Bearing Fruit

Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard:My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines;he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it;and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. Isaiah 5: 1—2

It was a lousy year for tomatoes, at least in our garden. Nowhere near other years. There are many reasons why that could be. But in the end, it just was an off year. For the serious gardener, a bad year can mean more than just mild disappointment. A fairly large investment of time and energy can go right down the tubes if the conditions aren’t right, or disease strikes the plants or there are hungry animals in your neighborhood. Things can get pretty frustrating.
In both Old Testament and Gospel lessons we hear about a frustrated gardener. His vineyard yielded some pretty sad results. The garden pictured in Isaiah 5 had everything going for it, yet it still produced “wild grapes,” which is another way of saying that the grapes were sour. Things go a little bit crazier in Matthew 21, where the vineyard workers go on a rampage, eventually killing the son of the owner. These stories do not end happily. In Isaiah 5, the gardener resolves to tear down the wall so that the vineyard can be trampled and laid to waste; In Matthew 21, the only right conclusion to come to is that those workers ought to be punished for their crimes and the vineyard be handed over to people who are a little more sane—or at least faithful to the owner’s wishes. Both of these passages interpret themselves for us: God is the gardener and owner of the vineyard; the vineyard is Israel, his Old Testament people, and the vineyard has been one huge disappointment. The gardener was looking for good fruit and found only sour grapes; the owner of the vineyard was looking for a harvest, only to find out that his workers were not just disobedient but homicidal. That puts our cherry tomato shortage in a bit of perspective.
The Old Testament tells the unflattering tale of Israel’s inability to bear good fruit. When God sent a prophet to snip and prune, that prophet often paid dearly for his service—sometimes with his life. Finally, the Greatest Prophet Jesus walks into the vineyard in order to announce that the kingdom is being taken away and given to people who will do kingdom work. And predictably the greatest Prophet pays for this announcement with His life. Not exactly a wonderful comment on human nature.
Human nature, being what it is, might also try to use these vineyard stories to portray Jewish people as hard-hearted, ignorant fools. Human nature (with a little help from the devil) would tempt us to look at these stories and say, “How could they be so dumb?” But that, in itself would be dumb. Human nature always tries to deflect, finding someone else to blame, or at least someone who looks worse than we do. A far, far more unpleasant exercise is to see if the shoe of God’s judgment fits. Or, in this case, to ask ourselves and one another, are we also that vineyard Scripture describes? Are we producing godly fruit? Are these vines full? Bare? Heavy with wild, sour grapes? What do you think?
Where we as individual people have become lazy; where we have been happy to receive God’s gifts but not so happy to share them; we need to change our minds and our actions. Where we as a church have neglected to go after the lost; where we have substituted the values of Jesus with worldly wisdom, we need to stop; repent; and change. God is not above taking the vineyard away from those who will not tend to it.
However, if we will admit to our poor gardening and confess our lack of productivity, we will be exposed to the only power that can cause us to grow—that power is the good news of Jesus; the Gospel. That power—power that flows from our crucified Lord—pronounces us not guilty; forgiven. God is willing to plant, water, and grow faith in your heart that trusts the words of absolution—that trusts the full pardon Jesus delivered—that trusts the cleansing adoption of baptism—that trusts Jesus to distribute remission of sins through bread and wine. Freedom from the burden of guilt, a meaningful and victorious life, and resurrection with Jesus—these are things that only God can provide—and provide them he does—generously, patiently, continually. He keeps bringing out the gifts. They all depend on Him.
But, for reasons all his own, he would have us share in the gift-giving. The gifts depend on God—yet He depends on you and me to pass them out. Producing godly fruit is a matter of passing out God’s gifts to people. It’s not always easy, but it’s almost always exciting. Working in the vineyard is challenging and yet satisfying—so many people who finally take the leap and start passing out God’s gifts discover that this is what they’ve been looking for their whole lives. What type of “fruit” do you sense God is asking you to produce? How can you become actively involved in handing out God’s presents?
Today we put the spotlight on the LWML, or Lutheran Women’s Missionary League. As their title suggests, these are Lutheran women who not only support missionaries, but are missionaries themselves. Millions of dollars worth of mission projects are funded through their Mite Box collections. There is an urgency to their work that we would all do well to learn from. St. Paul’s Friendship Circle is our congregation’s grouping of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, and it is my sincere prayer that some of you ladies who are kind of “on the bubble” or not sure how God wants you to serve would really look into our Friendship Circle and give it a try. All of us who work in God’s vineyard want to make a difference—Christ has planted that desire in us. The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League can provide you with real opportunities to make a difference for the cause of Christ Jesus.
So, it was a bad year for tomatoes, but just like the Indians, Cavs and Browns, there’s always next year. Fortunately, you and I can start producing godly fruit today. Put your trust in Jesus and start giving His gifts to someone. Then just watch the growth that He gives. Amen.