Isaiah 5:1-7, 11:1-9 - November 19, 2023

Paradises are short-lived. 

As we started our walk through the Bible in September, we began that stroll in paradise - a perfect garden. It didn’t last too long, did it? It didn't take long before human beings, driven by our own whims instead of God’s will, left everything in a big ol’ mess. We often end up in a big ol’ mess. 

Today, we hear of another horticultural project of God’s: a vineyard. Isaiah, using the form of a love song, crafts a parable, likening the vineyard to God’s chosen people, Israel. The prophet starts off by talking about all the care and work that God has invested into cultivating a flourishing vineyard. God dug it and cleared it; God planted choice vines - hedged it with tall bushes, a wall to set this place - this people - apart from all around it. To help it flourish. To have it bear good grapes. 

It is another beautiful place - striking, tranquil, serene - but it quickly turns into disaster. 

Nothing goes according to God’s plan. Instead of good, choice grapes, all that grows are wild, sour grapes. In other words, you won’t be making the kind of vintage you’ll want to pop open for joyous occasions or *ahem* pastoral visits. 

So, what more is God to do? It seems that despite the exhaustive efforts of God, the vineyard still disappoints. In terms of Israel, God had already done so much: the covenant promise, deliverance from Egypt, guidelines for righteous living, the establishment of a kingdom, God’s presence, promise, and providence in all situations of life. 

God showed up repeatedly with life and love, and Israel still didn’t produce good fruit. In fact, instead of generating justice, there was bloodshed. Instead of reaping righteousness, there was a cry of suffering. 

In the lyrics of the parable, this is God’s magnificent project. In the context of Israel, this is God’s beloved partner. However, hopes and expectations are shattered, leaving God let down, exasperated, and disillusioned. 

The love song becomes a breakup song.
It is mournful; it has remorse and sorrow; it sings of hopelessness.

God, reluctantly, adopts a hands-off approach. The vineyard, once nurtured, is now left to be trampled, overgrown, and unnourished - a sign and a song of love lost, gone, no more. It resonates with pain, difficulty, and ending. 

It’s a love song that turns into heartache. And I’m not talking about a puppy-love heartache, like when your 5th-grade boyfriend or girlfriend dumped you. Yes, that hurt, but this is more profound than that. This is an ending that unravels the very fabric of our identity, where lives are deeply intertwined. In our world, relationships meet bitter ends — couples part ways, friendships fracture, parent-child bonds sever, and siblings drift apart. 

These are true in many of our lives - at the very least in some lives we know.
There are people who are - were - at one time close to us who aren’t anymore because of sour grapes. 

Even our most cherished love songs and our favorite relationships, inevitably, turn into heartbreak. One day, goodbyes are unavoidable; relationships that once defined our lives end. The love that once seemed for forever won’t be around. 

So, yes, even the best love songs in our lives will turn to heartbreak.

Now, I don’t want you to picture God as an emotional, heartbroken 12-year-old with their favorite breakup song on repeat. Instead, this is how God speaks to us in a way that relates to our experiences and helps us comprehend the situation, the disappointment, the failure, the ending. 

God has ended up heartbroken over the vineyard, over Israel, over humanity. 

The prized vines are gone. Plants lie trampled. Beds are overgrown. A once-intimate relationship is lost. The trees, once cared for and grown large over time, are reduced to stumps. Hope for anything more is lost. 

*****

And from a stump, a small green sprout emerges - a shoot, a plant, new life. 

It’s not that God starts over. There isn’t a new vineyard, but there is a new promise - a promise that what is now only a lowly stump will grow and flourish. Jesse’s family tree will produce a new king. From what was unproductive will come fruitful outcomes. From what didn’t live up to God’s expectations, God will ensure meets all holy standards. 

A King will come, embodying the very essence of what Israel should be. This King will come; the Spirit will rest upon him. This King will come, and he will judge with righteousness. This King will come and faithfulness will guide him. The King will come.

What God plants always springs up with hope of new life.
Out of our barren waste, God gives hope.
From a stump, God grows hope.
Even from what once seemed dead, God raises hope.
And this hope will fundamentally change the world. 

That tiny, green sprout from a stump offers us hope — a hope for something new. Something new for us, the vineyard; something new for us in our relationships; something new for us with God. Regardless of how things break apart, no matter what gets cut down in our lives, even when our love songs turn into heartaches, our heartache isn't without hope. God always has new growth, new life, waiting to spring forth from our stumps.

This hope extends to our relationships as well. Those that were seemingly cut down can and will spring up anew. There is life, even in what appears to be just a stump to us. A stump is not the end. Death is not the end. There is always another sprout coming. 

And this is true with God, too. When it seems like we’ve broken up with God - that we’ll never ever get back together - God comes back and points out a tiny green shoot breaking through the ground. Our relationship with God always grows back; God makes sure of it. 

And all of this changes the song we sing, doesn’t it? What initially sounded like a song of heartache now resounds with hope - hope that the current state is not the final chapter. Hope that there is more to grow. Hope that God’s vineyard will thrive again. 

It's this shoot that provides enough hope for us to sing:

Let the vineyards be fruitful, Lord, and fill to the brim our cup of blessing.
Let the vineyards be fruitful, Lord, and fill us with your love and grace.

Gather the hopes and the dreams of all.
Gather the hopes of our lives and our stumps.

Let the vineyards be fruitful, Lord, and fill us with Your hope. Hope for new life.

Rejoice.
Sing a new song.
Hope is alive and springing forth.
God’s grace grows.
Even where we think it can’t.

So, Lord, let the vineyards be fruitful. Fill us with hope—for new life, for a new song, for ever. Amen.