VINEYARD CARE

I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.

Isaiah 5:1-2 - NIV

In light of the biological sciences this song is problematic. A variety of sweet grapes with conditions and appropriate treatment only produces sweet grapes. A variety of sour grapes, even with all the greatest of care necessarily produces sour grapes. Scientifically, the problem was not in the plant itself or of the soil, but in the selection of the variety of seeds. The owner erred in choosing and there would be no means of correcting the error simply by way of taking good care of the crop! The owner did not admit a wrong choice, and threw the blame on the plants. The right solution would be to replace the plants with a desired variety, not exercise revenge by destroying the field. The fault was of the owner for not having chosen the right variety of grapes. He chose the variety whose very nature was to produce sour grapes.

Even with the issue of our knowledge of biology this song brings a great lesson for life: 1) We are both planted and planters, 2) It’s important what we plant.

Nobody is an island, isolated from everything and everyone. Without our consent, were inserted into a context. We did not choose our gender, our sexual orientation, our nationality our social class, or our parents, siblings and relatives. We are born with a genetic load of physical and psychological traits which predetermine many of our physiological and emotional limitations.

We are the fruit of the past! But even with our genetic makeup and our social heritage we are not passive and inert objects. We are interactive. We can determine much of our direction and destination. Our interaction makes a difference. We have the power to strengthen the positive and negative trends to resist those conditions and to change them. We are planted, but also we are planters. We can choose what we plant and how we take care of it.

We are responsible for the way we manage our heritage. We can blindly accept it and carry it on without examining it or we can check it out to see if any adjustments need to be made. The beauty of botany is that grafts can be made. Undesirable branches can be pruned and desirable ones grafted on in their place.

Culture naturally comes with many built-in customs and taboos which have deep roots in the past, but are no longer relevant and often harmful. Times change, but practices resist change. What we were brought up to believe is not necessarily still true. Our social images need constant revision. Words and labels change meanings. For example “gay” doesn´t mean the same thing as when I was a kid. This is also true of words and labels like: liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican, socialist, communist and progressive, only to mention a few. In continuing to use them with their old meanings we are really preventing ourselves from changing with the times and we become outdated.

I try to evaluate what should be the Christian stance in the face of our modern global situation in the light of the Kingdom as it is described by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. That is radical, because it is exactly the opposite of what our social values are today:

·       War makers exterminate peacemakers.

·       Power ignores ethics.

·       The wealthy exploit the poor.

·       Finger pointing overshadows humility.

·       Immigrants and minorities are persecuted.

·       The ill and the starving are ignored.

·       Profits are more important than people.

·       Deceit and secrecy take precedence over truth and openness.

·       Personal advantage is above collective well-being.

Peacemaking, solidarity, forgiveness, humility, hospitality, self-giving and generosity are so radical that few practice them. Yet, that is what the Kingdom is all about. It is easier to go with the rules of the game and hope that Jesus will return and end it all. We cannot let the vineyard go and hope for the best. What we do is important, not only for ourselves, but for all others as well.

ISAIAH 5:1-7 – NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV)

I will sing for the one I love

    a song about his vineyard:

My loved one had a vineyard

    on a fertile hillside.

He dug it up and cleared it of stones

    and planted it with the choicest vines.

He built a watchtower in it

    and cut out a winepress as well.

Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,

    but it yielded only bad fruit.

“Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,

    judge between me and my vineyard.

What more could have been done for my vineyard

    than I have done for it?

When I looked for good grapes,

    why did it yield only bad?

Now I will tell you

    what I am going to do to my vineyard:

I will take away its hedge,

    and it will be destroyed;

I will break down its wall,

    and it will be trampled.

I will make it a wasteland,

    neither pruned nor cultivated,

    and briers and thorns will grow there.

I will command the clouds

    not to rain on it.”

The vineyard of the Lord Almighty

    is the nation of Israel,

and the people of Judah

    are the vines he delighted in.

And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;

    for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.