The Song of the Vineyard

What More Could Have Been Done?

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Jesus began His parable with a landowner who planted a vineyard, set a hedge around it, dug a winepress and built a tower (Matthew 21:33). Long before, God's people had heard a song about a vineyard just like it.

A love song. The prophet Isaiah sang a song about someone he loved and that person's vineyard. The vineyard was on a very fruitful hill (Isaiah 5:1).

Hard work. The owner dug up the ground and cleared out the stones. Then he planted the very best vines (Isaiah 5:2).

Everything it needed. He built a tower in the middle of the vineyard and made a winepress there too. Then he waited for good grapes (Isaiah 5:2).

Wild grapes. But when the grapes grew, they were wild grapes, sour and good for nothing (Isaiah 5:2).

You be the judge. Then the owner spoke to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. He asked them to judge between him and his vineyard (Isaiah 5:3).

What more? He asked what more could have been done for his vineyard that he had not already done. He had looked for good grapes. Why had it given wild ones (Isaiah 5:4)?

The owner is the Lord. At the end of the song Isaiah says it plainly: the vineyard of the Lord is His people, Israel (Isaiah 5:7). The owner who worked so hard is God Himself.

God gives first. Before God asks anything of His people, He gives. He chose them, cared for them and protected them. He does the same for us: our lives, our families, His Word and His love all come from Him.

Not God's fault. The wild grapes were not the owner's fault. Our sin is never God's fault either. When we do wrong, it is not because God failed to care for us.

Our sour fruit. All of us have given God sour fruit: selfish words, unkind actions and hearts that want our own way. We cannot make ourselves good by trying harder, just as a wild vine cannot change its own grapes.

Even more love. In Jesus, God showed that He still had more love to give. “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). Jesus died on the cross for our sins. On the third day Jesus rose again.

What to do. Thank God this week for three good things He has given you. Then ask Him to forgive your sour fruit and to make your life good fruit for Him.

Jesus' parable opens with a vineyard, a hedge, a winepress and a tower (Matthew 21:33). His hearers in the temple knew a song with the same picture, the song of the vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-7.

The singer and his Beloved (Isaiah 5:1). Isaiah sings to his Well-beloved a song about His vineyard on a very fruitful hill. The song shows God's love for His people before it shows their failure.

The work (5:2). The owner dug the ground, cleared out its stones, planted the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst and made a winepress. Every step took time and cost something.

The disappointment. He expected good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes (5:2). The Hebrew word for them describes grapes that are rotten and worthless.

The question (5:3-4). The owner turns to the people of Jerusalem and Judah and asks them to judge between him and his vineyard: what more could have been done to his vineyard that he had not done in it?

The owner named (5:7). Isaiah explains the picture himself. The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.

Jesus asked for a verdict too. In the temple Jesus asked the leaders, “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” (Matthew 21:40). In Isaiah's song the vine itself fails; in Jesus' parable the tenants fail. Both show that God had done everything and that human hearts refused Him His fruit.

Grace before demand. God plants, protects and provides before He looks for fruit. His commands always come after His kindness.

The heart problem. A vine cannot decide to grow different grapes. The human heart is the same: no amount of effort changes what we are by nature. We need to be made new.

God's answer. Isaiah's question expects the answer: nothing more. Yet God in His love did more still. He gave His own Son: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

Raised. Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and on the third day He rose again. The Son who was given up for a vineyard of wild grapes now lives to make His people new.

Application. Write down some of the ways God has cared for you, and thank Him for them. Then bring Him honestly the sour fruit in your life, and trust Jesus to forgive you and make you new.

He Looked for Righteousness

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In Jesus' parable the owner sent for fruit from his vineyard, and the vinedressers refused him (Matthew 21:34-35). Isaiah's song tells us what kind of fruit God was looking for.

A sad answer. Because the vineyard gave only wild grapes, the owner said he would take away its hedge and break down its wall. The vineyard would be trampled, and thorns would grow there (Isaiah 5:5-6).

