The Real Deal: Isaiah 5:1-7 - 18th Sunday after Pentecost

Let me sing for my beloved my 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; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 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? 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. 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. 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!

There was a time when shopping online was a reckless gamble. Will a hacker steal my credit card number? Will a thief swipe the package off my front porch?

Now, I’m paying $120 a year for an Amazon Prime membership, which gets me next-day delivery on just about everything I order. 

But one risk I never anticipated was counterfeit merchandise. The explosion in online shopping is a counterfeiter’s dream—because when your business is to get as wide a range of products to the consumer as quickly and cheaply as possible, it’s easy for counterfeiters to insert their wares into the supply chain and have money in hand before the consumer even knows they’ve been ripped off. 

They aren’t just counterfeiting designer wristwatches and handbags. Electronics, cosmetics, toys, shoes, cookware, wines, and even medicines can all be faked. And some of these fakes can kill you. 

Not only that, counterfeiting hurts legitimate businesses, while propping up the world’s most dangerous criminal enterprises.

I think of counterfeiting like the wild grapes that had taken over the vineyard we hear about in our first reading from Isaiah.

A vine-grower plants what was slated to be a top-notch vineyard. They choose the most fertile of fields, clearing the soil of stones, planting choice vines, building a watchtower, hewing out a winepress. This costly investment in time, labor, and capital yielded wild grapes: small, sour, barely edible grapes that are, essentially, weeds. It would be more appropriate to classify them an invasive species—because they spread rapidly, and can quickly destroy the crops you actually want to grow.

At this point, the vine-grower is stuck with a vineyard whose very existence endangers the other vineyards, orchards, wheatfields, and gardens. The only viable option is to destroy the vineyard. 

This parable speaks of how deeply God was personally invested in the people of Israel. God had chosen them out of all the nations to be God’s own; God delivered them from slavery in Egypt and settled them in the promised land. When they went astray, God sent prophets to call them to repentance.

Yet for as fully and completely as God was invested in this people, they were a curse to themselves and a scourge to the creation. Instead of justice there was bloodshed; instead of righteousness, the innocent cried out in agony. 

But here’s the thing—just as wild grapes are still grapes, these were still “Israelites.” They were happy to accept all the benefits of being God’s chosen people, but with none of the responsibilities. They were counterfeits. 

So how are you and I supposed to hear this parable? I ask, because I do not believe that we should take this merely as a description of how awful the Israelites were in the sixth century before Christ. 

Here’s the challenge Isaiah’s parable puts before us: we are God’s people. God has called us and claimed us as God’s own. We are the Body of Christ. We are Church for the sake of the world. But are we the real deal, or are we faking it? Is your Christianity about rights and privileges, or gifts and duties?

What’s more important to you—having your church grow, or you sharing with other people the treasure you’ve found in Jesus? What bothers you more—your suffering neighbors, or people who don’t share your beliefs and values? If you consider America a Christian nation, does that mean eliminating the separation of church and state—or people loving the neighbor as themselves, and looking out for our most vulnerable citizens?

And here’s where the rubber really meets the road: on a scale of one to ten, how greatly do you desire repentance? Are you prepared for God to reveal the depravity in your heart? Are you willing to let God clear away all the convictions, commitments, and ambitions that have taken root in you, that you bear wild grapes instead of the fruits of the Spirit?

What this parable teaches is that when God’s love meets the reality of human sin, repentance can be costly and painful. We are deeply invested in the people we are today. The thought of God coming in and overturning everything is quite scary.

To repent is to be crucified with Christ. It means that your present self—with all your desires and commitments—is put to death in order that a new creation will come alive. That doesn’t mean your abandoning your families, quitting your job, and selling off everything you own. But it does mean a radical change in who you are and what you value. You think differently. You see yourself differently. You relate to others differently. If you’ve ever thought of shopping online as risky, it’s nothing compared to inviting God’s power into your life. 

Speaking personally, I don’t know where the wild grapes grow in me, or how deep the roots go. I know I lack the willpower to cut down what I’ve so painstakingly built up. I also know that this world scares me, and I don’t have the strength to face it. But God raises the dead, and that God’s love changes everything. The work of the Holy Spirit is to cultivate the seeds of the fruits of the Spirit, which heal the world. When God’s love is real and true in you and me, we can meet today’s challenges, see the church grow, heal this broken world, and build a more promising future. 

What’s your treasure: is it the vineyard you build up for yourself? Or is it the life of Christ in you, bearing fruits of the Spirit, for the benefit of all?