For those who want a change from the Gospel

Trinity 18 – Isaiah 5:1-7 (Related)

‘You can’t always get what you want’ screamed Mick Jagger in 1969. God would agree. Even for God, it doesn’t always go smoothly, and this song is an 8^th century predecessor of the Stones’ anthem. It’s the tale of a landowner who wanted a great crop and a wonderful vintage from his vines, and it was such a popular song that 800 odd years on Jesus was alluding to it.

But, as the song says, you can’t always get what you want, and with a series of puns Isaiah expresses God’s disappointment that the fruit he was hoping for from his people Israel was highly disappointing, to say the least. He had hoped for justice, mishpat, but found only bloodshed, mishpah: he wanted righteousness, tsedikah, but instead found a cry of distress, tsakah.

When Jesus retold this story, as in today’s Gospel, it was with a subtle twist. It was the tenants of the vineyard who were crooked, a reference, which they themselves recognised, to the religious leaders of Israel. But here the emphasis is different: the vineyard itself is corrupt, not those who are tending it. In fact God is the vintner, and he does all he can to ensure its fruitfulness, but to no avail. You can almost sense his bewilderment and disappointment. How on earth can this have happened? Jesus might have blamed the leaders, but here it is the whole thing which has become corrupt.

It can be good sometimes to be able to blame others, particularly when we are lamenting the state of an organisation, such as an incompetent of even corrupt government, or a marginalised, divided and ineffective Church. If only the Government/Bishops/Vicar/whatever weren’t so awful we’d all be in a much better state. But Isaiah reminds us here that corruption can go beyond leaders, important though they are in setting the tone and culture. And the harsh words of judgement, which come, interestingly, after God’s invitation to the onlookers to tell him what they think he should do about this situation, are not for others, but for all of us who are a part of the system. The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the sum of his people, and that includes us.

But historically there were other reasons why listeners might have found it easier to point the finger at others rather than themselves. This parable is clearly about the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of Judah, but that was decades in the future, while the devastation of the Northern Kingdom of Israel would have been fresh in everyone’s minds. It would have been easy to hear this song as an explanation of why the North had been overrun, rather than as a challenge to us here and now.

So how do we hear words of criticism and judgement? Does Isaiah give us a good model here? I think there are two hints as to how we hear (and give) criticism well. The first is to resist the temptation to hear it as aimed at others, and to ask whether it might just be for us. When my wife was a teacher a regular response to a telling off was the phrase ‘Miss, he made me do it!’ We might want to reject the criticism as nasty and unjust, but we must begin by trying on the cap to see if it does in any small way fit. Are there any ways in which God might be disappointed with me, any areas where in looking for justice and righteousness he finds only bloodshed and pain, literal or figurative? It never hurts to ask ourselves those kinds of questions, and it might be that repentance is required.

But the second strategy for hearing criticism is to ask some questions about the critic. We all face unfair accusation from time to time, and the best way to deal with it is to be secure enough in our own personalities to let it wash over our heads and to pray for those who persecute us. Easier said than done, I know, but still right. But God’s disappointment with his chosen people here is different. Look at the beginning: the vineyard is, perhaps strangely, ‘the one he loves’. This is the starting point, and we must never forget that. Then there is the invitation to think about it. V.3-4 invite the objects of God’s judgement to participate in deciding whether or not it is fair. This is not the cruel act of someone who has taken against us, but the logically thought-out response to our misguided actions.

Thirdly, looking at the much broader context, there is always hope. The book of Isaiah will move on to promise restoration and reinstatement for God’s people after a period of exile, and of course in Jesus there is condemnation only for the most hard-hearted and unrepentant. Criticism, if it is not deliberately vindictive, is redemptive and healing. So what is this text saying to you today which might require action?