Not cruel. God was not being cruel. He had warned His people for a long time, and He was sad about what His vineyard had become. His judgment is always fair.

What God looked for. Isaiah explained the song: God looked for justice and righteousness in His people. Justice means treating people fairly. Righteousness means doing what is right in God's eyes (Isaiah 5:7).

What He found. Instead, God found people being treated badly, and He heard cries for help (Isaiah 5:7). The sour grapes were unkind and unfair lives.

A prayer for the vine. Another song, Psalm 80, calls God's people a vine He brought out of Egypt. God planted it in the land, and it grew until it covered the hills (Psalm 80:8-11).

Broken walls. Then the psalm asks God why its walls had been broken down, so that people passing by could pick its fruit (Psalm 80:12).

Visit this vine. The singer begged God to look down from heaven and visit His vine. He prayed that God would restore His people and let His face shine on them, so that they would be saved (Psalm 80:14, 19).

The Man at God's right hand. The psalm also prays for the man of God's right hand, the son of man whom God made strong (Psalm 80:17). Many Christians see this prayer answered in Jesus.

God answered. God did visit His people. He sent Jesus, who lived the perfectly right life we have not lived. Then Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again.

New fruit. When we trust Jesus, God forgives us and gives us a new life. Paul wrote, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

Fruit from Jesus. Paul also prayed that believers would be filled with the fruits of righteousness that come by Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:11). The good fruit God looks for is something Jesus grows in us.

What to do. Ask God this week to show you one place where you can be fair and kind, maybe to a brother, a sister or a classmate who is left out. Do it as fruit for Him, because Jesus has already made you His.

The vinedressers refused the owner his fruit (Matthew 21:34-36). Isaiah 5:5-7 and Psalm 80 show what fruit God wanted from His vineyard, and what He would do for it.

The verdict (Isaiah 5:5-6). God says He will take away the hedge and break down the wall, so that the vineyard is trampled and overgrown with briers and thorns. He will even command the clouds not to rain on it.

A just Judge. This is not the anger of a cruel master. God had been patient for generations, and the song is full of sorrow. His judgment is right because His care had been so complete.

Tsedaqah and tse'aqah (5:7). Isaiah ends with a play on words. God looked for tsedaqah (say: tseh-dah-KAH), righteousness, but heard tse'aqah (say: tseh-ah-KAH), a cry for help. The two Hebrew words sound almost the same. In the same verse, another pair of sound-alike words says He looked for justice and found oppression.

Fruit means people. The wild grapes were not about missing sacrifices. They were about how people treated one another: the weak pushed down and the poor crying out.

Psalm 80. Asaph's psalm calls Israel a vine God brought out of Egypt. He cleared the ground, it took deep root, and its branches reached from the Sea to the River (Psalm 80:8-11).

The cry (80:12-16). Now its hedges are broken down and those who pass by pluck its fruit. The psalmist pleads with God to return, look down from heaven and visit this vine that His right hand planted.

The refrain. The psalm prays three times, in nearly the same words, that God would restore His people and cause His face to shine, and they would be saved (Psalm 80:3, 7, 19). The vine cannot save itself; only God's face turned toward it can.

The man of Your right hand (80:17). The psalm asks God to let His hand rest on the man of His right hand, the son of man He made strong. Many Christians see this prayer answered in Jesus, who called Himself the Son of Man and sits at God's right hand.

The visit. In Jesus, God visited His vine. He lived the righteousness that Israel and all of us failed to produce. Then He bore our sins on the cross and rose from the dead.

Fruit from new life. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). Paul also prayed for believers to be filled with the fruits of righteousness that come through Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:11). Fruit is the result of belonging to Him, not the price of it.

Application. Justice and righteousness are lived out in ordinary places. This week, look for someone who is treated unfairly or left out, and stand with that person. Do it as fruit from a life that already belongs to Jesus.

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