Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“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!”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, November 19, 2023
by Madison Johnston, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: Our God is uniquely persistent and intentional in giving us every possible chance to bear fruit.
It’s hard not to cringe as we read this portion of Mark 12. The tenants overseeing the vineyard are clearly exploitative and violent people—terrible stewards of the trust that the vineyard owner extended to them and hoarders of the wealth that stems from it.
If we read past Verse 3, we learn that the vineyard owner sent many of his slaves to collect his share of the produce. Each time, they were unsuccessful, because each time, the tenants met them with a different kind of abuse. At a certain point, the tenants started killing the slaves who showed up. So, the vineyard owner changed his strategy yet again. He sent his son to retrieve what was owed to him, assuming that the tenants would show his child a different level of respect. The vineyard owner was wrong—the tenants killed his son, too, figuring that they could somehow get their hands on a portion of his inheritance.
At this point, we as readers are tempted to ask one question: Why doesn’t this vineyard owner close up shop and reevaluate? He has sunk so much time, so many relationships and so much emotional investment into something that has only brought him loss—and serious loss, at that. All of us would understand if he needed to take a beat and go back to the drawing board.
But Jesus tells us that the vineyard owner has every intention to keep going. Not with these tenants—Jesus says he “will destroy” the people who did him such harm—but that he will find someone new to take their places. Someone who will honor the land and the work and the agreement between the two parties. So while the pieces of his plan will look different from chapter to chapter, the vineyard owner doesn’t change the plan, itself. He is determined to get the land to bear fruit and to get the community he forms to share it. Even the brutal murder of his own son can’t rip him away from that vision.
This is a pretty obvious allegory for the way that God loves us. That is, with steadfast, unceasing persistence. God has a vision for our flourishing and will send us messenger after messenger to communicate it; reminder after reminder to surrender to it. No matter how we respond, God will not give up. Even if God needs to return portions of the vineyard to nature so that we feel the consequences—even if God needs to work through different people from time to time—there is nothing God will not do in pursuit of God’s vision of shalom. God’s intention is for all of creation to thrive, together, and nothing we do can sabotage that.
Our text from Isaiah uses beautiful language to speak to the intentionalityof God—the painstaking care God takes in cultivating and preparing the vineyard for us. Our text from Mark highlights the persistenceof God—the absurd depth of patience that God possesses and channels toward us. Our promise is that our God will stop at nothing to show us grace and mercy, and our call to action is to be the best, most receptive tenants we can possibly be.
