song of the vineyard

Good afternoon folks,

Today's reading is something we don't see so often, an Old Testament parable. This parable from Isaiah compares Israel to God's vineyard. The point is that God has done everything for God's people and therefore expects them to bear the fruits of righteousness. Instead, they have allowed injustice and the oppression of the poor to flourish. 

This parable is interesting too, because later in his ministry Jesus also tells a parable about a vineyard with a different story but a similar point. It's not a stretch to imagine that Jesus may have had Isaiah's parable in mind, and his hearers, the religious leaders of Israel, might have remembered this parable as well.

May we bear righteous fruit in our life,
Sam

Isaiah 5:1-10

Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. ²He 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. ³And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. ⁴What 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? 

⁵And 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. ⁶I 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. ⁷For 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!

⁸Ah, you who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no one but you, and you are left to live alone in the midst of the land! ⁹The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing: Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.¹⁰For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah. 

justice and repentance

Good evening sisters and brothers,
Amos is a real favorite of mine because he is scorching in his preaching against the injustice he saw in his home country. In 8th century (700-800 BC) the southern kingdom of Judah was doing well economically. The religious and political elite felt favored by God, so they figured they were doing things right. Amos tells them that they are wrong. A society's righteousness is not defined by how wealthy or successful it is, but by how it treats the poorest and most vulnerable. Israel's law (which instructs, but doesn't bind Christians) holds up values of protection and care for the poor and rejects profiting on other people's vulnerability. Amos calls Judah to account for how they treat the poor in powerful language. For Judah then and for us now, this is a call to repentance. I pray that each of us individually and our nation as a whole would hear God's call to repent and invitation to justice.

God bless,
Sam

Amos 2:4-13

⁴Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his statutes, but they have been led astray by the same lies after which their ancestors walked. ⁵So I will send a fire on Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem. ⁶Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— ⁷they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way; father and son go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; ⁸they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed.

⁹Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of cedars, and who was as strong as oaks; I destroyed his fruit above, and his roots beneath. ¹⁰Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. ¹¹And I raised up some of your children to be prophets and some of your youths to be nazirites. Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel? says the Lord. ¹²But you made the nazirites drink wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, “You shall not prophesy.” ¹³So, I will press you down in your place, just as a cart presses down when it is full of sheaves.

favoritism

Good afternoon brothers and sisters,
I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful and you're getting a chance to relax today. James continues his train of thought about living our faith with an example. He talks about the temptation to play favorites, while God calls us to treat everyone equally. The church should be one place where everyone is welcomed and everyone's gifts and questions are accepted.

Blessings on your day,
Sam

James 2:1-13

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? ²For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, ³and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” ⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? ⁷Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

⁸You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ⁹But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. ¹¹For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹²So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

trials and an upside down world

Good morning friends,
Tonight there is no supper and scripture, choir or discussion series at the Boulevard for Thanksgiving. I pray everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving. Today's reading is from James, a short gem of a letter we don't read from often. James reminds his readers that trials, difficulties in life help us mature by strengthening our endurance. James also talks about how God's economy is different from ours. James focuses on how wealth disappears while God honors the poor. Jesus put it another way: "The first will be last and the last first." As we give thanks for what we have, let us remember those with less.

God bless,
Sam

James 1:2-12

²My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, ³because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; ⁴and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. ⁵If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. ⁶But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; ⁷for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

⁹Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up, ¹⁰and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field. ¹¹For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same way with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away. ¹²Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.