Isaiah 5:1-7

The Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard

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! (Isaiah 5:1-7, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here from December 5, 2004, two years ago (the Second Sunday of Advent, Year One):

Jesus’ Parable of the Wicked Tenants, one of the readings for last Tuesday (Dec. 5), stands in the Gospels as a strong indictment of Jewish leaders. But when we remember Isaiah’s Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard (Isa. 5:1-7), and other uses of this image by Hebrew Prophets, we can appreciate how Jesus assumes the role of a prophet to his own people–from within Judaism, we can say–and is in anguish when he sees Jerusalem’s fate (Lk. 19:41-42). Hosea, for example, says, “Israel is a luxuriant vine / that yields its fruit. / The more his fruit increased / the more altars [to other gods] he built; / as his country improved, / he improved his pillars” (Hosea 10:1). In a similar way, Jeremiah speaks for the LORD: “Yet I planted you as a choice vine, / from the purest stock. / How then did you turn degenerate / and become a wild vine?” (Jeremiah 2:21)

Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard refers to Israel as God’s “beloved” and describes its favorable situation “on a very fertile hill” (Isa. 5:1). The LORD provide proper cultivation , “planted it with choice vines,” protected it with “a watchtower,” and provide for its production, “a wine vat” (v. 2). But the outcome is described with a rather harsh play on words: “he [God] expected it [Israel] to yield grapes (`anavim), / but it yielded wild grapes (be’ushim, literally ‘stinking things’)” (Isa. 5:2). The verse which interprets the comparison says, “he [the LORD] expected justice (mishpat), / but saw bloodshed (mishpach); righteousness (tsedaqah), but heard a cry (tse‘aqah)!” (Isa. 5:7). The latter term in each of these pairs almost rhymes–better, assonance (i.e. internal rhyme)–but is harsher, almost as though the prophet spat out the words “bloodshed!” and “outcry!”

In the Song, the LORD announces judgment: “I will remove its [the vineyard’s] hedge, / and it shall be devoured; / I will break down its wall, / and it shall be trampled down” (Isa. 5:5). It’s good to know that Isaiah has a more promising view of Israel as the vineyard later: “A pleasant vineyard, sing about it! / I, the LORD, am its keeper; / every moment I water it” (Isa. 27:2-3). “In days to come,” says the LORD through the prophet, “ Jacob shall take root, / Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots, / and fill the whole world with fruit” (Isa. 27:6).

2 Peter 3:11-18

11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? 13 But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.

Final Exhortation and Doxology

14 Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:11-18, NRSV)

The following comments are combined with revision and supplement here from December 5, 2004, two years ago (the Second Sunday of Advent, Year One), and from December 1, 2005 (Thursday in the week of the First Sunday of Advent, Year Two):

Having reminded scoffers that “the promise of his coming,” that is, the Lord’s return, though apparently delayed, will take place (“the day of the Lord will come like a thief,” 2 Pet. 3:10), Peter emphasized the fact that “the day of the Lord” will come in spite of apparent delays and the disbelief of scoffers. He described events of the last days and "the day of the Lord" when "the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed" (2 Pet. 3:10 NRSV, or "will be burned up" note y). The lesson Peter draws is that we should lead "lives of holiness and godliness" (v. 11), waiting with patience for “the coming day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire” (v. 12). Many see a rhetorical question beginning in verse 11, introduced by “what sort of persons” (potapous a term that introduces questions, for example, in Matthew 8:27, “What sort of man (potapos) is this?” but also indirect statements, e.g. Luke 1:29, “[Mary] pondered what sort of (potapos) greeting this might be.” The New International version puts the question mark in the middle of verse 11 and the next period in the middle of verse 12: “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (vv. 11-12a, NIV). But the King James Version and the NRSV agree in translating verses 11 and 12 as one long rhetorical question (cf. ERV, 1881, and ASV, 1901). Some don’t use a question mark at all (including several editions of the Greek text, Westcott-Hort, Nestle and others). The RSV (1946) put an exclamation mark at the end of verse 12.. If there is a question here, it is surely rhetorical, that is, not a request for information, but a question stated in such a way that the expected answer is clear. Because these future events, judgment and transformation on a cosmic scale, are certain to happen, the readers must lead “lives of holiness and godliness” as the question implies.

