Do We Have Regard for Jesus?
Good Morning Friends,
Time and again, God was faithful to keep His promises to His people. He multiplied Abraham’s descendants into a great nation; He planted the Israelites in the land of Canaan, and He established David’s kingly line. But God had also promised Israel that if they disobeyed, they would be conquered by a foreign nation, pulled from their homeland, and led into exile. God had promised this judgment if Israel disobeyed Him, and after generations of patiently waiting for His people to repent, God remained faithful to His promise. Do We Have Regard for Jesus?
Scripture: Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us! Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved. O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers? You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure. You make us the scorn of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves. Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved. You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches; it sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the River. Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it. Turn again, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted. They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance. But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself. Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
Psalm 80 (NRSV)
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 5:7 (NRSV)
who says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd, and he shall carry out all my purpose”; and who says of Jerusalem, “It shall be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”
Isaiah 44:28 (NRSV)
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’?
Matthew 21:33-42 (NRSV)
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.”
John 15:1 (NRSV)
As for those who will follow this rule—peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
Galatians 6:16 (NRSV)
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NRSV)
Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'”
Luke 13:6-9 (NRSV)
Message: Today we read a psalm that morns the struggle of a divided nation facing a future of being placed in exile. It is poetry and anguish and contains a prayer for the people that reminds me of prayers in Ezra 9, Nehemiah 9 and Daniel 9. We read it with other scripture such as the prophet Jeremiah and scripture that deals with the metaphors used in the psalm. It may be helpful to you to realize that the reference to Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh is because they are the descendants of Rachael. The tribes are of both the Southern and Northern Kingdoms are included in the psalm. And so the reality here is not just of a divided country but a divided family. So assuming I am right and Psalm 80 was written as a precursor to the exile of the Northern Kingdom, then it most assuredly foreshadows the same for the Southern one. In any regard the context seems to be related to the antecedents of the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. The metaphor of the shepherd and the vineyard are strong. It brings me to a question about our national and religious institutional behavior in relationship to depth of meaning for the vine of the Good Shepherd Jesus.
Like today’s Psalm, the Parable in today’s scripture is a sad song. And it is against this sadness the weeping Prophet Jeremiah wrote some of the most hopeful words in the Bible. That the focus of Jeremiah’s message is for Israel makes no difference for we too can claim the hope of Christ despite we are in a nation that has lost much of our belief in God. The metaphor of Israel as a vine is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. It is not only used in today’s Psalm but in several places in the New Testament. It is this background teaching of Israel as God’s vine that illuminates the declaration of Jesus Christ that, “I am the true vine”. So read the Psalm and pray the Psalm and let it speak to you the message of the day. When it comes to poetry it is good to let it speak to your soul.
Pray we are not connected to a corrupt vine. Pray that we are fortunate enough to be planted in God’s vineyard…purposely placed and positioned. Pray we abide in the giver of all fruit. Pray we direct our attention to watering and developing others instead of cutting them down. Pray that we prune and are pruned so that we might bear greater fruits. Pray in the mystery that the owner of the vineyard will return. Pray we realize that the land needs a rest every seven years.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 