This passage is called ‘the song of the vineyard’, but would it not be more appropriate to call it a lamentation? God asks us to bring charges against Him. ‘Judge between Me and My vineyard. What more could have been done for My vineyard than I have done for it?’
Just say what more God should have done! Did God not - after Jesus had accomplished all - send His Holy Spirit, so that we could go out into the world in the power of the Spirit? What more should God have done? Who still wants to bring charges against Him? All the wars and coldheartedness that the world is so full of, are they God’s fault? Or is the church to blame who - devoted to itself - is not willing to follow in the footsteps of its Master?
Where in this world can the reality of love and self-denial still be seen? Did this all die with Jesus on the cross? Should Jesus then be crucified again, or are there still people who understand and believe Jesus’ cry on the cross? In our Bible verse of today the cry of Jesus is translated as 'It is finished,' but it might better be translated as 'It is accomplished.' But then there is only one answer to this tremendous exclamation of Jesus, as well as to the challenge of this passage of scripture.
Let us bow down before the eternal faithful God and rejoice in the fulfilled mission of Christ. And we should not only declare this with our mouth, but also believe it with our whole heart and practice it in our daily life. God gave us all in His Son; is this not the only appropriate response? Let us no longer maintain a wait-and-see-attitude, but let us rise up and be fully engaged. Who knows if God in His grace still will have mercy on us, on our country, yes, He might still have mercy on the whole world! ‘For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed’ (Romans 8:19).