PENTECOST 19
October
3-5, 2026
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Isaiah 53:1-7
“CHANGE THAT
TUNE!”
It’s a game show I remember watching
once in a while as a kid when nothing else was on. Just recently I noticed it’s
back on TV again. “Name that Tune!” The few times I watched it I remember being
drawn in as the contestants would bid how few of notes they need to name that
tune. “I can name that tune in 3 notes. Name that tune!” The gauntlet was laid
down. Sometimes they would get it. They obviously knew music well. In the word
of God before us today a song is sung. It is a sad song with a sad tune. More sad
than “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” More sad than “Gabriel’s Oboe” from
the movie The Mission. More sad than the lyrics of many country/western songs. As
we’ll find out, it is a song our Lord knows all too well. He has heard it many
times. But there is hope and good news. Brothers and sisters, we can change
that tune!
But we must begin with a sad tune sung
by the Old Testament prophet Isaiah for the Lord he loved. “Let
me sing for my loved one a song about my loved one's vineyard. My loved one had
a vineyard on a fertile ridge. 2He dug it up and gathered the stones
out of it. He planted it with the best vines. He built a tower in the middle of
it. He also cut a winepress into it. He expected it to produce clusters of
sweet grapes, but it produced only sour grapes.” At first you would expect
this song to have a happy tune. It pictures a landowner joyfully establishing a
brand new vineyard. He does the hard work of clearing stones from a field, no
easy task in the rock ruined soil of Israel! No expense is spared. He buys the
best vines. Protects it with a watchtower. He builds a brand new state of the
art winepress in anticipation of the great grape harvest that is coming. But
instead of sweet grapes for good wine, the vineyard only produced sour grapes,
good for nothing.
And then the song turned sad. “So
now, you residents of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, judge between me and my
vineyard. 4What more could have been done for my vineyard that I
have not already done for it? When I expected it to produce clusters of sweet
grapes, why did it produce sour grapes? 5Now, let me tell you what I
will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will become a
pasture. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down. 6I
will make it a wasteland. It will not be pruned or hoed. So briers and thorns
will shoot up. I will also command the clouds not to pour rain on it.” The
vineyard would be destroyed.
But we are not talking about
vineyards. The song was a picture, a parable. “Yes, the vineyard of the Lord
of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the planting that
was pleasing to him. He expected justice, but instead there was oppression. He
expected righteousness, but there was an outcry.” God has Isaiah talking about Old Testament Israel, the nation, the
people who were part of that visible church. God was expecting Christian living
from them, fruits of faith. He expected to see people that protected the
innocent and punished the guilty, people that cared for each other’s needs. He
was looking for love, gentleness, humility, reverence for God. What he saw was
selfishness, perversion, greed, gluttony and mocking of God. Because of their
rejection of God, they too were rejected. God took away their protection. He
took away the rain of His Word. Those who deserted the Lord became a desert.
It’s a sad song.
Play
it again Sam. God can name that tune with just one note. It has been on repeat on
the jukebox of history for way too long. You heard it again as Jesus used the
same sad song in His parable in the Gospel lesson, only a few more sad verses
were added. The religious leaders over and over rejected, mistreated and killed
God’s prophets who spoke faithfully the words of God. They would kill God’s
Son! The song gets repeated in the early Christian church. God gives everything
they need but when persecution is over and life gets easier the visible church
became a place hungry for political power. Read about it during the Middle Ages
and the abuses of the visible church in the Holy Roman Empire. It is a sad
song. Again God steps in during the Lutheran Reformation. Another vineyard
planted. God does everything to plant and protect it. What will happen? Go to
Europe. See all the beautiful empty churches. Read the history of how human
reason became their god. It’s a sad song, a sad tune, that gets played over and
over again.
But
it does not have to be. Just so we get this straight let’s review. Here is how
the song has gone. God establishes a visible church. He gives it His best. The
Savior. He gives it His word, the Bible, which feeds and nourishes the faith of
the people. He puts a watchtower in it, faithful prophets and pastors whose job
it is to point out sin and point to Jesus. He expects fruits of faith, changed
hearts that show in changed lives. And too many times the tune became sad. The
churched people stopped caring about God. The churched people neglected God’s
Word. The churched people began to care more about things than their Savior and
the churched people grew selfish, perverse and cared only for themselves. And
the churched people were destroyed.
Hmmm!
Who are the churched people today? Let’s stay in our lane and talk about us.
When our owner comes to look for good grapes what does He see? Are we being kind
and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God
has forgiven us? Or does He find sour grapes that set his teeth on edge as we
arrogantly overlook our own sin, our own failings, defy God by holding the sins
of others against them? When we look at our many physical blessings, our
affluence does God see gratefulness to Him in our hearts or arrogance that we
are so much smarter and better than others and that is why we are blessed? When
He looks for the fruit of caring for the spiritual needs of others does He see
that we care only that we have God’s word here for ourselves or that we are
just as zealous that our children in Africa and Asia get to hear about Jesus
too? God has blessed us to recently complete our sanctuary renovation. This is
beautiful. Will people some day visit an empty church? Sometimes this summer it
felt that way. Where were you?
Brothers,
sisters, we can change that tune! We are God’s vineyard today. I will sing a
song for the Lord, that I love. He planted a vineyard called St. Jacobi. He
bought them with the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. He planted them at their
Baptism and nourished them with word and Sacrament. He gave them a church and
school, pastors and teachers. When He looked for good fruit,1 He found people
who loved Him in return. They loved His word. They wouldn’t miss worship for
the world. They are kind to each other and care. They appreciate how much they have
been forgiven and so they forgive each other too. They have adopted Jesus’
priorities and it shows. They pray daily. They work together to spread God’s
word. They have not turned to the false gods of the people around them, the
idols of entertainment or sports or things or sleep. They give the Lord their
hearts first. When they sin, they feel shame and then rejoice that they have
Jesus’s forgiveness. They strive to do better. They go around with happy hearts
because they know they are blessed, loved and cared for by God Himself and
their best is yet to come. That’s a beautiful song, a happy song. Brothers and
sisters, it’s not too late. Change that tune. Amen.
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