severe sufferings of the martyrs of the Maccabean times who were crushed by
their opponents (the stories of II Maccabees 6-7 are alluded to in verses 36-37). By faith Jericho
fell and judges and kings conquered Israel ’s
enemies, but “Rahab the prostitute” is also remembered as a heroine of faith, as
are the widows whose sons were raised from the dead by Elijah and Elisha (verse
35). The pilgrimage of faith is peopled
by many who were not native Israelites.
The writer of the
Letter sees present-day Christians in continuity with these past witnesses,
except now the goal they all lived and died for has come into view.
These past
champions of faith did not receive their rewards in their own times, “since God
had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made
perfect” (verse 40, NRSV ). It is the appearing of that Anointed One at
God’s right hand that inaugurates the fulfillment of the promises to the past
worthies. Jesus became “the pioneer and
perfecter of our faith” (12:2).
That does not
mean the pilgrimage to the city of God
is yet complete. The trip continues,
but now all know where they came from and where they are going. The trials and challenges of the pilgrimage
can be met with joy and renewed faith in the final rest, which is now promised
to us as well as to all the worthy ancestors of yore.
Hardship and
opposition for the pilgrims who follow Jesus is reinforced by the Gospel
reading.
Here there are
three statements by Jesus about his own mission, statements that implicate the
disciples in the strife and violence that Jesus himself faces.
- I came to bring [literally “cast, hurl”] fire to the earth …
- I have a baptism [= violent death, in this case] with which to be baptized …
- Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division [the Matthew parallel reads “a sword”]! (Verses 49-51, NRSV.)
The “division” to
come is illustrated by divided families, father against son, etc. (Luke
12:52-53, a
wordier version of the saying given in Matthew 10:35-36 ).
This picture of
the families torn by conflict most likely comes from meditating on Micah’s
prophecy of the last days before God’s final judgment. Micah 7:1-7
portrays a literally God-forsaken society in which everyone consumes those near
them and no one can be trusted.
Put no trust in
a friend,
have no confidence in a loved one;
guard the doors
of your mouth
from her who lies in your embrace;
for the son
treats the father with contempt,
the daughter rises up against her mother,
the
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
your enemies are members of your own
household. (Micah 7:5-6)
This is followed
in Micah by Zion ’s expression of
confidence that her Lord will deliver her, and then by prophecies of return
from exile and rehabilitation of the holy city.
The social chaos
is followed by the urban utopia.
The great
dissolution of society is the darkness before the dawn. It is standard procedure in apocalyptic
writings that things must get worse before they can get better. In later traditions this time of severe trial
was called “the birth-pangs of the Messiah.”
Thus Jesus’
announcement of coming conflict and enmity, right down to the family level, is
part of the announcement that things are going to get worse before they
get better.
Jesus and the disciples are on their way to
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