Thirsty in a Land Full of Vineyards (Is. 5; Jn. 2; Matt. 22:1-14; Luke 12:48-49)

They are thirsty at a wedding in a land full of vineyards; in fact they are the Lord’s beloved vineyard, and He walks among them on day three of His ministry, disciples in tow (Jn. 2).

As I read in Isaiah 5 in the parable of the vineyard of God’s clear love for His chosen people, I can’t help but think of Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding in Cana. I have to wonder if the Lamb of God who had come to take away the sins of the world shook HIs head at the irony of Mary’s request for a miracle, knowing that the only vessels available were purification pots, contaminated vessels, marveling at the possibility of God’s first provision of a miracle in His ministry being at a wedding and involving wine created from the use of impure vats of water. Appropriate, really.

In Isaiah 5:1-7 the choice vineyard that should have been fertile is God’s chosen people, who have been lovingly placed in Canaan, the promised land, by God Himself. He has dug what needs to be dug, cleared all of the stones, planted His vineyard with the best of vines, built a tower in the center of it, provided a hedge of protection around it, and hewn a press in it all with the expectation it would produce the best of grapes. In short, He has given far more than is needed for a vineyard to thrive; He has given His best, going above and beyond in His love for His people, yet they have made His desire for them much like the purification pots at the wedding in Cana Jesus attends many years later—empty, dirtied by use, producing only worthless, wild grapes instead of choice fruit. 

All that is left for the vineyard (Judah) at this time is sure destruction, the soon removal of the thorn hedge and with it the protection from consuming fire, the stone wall broken down by enemies, leaving it a wasteland not to be pruned or cultivated any longer but overrun by briars and thorns, absent rain falling upon it. God’s expectation of the men He has planted in Judah, His vineyard, is for justice and righteousness, but instead He sees bloodshed and lawlessness, hears distress and oppression. This God—who has provided everything His vineyard needs for life and godliness, who has covered it with the overwhelming protection of His presence in their midst, Himself a canopy and pavilion of refuge and shelter from the elements, which they have utterly rejected—He warns them of the sure judgment to come (v. 8-30).

Judah’s idolatrous pursuits, of intoxicating drink, of riotous parties, of feasts overflowing with music and wine but lacking any notice or understanding of what the Lord has done for them, shows they lack in knowledge of the Lord. The leaders are hungry. The common people parched with thirst. They no longer know or recognize the Beloved Vinedresser.

What the people lack in justice and righteousness, the Lord will provide and be exalted in them. These who have “despised and discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel,” rejecting the law of the Lord of hosts, these who justify wickedness and take bribes from the guilty and take away the rights of the innocent—these will be consumed by God’s unflagging anger and outstretched hand against them (Is. 5: 24, AMP). 

In Isaiah 5 God speaks of the coming destruction by fire of those who have rejected Him. In the New Testament Jesus speaks, saying, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more. I have come to cast fire (judgment) on the earth; and how I wish that it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:48-49, AMP). There is a certain expectation that Jesus makes clear throughout His ministry on earth that God’s investments are to be managed well, providing a good return. He has created or provided all the resources we have, and nothing is lacking for us to produce a crop that yields much fruit. Yet we remain thirsty for knowledge of Him in a time where there is no excuse to be without it, and this to our shame, much as it was Judah’s shame in Is. 5.

In John 2, when Jesus’ mother asks for His help, Jesus (the Bridegroom of the Church that would soon begin to arise out of God’s faithful planting and Jesus’ ministry on earth) turns the purification waterpots that have been obediently filled by the servants from less than pure water into the best wine the headwaiter has ever tasted. 

The headwaiter doesn’t know what Jesus has done, but the servants know. 

Jesus’ disciples know. 

His mother knows. 

Jesus knows.

God sees . . .

His Son at work in His vineyard making wine without even the benefit of grapes growing in a well-tended, responsive vineyard. Jesus is His beloved Son, planted in His lagging, wild vineyard, and God through Jesus now pours into, tends, lovingly cares for, protects, heals, and provides a place that for so long has only known corruption, invasion, destruction and devastation. God sends this Jesus who makes wine, the best of the best, freely offered at a wedding feast that is a very pale reflection of the marriage feast of heaven yet to come (Matthew 22:1-14). “Many are called (invited, summoned)” to the wedding, “but few are chosen,” Jesus says (Matt. 21:14). 

Many who have been invited to the wedding feast are thirsty but do not understand that Jesus alone can quench that thirst; instead, they fill their lives to the brim with stuff, empty treasures that will burn up in time, and they “drag along wickedness with cords of falsehood, and sin as if with cart ropes [towing their own punishment]” (Is. 5:18). Isaiah 9:1 makes it clear that with judgment will come the promise of salvation through the Messiah, yet they remain thirsty in a land full of the Beloved who planted the vineyard that gives the wine that satisfies. 

It ought not be.