The True Vine

1 Now I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a rich and fertile hill.
2 He plowed the land, cleared its stones,
and planted it with the best vines.
In the middle he built a watchtower
and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks.
Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes,
but the grapes that grew were bitter.

3 Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah,
you judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could I have done for my vineyard
that I have not already done?
When I expected sweet grapes,
why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?

5 Now let me tell you
what I will do to my vineyard:
I will tear down its hedges
and let it be destroyed.
I will break down its walls
and let the animals trample it.
6 I will make it a wild place
where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed,
a place overgrown with briers and thorns.
I will command the clouds
to drop no rain on it.

7 The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
The people of Judah are his pleasant garden.
He expected a crop of justice,
but instead he found oppression.
He expected to find righteousness,
but instead he heard cries of violence.

Isaiah’s message is wrapped in beautiful language, with figures of speech borrowed from the everyday life of his listeners. In Isaiah’s parable, the vineyard represents God’s people. God gave his much loved people the best possible attention, carefully “planting” them in a fertile place where they could bear much “fruit” as an example to the surrounding nations. But the vineyard became corrupt and fruitless, eventually to be condemned and abandoned.

In the New Testament, Jesus tells us that he is the key to turning a worthless vineyard into one that yields a wonderful harvest. Jesus himself is “the true vine,” and his branches are the redeemed people of God. All who remain connected to Jesus “bear much fruit.”

Jesus emphatically asserts that he alone is the one who makes the branches fruitful. The only reason they bear fruit is because he grafts them to himself. Those that do not remain in him are like fruitless branches that wither and must be cut away and burned.

Do you experience this spiritual connection with the Lord Jesus?

Jesus empowers all who are grafted into him. He loves us, even as God the Father loves Jesus, his one and only Son. Jesus wants us all to bear fruit through self-giving love.

Father, thank you for arranging for us to be redeemed by your Son and grafted into him. Help us so that by your Word and Spirit we remain in Christ and bear much fruit. Amen.