Divided Grapes

In Psalm 80, the Psalmist laments that God has abandoned the good vine which is Israel, pleading with God to shine upon the vine again.

“You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land. …

"Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes? Boars from the forest ravage it, and insects from the fields feed on it. Return to us, God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! 

"Watch over this vine, the root your right hand has planted,” (verses 8-9, 12-15a).

The psalmist asks God to come back and care for the vine again and 

“Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name” (verse 18).

At first, this is who everyone thinks they are: the vine that has been harmed for no reason. The psalmist asks God to return and then we will not turn away from you! Unfortunately, I think the people in Isaiah’s day would have said the exact same thing. 

But God had a different version for them. They were indeed the vine that God had cared for; but they had not produced grapes that all would want to enjoy. They had produced what the Hebrew literally calls “stinky things”, as Dr. Brennan Breed from Working Preacher explained this year. The worthless grapes of bloodshed and such oppression that the people were crying out to God. They had not produced the good fruit of justice and righteousness: like loving the neighbor and the stranger.

And I think Jesus would have agreed. He says that he came to bring fire. Fire is referenced for burning away the impurities within us. In Isaiah chapter 6 a live coal, still glowing from the fire, is put to Isaiah’s lips in his call story. This man who professes to be of unclean lips from a people of unclean lips is thus cleansed of sin. In the Bible, fire and burning are referenced when the people sin against God, including the justice of caring for the poor, the widow, the stranger, the orphan, and the outcast.

And then there’s the division part: that Jesus came to bring not peace but division. This contrast between peace and division reminds me of what would have been considered “peace” during Jesus’ time. See, peace in the Roman Empire referred to the peace of the Pax Romana, which came through worshiping the gods and then going to war with these gods on one’s side so that victory could be achieved; peace came through victory. Peace meant that there was no war because everyone had already been conquered.

This is a false peace, and it can come in less obvious ways such as when differences are glossed over, and when true disagreement and therefore conversation are squashed. Because look at who Jesus was! As David Lose described in one of his commentaries, following Jesus meant following this wandering “rabbi who hung out with the disreputable, accepted sinners, and preached a message of love and forgiveness. It meant, that is, accepting as Messiah one who looked almost nothing like the warrior king David they had expected … [and] who looked almost nothing like what the culture held out as powerful or important.” 

Is it any wonder that following Jesus meant division? Luke, writing this gospel at least forty years after any of this happened, knows about the division that has come to the community- whether it should or not, fathers and sons are divided. Mothers and daughters on opposite sides. 

And the purifying fire may even be the cause of this division, as baptism actually changes lives so that these men and women care for others and follow an executed criminal who preached a counter-cultural message of love for enemy and stranger instead of just friends and family, forgiveness and mercy instead of power.

See, as Lose continues, “following Jesus meant not merely adopting new beliefs, but a new way of living. To be a follower of the one who accepted and even honored the disreputable meant that you needed to do the same, rejecting the easy temptation of judging others and instead inviting them into our lives. To be a follower of the one who preached love and forgiveness was to practice the same, particularly when it comes to those who differ from you even, and maybe especially, in terms of what they believe.”

What if the Christian Church acknowledged where we are like the vine in Isaiah and allowed Christ to change us? What if we practiced the love and forgiveness Jesus demonstrated, unafraid to have real conversations, even when that means conflict. Really acting as Jesus taught us to act: loving the neighbor, the stranger, and the enemy.

It means going out into the community and it’s inviting the community in. The Communications Committee and Mission Committee have been thinking about how we can be truly welcoming to all who come through our doors. Communications came up with a Prayer Board to invite our guests to write prayer requests. They have posted a board advertising our activities so every group who meets in the Harris Room would know and feel welcome. Communications has also come up with the slogan “Come as you are: we aren’t the same without you.” That is our church: whether we love to dress up and give God our best, or our best is a pair of jeans and t-shirt that morning, we all come before God every week, just as we are. Next Sunday, we’re inviting the community to another free meal at 2pm, and Mission has decided to invite them to come through our front doors and enjoy the Harris room for a Nacho bar. So please, come and greet those who come and share a meal together. We don’t need to change who we are for God to love us: God already loves us more than we can ever imagine. Let’s produce the grapes of justice and righteousness as we follow Christ and show our community that we love them as well, just as they are.

*Resources for this sermon include:

Rev. Dr. David Lose, “Pentecost 13 C: Pursuing a Faith That Matters.” https://www.davidlose.net/2016/08/pentecost-13-c-pursuing-a-faith-that-matters/     

Dr. Brennan Breed, “Commentary on Isaiah 5:1-7” for August 17, 2025. Working Preacher. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-20-3/commentary-on-isaiah-51-7-12