Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary's God Pause "Moved by the Promise" for Monday, 29 September 2014 - Isaiah 5:1-7

Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary's God Pause "Moved by the Promise" for Monday, 29 September 2014 - Isaiah 5: Looking for a Crop of Justice
1-2 I’ll sing a ballad to the one I love,
    a love ballad about his vineyard:
The one I love had a vineyard,
    a fine, well-placed vineyard.
He hoed the soil and pulled the weeds,
    and planted the very best vines.
He built a lookout, built a winepress,
    a vineyard to be proud of.
He looked for a vintage yield of grapes,
    but for all his pains he got junk grapes.
3-4 “Now listen to what I’m telling you,
    you who live in Jerusalem and Judah.
What do you think is going on
    between me and my vineyard?
Can you think of anything I could have done
    to my vineyard that I didn’t do?
When I expected good grapes,
    why did I get bitter grapes?
5-6 “Well now, let me tell you
    what I’ll do to my vineyard:
I’ll tear down its fence
    and let it go to ruin.
I’ll knock down the gate
    and let it be trampled.
I’ll turn it into a patch of weeds, untended, uncared for—
    thistles and thorns will take over.
I’ll give orders to the clouds:
    ‘Don’t rain on that vineyard, ever!’”
7 Do you get it? The vineyard of God-of-the-Angel-Armies
    is the country of Israel.
All the men and women of Judah
    are the garden he was so proud of.
He looked for a crop of justice
    and saw them murdering each other.
He looked for a harvest of righteousness
    and heard only the moans of victims.(The Message)
Somewhere I learned that Isaiah, one of the ancient prophetic voices, challenged hearers into a self-reflective, even self-judging response. Even so, I was bothered by the suggestion in verses five and six that God would remove protection from God's own chosen people resulting in "devouring and trampling down."
How could God's disappointment in Israel's failure to live faithfully in ways of justice and righteousness end that way? What about promises and covenants? Is it possible that God's word to Israel was their reminder that God's love is not an all or nothing proposition, but simply one of unending love for all people?
This text also invites the church today to wonder what walls or hedges we hide behind and what boundaries God is removing, so that our lives as God's people may embody righteousness and justice in our relationships with others in our own neighborhoods.
Gracious and loving God, show us today and each day where and when we need to step out in faith. Help us to embody righteousness and justice in all our relationships, the comfortable ones and the more uncomfortable ones. Amen.
Julianne Barlow (Koivisto)
Assistant to the Bishop for Mission,
Synod of Alberta and the Territories, 
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
Calgary, Alberta 
Doctor of Ministry , 2012
Isaiah 5:1 Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
2 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.
3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What 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?
5 And 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.
6 I 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.
7 For 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!(New Revised Standard Version)
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