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What About Justice and Righteousness? Aug 14, 2022



Isaiah 5.1-7, Pentecost 10C

Theme: Justice


This Sunday’s text is a portion of a sermon Isaiah delivered to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. It is a sermon predicting a dreadful time. In this section is an illustration – an illustration of a vineyard. It is a beautifully constructed place complete with a tower built to make wine from the grapes. The owner of the vineyard has great plans of a productive and profitable place.


But, when the vines begin to produce, instead of beautiful, sweet plump grapes, wild bitter fruit develops. In disappointment the master of the vineyard destroys it all.

The illustration is an allegory of the history of God’s people. These are the people God rescued from slavery in Egypt. These are the people whom God lead through 40 years in the wilderness. God protected them and fed them. God gave them a great leader, Moses. Through that leader God gave them a code of ethics which was to shape them into the greatest of humanity. God led these people into a promised land and nurtured them with great leaders like Samuel and Deborah. He gave them great kings like David and Solomon.


And still, the people became corrupt. Like the wild grapes in the beautiful vineyard the people became bitter and worthless.


There was no justice. No one stood up for the oppressed. The widows, orphans and diseased were forgotten and left to die retched deaths. The poor and the homeless were cruelly mistreated and persecuted. The wonderful laws nobly laid out by priests of days gone by were ignored.


There were no righteous people who would champion the oppressed. No one cared. Even the rich fought among themselves. It was everyone for themselves.

Isaiah was not a popular and well-loved prophet. His sermons did not charm or cajole. They seemed unkind and harsh. Instead, they were ignored. That is, the warnings were ignored until it was too late.


They say, “Hindsight is 20-20.” It only is by the test of time historians can see the warnings of Isaiah were accurate and concise.


Over the centuries since, Isaiah’s sermons carry great respect among the just and the righteous – the kind and the compassionate. Wise people read these prophetic and harsh judgements and wonder if perhaps they should be a measure of contemporary life.


Is there a need to heed the warnings of Isaiah and apply them to our present day? Do we as God’s people need to renew a commitment to being righteous and just people?


Worship with us in person at 10:30 AM as we will be meditating on how we can become a just and righteous people. The service will also be streamed live on the internet -- (https://fccmaryvillemo.com) or on the church’s home Facebook page. If you miss the live stream, a recorded session is also available to view at your convenience. Want to make a comment on my blog? Click on https://fccmaryvillemosanc.wixsite.com/ftdo

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