Reaping a Fruitful Harvest

Isaiah 5: 1-7
Phil 3: 4b-14

Planting a garden begins long before a seed is placed in the ground. The gardener envisions the desired harvest and then selects the finest quality seeds. The soil is prepared and enriched so that the garden will return the highest yield. Space, sunlight, and water requirements are all considered when planning the placement of each vegetable and fruit. By the time the ground is tilled and the seeds planted, much hope has been invested in a garden that is yet to grow.

So the gardener waits, watches, and waters, looking for the first sign of growth. With sprouts come stems, then stalks, as leaves begin to spread – an indication of growth but no assurance of a harvest. This is the ongoing risk for a gardener: no assurance of a harvest. So if seeds fail to sprout, or plants grow wildly beyond their row, becoming entangled with other plants, or the fruit that hangs from the vine sours in taste and there is no harvest, the garden is plowed under and a garden for a new season is planted.

Who is at fault for a failed harvest – the gardener or the garden? This is the question we’re left asking after reading the passage in Isaiah today where God is the gardener with a garden filled with wild grapes instead of a yield of healthy grapes. As we know, the grapes that God had so tenderly looked after and grew with such care and attention are a metaphor for humanity. God created us, God shared knowledge and wisdom and promises with us, and instead of growing up strong and wise, filled with righteousness and justice we went our own ways down wicked and wild paths.

Who is at fault for this? Is God not a good enough gardener? Has God not given us enough blessings? Has God somehow failed in attending to our needs and therefore God is at fault for us growing up wild? Or is humanity at fault? God has given us the freedom of choice, the ability to choose our path, but promises that if we follow Jesus’ ways that we will be given the greatest of blessings: that of a life of righteousness and justice that does not end upon our deathbed, but instead we are given eternal life.

In this passage, God is in pain. God wants so much for us to choose God’s ways, but we continually turn away causing God untold grief at our refusal to see the goodness and mercy and grace that makes up our Creator. God has painstakingly tried to make it clear that if we choose to love and follow God that there is something beautiful to be gained in the relationship between creator and creation.

Have you ever painstakingly put together a project and followed all of the rules only to have everything collapse for no real reason? When my cousin was about 10 years old, he received a ten gallon aquarium for Christmas. He eagerly read the book that came with it and began to follow the instructions to create the perfect aquatic environment for his fish. He assembled the filter, washed the gravel, bought the plants and fish. Everything was prepared as well as it possibly could have been and he was so excited to see his aquarium come alive. What he did not know at the time were some snails had smuggled themselves in with the plants. They soon overran the environment. So did a few guppies the girl next door brought over. Worse, no matter how diligently he fed the fish, they seemed to prefer eating each other than the fish food! Within a few months, his excitement and enthusiasm waned and the aquarium was dissembled and placed in the garage.

It’s a hard lesson to learn. That sometimes we can do everything right and still everything goes wrong. We’re the right fit for that new job, but a new hire gets it instead of us. We raise our children to love the Lord and to obey the rules, but sometimes they decide to test the limits society has placed upon them and end up in jail and with a bitter heart that does not believe in God. We invest our money in many different ventures like we’re told to do, and we follow our tax accountants advise to the T and when the market crashes like it has in the past we’re left without a retirement.

Isaiah tells us that God understands. God was a vigilant vinedresser. No effort was too great to expend upon this crop of grapes. A very fertile hill is chosen, the vineyard is dug and cleared of stones, choice vines are planted, and both a watchtower and a wine vat are constructed. All of this careful attention is performed with one hope, that excellent grapes will be produced.

The project fails. The grapes grow wild, just as if the garden had been left alone. The exemplary efforts of the vinedresser have no effect. The environment could not have been more favorably prepared for growth, yet something goes terribly wrong.

In times like this, we are forced to reevaluate our identity, goals, and relationships. It is difficult when we do the right thing yet are forced to live with the consequences of other people’s poor decisions. And sometimes it is our own poor decisions that God is left to deal with. This passage is a warning to us. Yes, God wants many good things for us, but God does not want us to use these blessings only for our own gain and prosperity.

You see, the yield God was hoping for from his vineyard was that we would take the care and love we’ve received and share it with those around us. The fruit we humans are to produce are the fruits of righteousness and justice. The care we receive from God is supposed to be reflected in the care we give to others. The relationships in our lives should be healthy and happy and loving in the same way God’s relationship is supposed to be with us. God is not content until the blessings we receive are shared equally with everyone.  If the fruit of justice and righteousness are not produced, the result according to Isaiah is that God will allow us to run wild and leave us to our own devices.

How scary is that?! If we’re allowed to do as we please, humanity has proven time and again that we will do the wrong things. We will be selfish and hateful and spiteful and arrogant. We will destroy whole villages when we go mining for gold and oil and coal. We will destroy the environment and demolish rain forests in our efforts to gain more land and prosperity. We will pollute our oceans with oil from wrecked ships and with garbage we throw out as if no one else lives on this planet. We will destroy whole countries in an effort to gain power and prestige and we will destroy ourselves with our self-centeredness.

God is calling us away from all of that and calling us back to righteousness; to living in a way that makes God proud to call us God’s children. God is calling us to understand that there is more to this life than the limits we place upon ourselves when we think it’s all about power, wealth, and recognition. When we see Christ in every person we meet we begin to recognize that we’re here for a higher purpose than having the best clothes, haircut, and entertainment devices. We’re here to love one another with the same fierceness and care that God shows us, and that can only happen when we turn back to God and give thanks for what we’ve been given.

When we recognize that all we have is not because we did it on our own, but because God has given us these abilities; we are able to recognize that these blessings are not just for us alone. They’re for every person we encounter. And when we start to look at the things we have as things to be given they stop controlling us, and become a tool to help the world. We become kinder and more generous and the love that shines from our hearts will make those around us take notice. And when they start to ask questions, you’re given the chance to show them a God who is not dispassionate and uncaring, but fiercely loving and attentive toward all of humanity.

If we start producing the fruit of righteousness and justice – we can change the world!

Amen.