I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.  He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.  He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.  Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. -- Isaiah 5:1-2.

Some years ago, I bought a piece of land.  My brother and I were going to farm that land.  We planted it out with citrus trees.  That was a most joyful day for us. Unfortunately, farming has disappointments, which we did not anticipate.  Within a matter of days, the trees began to disappear.  Our citrus farm was getting smaller by the day.  Someone was stealing the trees.  Eventually, we only had five trees left. Those five trees grew and bore many fruits.  Again, unfortunately, we did not get to harvest them.  People stole them.  Our farming experience was a total disaster.  Consequently, our farming ambition fizzled.

Farming can be a wonderful experience.  It is a joy to see your labor come to fruition.  It can also be a disappointment, particularly when you see your labor plundered by others.

In the above text, the writer says that he will sing for the one he loves.  This individual had planted a vineyard.  Who is the farmer who cleared the land, moved all the boulders and planted a crop of grapevines?

Who is the individual who is loved?  Is the writer really talking about grapes and grapevines?  No! The writer is not talking about grapes and grapevines.  He is talking about God and His relationship to His people.  He is talking about a loving and caring God.

The people mentioned are the Israelites.  They were the people of God.  He had nurtured them as a farmer nurtures his grapevines.  He called them His grapes.  In His vineyard, He expected good grapes but got none.  The vines bore bad grapes. These words, even though they referred to the Israelites, also speak to us in the church today.  We too are a people specially called and nurtured by God.

The church of today, like the children of Israel, has gone astray.  It has become rebellious. Perversion is taking hold of her.  We are assisting Satan in his plunder of her. We are perverting God's words to say what we want it to say.  Instead of conforming to God's word, we skew the meaning so that it conforms to our lifestyle.

God's word is constant.  It does not change with time. It means the same today as it did to the children of Israel in biblical times.  God cannot change morally. The rebellious actions of the children of Israel aggrieved the Lord.  We too aggrieve Him.  He is afflicted when we, the Christian church, the new grapes, rebel against Him.

He wants us to live according to His word.  That is why He sent His son, Jesus Christ, into the world.  Jesus came to give us a clear path back to God.  Yes, Jesus died for us, on the cross.  He came so that we may have life and have it to the full. -- John 10:10b.

In Christ, God calls us to produce good fruit.  The good fruit we produce is our praise and worship through regular attendance in church, our proclamation of the gospel, our gifts to God from our treasures, and our service in His church.

He gave us Jesus Christ, His son, as an example.  His life was an open book.  Our baptism unites us with Him.  When we live according to His life, which He shared with us, we become good grapes.  We in the Christian church are the new grapes.  He has commissioned us to do good work, within His vineyard, the church, during our life. Amen.
 
Rev. Samuel M. Boodle, pastor at The Lutheran Church of Nassau, can be reached at P.O. Box N 4794, Nassau, Bahamas, or telephone 323-4107; E-mail: lutheranchurch@coralwave.com : Website: www.nassaulutheranchurch.org.

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