But there is promise for the believers as well as admonition. “But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home” (v. 13). In the meantime, the readers, or better, those hearing it read, are advised to “strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish” (v. 14), to “regard the patience of our Lord,” the delay in his coming? “as salvation” (v. 15), and not to be “carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of or Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (vv. 17-18).

The letter closes with a final exhortation about how to live “while you are waiting for these things,” which means to “strive to be found by him at peace without spot or blemish” (2 Pet. 3:14). The delay is good: “regard the patience of our Lord as salvation” (v. 15a). Paul is cited as an authority in support of Peter’s view (v. 15b), even though Paul writes “some things . . . hard to understand” (v. 16a). “Paul also taught that the delay of judgment is an opportunity to repent (Rom. 2:4; 9:22), even though false teachers are likely to misinterpret him” (Patrick A. Tiller, NOAB, 3^rd ed., on 2 Pet. 3:15-16). The false teachers, about whom Peter warned his readers at length in chapter 2, twist Paul’s letters “to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures” (v. 16b). The readers are not to be “carried away with the error of the lawless” (v. 17) but to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (v. 18).

Luke 7:28-35

Today’s reading from Luke is in the column to the right in the following table.

The following comments are combined with revision and supplement here from December 5, 2004, two years ago (the Second Sunday of Advent, Year One), from comments on Luke 7:18-35 on October 6, 2004 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 5, Year Two), April 23, 2005 (Saturday in the week of the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year One), and October 11, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 5, Year Two):

After John the Baptist sends messengers to Jesus asking about his mission, and they return with Jesus’ answer (Lk. 7:18-24a), Jesus speaks about John with high praise to the crowds. He was “more than a prophet” (v. 26; Mt. 11:9), the “messenger” promised in Malachi 3:1 (v. 27; Mt. 11:10) who prepares the way, the greatest of those “born of women . . . yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (v. 28, Mt. 11:12). Matthew introduces here a saying that Luke uses later, “The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force” (Lk. 16:16). Matthew uses his familiar phrase, “the kingdom of heaven,” and emphasizes the “violence” (cf. “force” in Lk.): “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force” (Mt. 11:12). Matthew’s phrase, “the kingdom of heaven,” respects the Jewish scruple against excessive use of the name of God, and Luke’s phrase, “the kingdom of God” interprets the phrase for a Gentile audience (as does Mark when the term arises. (Or perhaps it is Matthew who interprets in a Jewish context.) Matthew elaborates the comment on the prophets, “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John came” (v. 13), and adds the reference to John as “Elijah who is to come” (v. 14, alluding to the messenger to be sent (Mt. 11:10; Mk. 1:2; Lk. 7:27, citing Mal. 3:1; cf. 4:5; Ex. 23:20)

Luke, as narrator, using a theme that Matthew uses elsewhere (Mt. 21:31b, 32–cf. the above table), says that “all the people who heard this, including the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God, because they had been baptized with John’s baptism. But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves” (vv. 29-30). Jesus speaks with regret about the rejection of John’s message, and the rejection of his own. He taunts "this generation" for not joining the game:

            We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;

               we wailed, and you did not weep. (Lk. 7:32; Mt. 11:17 with “mourn” for “weep”)

Jesus had a sense of humor, even when dealing with serious issues. Whether the message was musical and joyful, or the wailing of the professional mourner, there was no response, not to the austere John the Baptist, “eating no bread and drinking no wine” (v. 33a; cf. Mt. 11:18), nor to Jesus, “the Son of Man” who “has come eating and drinking” (v. 34a; cf. Mt. 11:19a). They say John “has a demon” (v. 33b; cf. Mt. 11:18b) and Jesus is “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (v. 34; cf. Mt. 11:10b). The reference to “wisdom” and “her children” in verse 35 (cf. Mt. 11:19c, ‘vindicated by her deeds’) compares Jesus’ teaching and the earlier preaching of John to the teaching of Hebrew sages.

            The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;

               fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Prov. 1:7)

Do we hear and heed Jesus any better than they? “Nevertheless/Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children/by her deeds” (Lk. 7:35; Mt. 11:19c). Jesus had a sense of humor, even when dealing with serious issues. If our trust and commitment are with him, perhaps we can avoid taking ourselves too seriously, recognizing that “it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13)

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

rworden@houston.rr.com