Abiding in the True Vine; Ps 80

May the mumbling commence!

Restore us, O God.  Renew us.  Revive us.  Reform us.  Reconnect us to the vine.  Jesus spoke to his disciples in the gospel of John about abiding in the true vine.  I think of these words as I read Psalm 80.  Israel is often characterized as a vine, and that is the case in Psalm 80.  It has a recurring refrain in verses three, seven, and nineteen.  Read it below:

            Restore us, O God;

                        make your face shine upon us,

                        that we may be saved.

In between verses seven and nineteen, there is the image of Israel, God’s chosen people, as a vine.  Read verses 8-18 below:

            You brought a vine out of Egypt;

                        you drove out the nations and planted it. 

            You cleared the ground for it,

                        and it took root and filled the land. 

            The mountains were covered with its shade,

                        the mighty cedars with its branches. 

            It sent out its boughs to the Sea,

                        its shoots as far as the River. 

           

            Why have you broken down its walls

                        so that all who pass by pick its grapes? 

            Boars from the forest ravage it

                        and the creatures of the field feed on it. 

            Return to us, O God Almighty!

                        Look down from heaven and see!

            Watch over this vine, 

                        the root your right hand has planted,

                        the son you have raised up for yourself. 

           

            Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire;

                        at your rebuke your people perish. 

            Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,

                        the son of man you have raised up for yourself. 

            Then we will not turn away from you;

                        revive us, and we will call on your name.

When I think of Israel as God’s vine, I think about Jesus’ words about abiding in the vine much differently.  Jesus is a faithful Israel.  It is Jesus that we must graft ourselves into.  It would be a mistake to think that we need to graft ourselves into the nation of Israel.  Like all other nations, Israel is fallen in nature.  Jesus is the One to turn to, the One we should not turn away from.

In the midst of our trials, it is easy to think that God has left us – to plead for God to return.  But God will neither leave us nor forsake us.  We turn away from God, and we think God has abandoned us.  Yet God waits as the loving and patient Father for our return.  The trials that we face are meant to bring us closer to our God and to make us adhere closely to the true vine – Jesus, the man at the right hand of God, the Son of Man.

Enough mumbling for now… 

Peace Out