Dear Rehoboth,
We are going to stick with Isaiah again this week because the gospel text is all about fire and divisions and interpreting the end times, and I want to preach on the love song of Isaiah 5. The recognition that this is a love song should give us a lot of playful ways to take this text. But I think maybe a place for us to ponder on this morning is what does love look like. If you read this text, you may think this I one of the least sentimental, love songs you have ever heard. God is promising to tear down the walls of protection that he has provided for his vineyard. God is willing to let it be devoured and trampled upon. That is some real tough love there. Maybe that is the message. Perhaps the message is that sometimes we need some tough love. Sometimes love doesn’t always look that way. We need someone to let us fall and make mistakes. We need God to sometimes let us reap the consequences of our actions. I think this all may be true. I believe there is a value to tough love, but I struggle to say that that is the reason this is a love song.
One thing that stuck out to me in this passage is when God asked, “how much more could I have done?” When I last preached on this text, I focused on the idea that every parent has probably said this phrase every time a child makes a mistake. Or every friend who has watched another friend make bad choices. Or every person who has had to go to a funeral of a loved one who committed suicide has asked. We ask, “how much more could I have done?” There is so much love in that question. Even when we have done all that we can, we still think there is more that can be done. If only I did this or that. If only I tried harder. God is asking that same question in this text. What I learn about love from this question is obvious. Love is only visible in relationships. God did everything God could do for us.
God is going to do everything God can for us. He is tilling the land. The is giving us health. He is blessing us beyond measure. When we need more god is there to provide more. When we don’t have the words to say, the scriptures tell us that God will give us the words. When our yoke is heavy God will provide us with God’s yolk, which is much lighter. You see, God hasn’t acted once and stopped. God is continuing to be in relationship with us. But the one thing God can’t and won’t do is make us produce justice. God can’t and won’t make us produce righteousness. Love is a mutual desire to be in relationship. When we don’t produce justice and righteousness, it seems as though God is saying it is on us. God has done everything God can do, and if there is more to be done, God will do it. But at some point, we need to produce some justice. At some point, we have to start producing. I think this is a love song because it teaches us that love is about mutual care and devotion. We have a responsibility in this relationship. God is blessing us every day. God is providing everything necessary, and I think we have forgotten we have a role to play in this relationship. We have been given every resource available to produce justice and righteousness. We have been blessed so to be a blessing. Let us not forget that.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Lee