Studied Isaiah 5 as part of a study of the book of Isaiah using Dr. Sandra Richter’s materials…Isaiah 5 is the parable of the vineyard and we were comparing it to Jesus’ parable of the vineyard in Matthew 21. WOW! At the end of Matthew 21, we read the reaction of the Pharisees, who would certainly have known the Isaiah scripture as they listened to Jesus’ “variation on the theme”. Verses 45-46 tell us, “When the religious leaders heard this story, they knew it was aimed at them. They wanted to arrest Jesus and put him in jail, but, intimidated by public opinion, they held back. Most people held him to be a prophet of God.”
One of the things I love about Jesus is the way he pointed to things of the physical realm and translated them through the lens of spiritual reality. I have long seen the physical/spiritual “mirror” and been able to draw the parallels for my students in a way that helps them understand the spiritual reality in their circumstances. As Rob Bell, a formerly mega-popular preacher (but now rather discredited evangelical millennial who got caught up in Eastern religion/pseudo-Christian syncretism) said in one of his wildly popular lecture videos, “Everything Is Spiritual.” While everything IS spiritual, not everything is Christian. Not all spirituality is obedient to the One True God. 4/6/21