Living in the Spirit

Living in the Spirit

September 29, 2020

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7
Let me sing for my beloved
   my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
   on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
   and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watch-tower in the midst of it,
   and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
   but it yielded wild grapes.

 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
   and people of Judah,
judge between me
   and my vineyard.

 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?

 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.
 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.

 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 does not mince words, but he writes beautifully, and what he is sharing is very appropriate for us today. It was God who gave us life and all that is needed to sustain it. We live in the abundance of God’s love with one another. God provided for us with the expectation of justice, and we cannot seem to accept that one straightforward request. We choose to worship the idols that tempt us away from justice and, thus, away from God. Peoples who turn from God and create lesser gods of greed and power and self-righteousness find empty dispair.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for our failure to meet your expectation of justice. Make us doer of justice, opening our eyes and hearts to the oppression in our world today. Help us invest ourselves in overcoming injustice. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.