One more time, the scripture bring us to the vineyard to learn more about God and Christ. This week, we discovered what can go wrong in the vineyard, like when churches lose focus on what God and Christ and faith are really about.
The prophet Isaiah gave us the stunning imagery of the vineyard provisioned with loving care and great expectation that only produced sour grapes. The vineyard is condemned for its failure as the Owner dismantles and abandons it, even denying it any further rainfall, probably making it look like the image to the left. It turns out the the Owner expected justice and righteousness, but the vineyard produced a harvest of violent bloodshed and cries of distress.
The imagery of Isaiah is used by Matthew and the other gospel editors who seem to have mangled the original version of the parable of the workers to conclude that the original workers in the vineyard (the Jews, with whom God first had the covenant) had become corrupt, ignored and maligned the prophets sent to correct them, and finally killed the Owner's son. None of it makes a whole lot of sense by the time Matthew is finished editing, but it is clear that the expectations clearly defined in Isaiah apply; there is no justice or righteousness to be found where God has expected it to thrive.
You can check out the sermon video below (another great YouTube still), and check out the downloads below the video panel.
The prophet Isaiah gave us the stunning imagery of the vineyard provisioned with loving care and great expectation that only produced sour grapes. The vineyard is condemned for its failure as the Owner dismantles and abandons it, even denying it any further rainfall, probably making it look like the image to the left. It turns out the the Owner expected justice and righteousness, but the vineyard produced a harvest of violent bloodshed and cries of distress.
The imagery of Isaiah is used by Matthew and the other gospel editors who seem to have mangled the original version of the parable of the workers to conclude that the original workers in the vineyard (the Jews, with whom God first had the covenant) had become corrupt, ignored and maligned the prophets sent to correct them, and finally killed the Owner's son. None of it makes a whole lot of sense by the time Matthew is finished editing, but it is clear that the expectations clearly defined in Isaiah apply; there is no justice or righteousness to be found where God has expected it to thrive.
You can check out the sermon video below (another great YouTube still), and check out the downloads below the video panel.
| 10-05-14-ff-answers.pdf |
| 10-05-14-curing_the_vineyard_blues.pdf |